The best Architect nobody ever heard of

O'Neil Ford did not dream up the San Antonio River Walk, but he sure did his damndest to publicize the thing, and with his buddy Lady Bird Johnson he was into Trees, Plants and Birds. He celebrated a sense of place in Texas and among the best architects of the time he was much revered.

Suburban Sprawl and utter MADNESS

In Northern California, from the outskirts of San Francisco Bay to the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada a Stucco and Asphalt slum has been created so vast that to reach any place of humanity or genuine relief from the madness one must retreat to the historic centers of the city or old towns engulfed in this foul plague of architectural crap.

Various people and organization have spoken out about this stucco sprawl, but organization such as "The Great Valley" are basically worthless because of their associations with this sprawling madness. In short, organizations dedicated to fighting sprawl become self perpetuating bureaucratic organisms feeding off the creation of more sprawl.

Politicians such as Phil Angelides, "The Environmentalist", create their own mindless stucco slums, such as he did at Laguna West, ably assisted by Angelo Tsakopoulos. These gentlemen actually trumpeted the notions of "New Urbanism" while actually producing Stucco Sprawl that was worse than the adjoining typical suburban neighborhoods.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/opinion/article.html?article_id=614



Examples of New Urbanism
The creation of New Suburbia, but with hints of old town centers surrounded by new housing preferably in a grid pattern. Cars are parked off alleys, parking courts or recessed.

It may not be perfect, but it does offer an alternative to the Phil Angelides desecration of the environment.

Chicken or the Egg?
Diebenkorn


Thiebaud


Would have been interesting to hear Diebenkorn explain his landscape ideas to Thiebaud,
but then maybe it was not done verbally

Klimt

Downtown Condos

If you have the money, this is the place for you

Yowza, yowza, yowza

can Richard Meier Tango, or what?

Recent Museum Design

Besides the expressionistic and structurally incoherent nonsense being designed by Gehry and Libeskind for museums (they both have ego problems) most current museum design by Brad Cloepfil, Holl, the Japanese, the Europeans and others has emphasized fitting into the environment, whether it is natural or man made, and the display of art or museum pieces

Sacramento is getting a new museum designed by Architects of the old New York "Five" or "Whites"....and the design is basically out of the late 60s or early 70s...and presumably will be "white"...while not bad design it is open to question whether the design fits into the pattern of the existing old museum or that of the tree lined streets of Sacramento

Even the method of presentation show a disdain for the existing environment

North American Architectural History

The Short Course

Anasazi

Tom Jefferson

H H Richardson

defines an age, Richardson Romanesque, Shingle Style

Louis Sullivan

Frank Lloyd Wright

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqsk4WARk2I

Lou Khan

Barragan

Trickery


Famous in Stage, Screen and TV....





















But, as one can see in the photo below, the cantilever by Koenig is not all that it's cracked up to be....














The house is, of course, a work of art...thanks to Pierre Koenig who mostly likely, unlike the structurally ignorant architects of today, Gehry and Danny Libeskind, could most likely do his OWN structural analysis....

Koenig also solved the glass box leak at the edge problem with overhangs as did two other justifiably famous California Architects, Wurster and Maybeck....

Philip Johnson had leaks, but if you are witty and have inherited Alcoa wealth,

who cares?

The following are BROWNSTONES

The following is NOT a Brownstone but rather a piece of architectural crap calling itself a "Brownstone"

Main Entry: 1loft Pronunciation: 'loftFunction: nounEtymology: Middle English, from Old English, air, sky, from Old Norse lopt; akin to Old High German luft air1 : an upper room or floor : ATTIC2 a : a gallery in a church or hall b : one of the upper floors of a warehouse or business building especially when not partitioned c : HAYLOFT3 a : the backward slant of the face of a golf-club head b : the act of lofting4 : the thickness of a fabric or insulating material (as goose down)

One, two or three story one bedroom, two bedroom, studio apartments/homes/condominums ARE NOT LOFTS unless you are an unlettered real estate agent

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Technorati Profile

Sacramento Urban Design Cesspool

Two new urban areas attracting crowds are 16th Street with the new hip restaurants/bars/shops and Capitol with the new hip restaurants/bars/shops. Separating these two areas are a couple of blocks of new development by the State of California called the "East End Project." The stroll between 16th Street and Capitol should be a quality urban experience with new bars/restaurants/shops, but instead the State of California has given us a dismal example of extremely bad urban design.

16th Street Scene














Capitol Avenue Scene





















Dismal Scene created by the State of California, State of California Architects and Managers by their collective lack of imagination, thought and design ability. In short the State of California and their collective bureaucrats DID NOT CARE!

So what exactly is the experience walking through the "East End Project" from one happening scene on 16th Street to Capitol Avenue.


Take a look.










































The possibilities of designing a great urban space connector would seem to be almost endless. With similar types of buildings and spaces, individual buildings with plazas, arcades and streets, Levis Plaza in San Francisco offers an entire palate of what would be possible. Creation of humane architecture and urban design can not be that hard? At Levis Plaza the entire city eats their lunch at numerous plazas or frequents the bakeries and restaurants. As in any great city, the scene is varied at Levis Plaza and open to all people.

















A reminder of exactly what the State of California has given the City of Sacramento













When one complains to the City of Sacramento about this urban design desecration, one is directed to the State, with the explanation, "We agree the State screwed the City of Sacramento, but since the State is the major tenant in the City and has ultimate authority over their sites, what are we to do?"

The State and their distinguished architects dodge and weave as one would expect from distinguished bureaucrats and blame the Legislature.

The people again get screwed by worthless architects, urban designers and managers working for the State of California.