Bookshelf: The 99% Invisible City

“You are about to see stories everywhere, you beautiful nerd.” Roman Mars

Our latest book obsession is “The 99% Invisible City - A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design” written by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt. Roman Mars is the renowned creator and host of one of our favorite podcasts, "99% Invisible." In our opinion, Roman Mars has cemented his position as a prominent voice in the world of design and architecture with his knack for storytelling and exploring the unnoticed aspects of our built environment. Through "99% Invisible," he delves into subjects ranging from the history of manhole covers to the significance of urban street grids, shedding light on the often overlooked details that shape our everyday lives. The book puts into print some of the most interesting backstories of the built environment categorized in the following subsets: Inconspicuous, Conspicuous, Infrastructure, Architecture, Geography and Urbanism. Below are some of our favorites.

Illustrated by Patrick Vale

Skyscraper Races:

This entry tells the story of a competitive and savage race to have the tallest skyscraper in 1920s NYC, complete with big egos and bitter rivals. Ultimately, William Van Alen’s design and construction of the Chrysler Building, the iconic Art Deco skyscraper beat out that of his former partner, H. Craig Severance’s 40 Wall Street tower, by secretly constructing a spire hidden inside to be revealed only when the other building reached its final height, thus claiming the tallest accolade.

Illustrated by Patrick Vale

Cutting Curbs:

This entry tells the story of activist Ed Roberts, coming of age in California in the 1950s and the physical challenges that come with being diagnosed with polio and using a wheelchair. He attended the University of California at Berkeley after initially being turned down due to the university not having accommodations to keep him safe. Sadly, in the 1960s, the world was not broadly accessible. During his time in college, Roberts and the “Rolling Quads” protest group would build their own sidewalk ramps to force the city into action; fast forward to 1971 when the city voted unanimously for “streets and sidewalks to be designed and constructed to facilitate circulation by handicapped persons within major commercial areas.” Hence the catalyst for other municipalities and campuses to follow suit.

Illustrated by Patrick Vale

Unanticipated Loads:

Architecture student Diane Hartley is the MVP of this entry regarding the 1967 Citicorp Center skyscraper in NYC. In researching the building for her thesis project in 1978 “she had calculated that the structure was specifically vulnerable to quartering winds blowing in from the corners.” She called the building’s structure engineer, William LeMessurier, to inquire about the math which led the engineering firm to dive back into the calculations. It was confirmed that not only did the building show weakness at the corners in a wind event, but the use of bolts in lieu of welds at key joints (a cost savings decision…) left the building especially vulnerable. “For each year the Citicorp Center stood, LeMessurier figured it had about a 1 in 16 chance of collapsing. Emergency repairs were planned and retrofit crews welded throughout the night in secret as, in the apex of drama, a hurricane approached. Luckily the hurricane did not make landfall and the repairs were completed successfully.

Eero Saarinen's TWA Flight Center

It’s nearly impossible for us to fly into New York City without creating a path that runs through the former TWA Fight Center, a stunning example of mid-century architecture. Designed by Finnish-American architect, Eero Saarinen, and completed in 1962, the building served as the main terminal for Trans World Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport. An aspirational nod to the possibilities of aviation, modern air travel, design, and engineering, the building's dramatic wing-shaped roof, with its swooping curves and steel supports evokes a sense of flight and movement. Inside, the terminal's open spaces and light-filled atrium were designed to create a sense of excitement and adventure for passengers.

A confluence of sculpture and engineering, the building design uses a reinforced concrete shell and angled expanses of glass to create nobility and wonderment for its visitors. After various changes in the airline industry over the decades (not the least of which includes larger planes and Jet Blue’s Terminal 5 built adjacent to it), the building now serves as the lobby for the new TWA Hotel, thus allowing a new generation of visitors to experience this icon.

Images above are from Atlas of Places; click here for more.

“Experimentation can present great dangers, but there would be greater danger if we didn’t try to explore at all.” Eero Saarinen

Ruins of Glendale Mill

Our design inspiration travels are a little closer to home these pandemic days with a recent trip to Glendale, just outside of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Truth be told, it was our son who suggested the field trip to the Glendale Mill site, after researching abandoned buildings to photograph. In this case all that remains of the original cotton mill are two smoke stacks and two stair towers.

Built in the 1830s and originally called the Bivingsville Mill, this was one of SC’s most important and continuously operating mills. (Click here for a video on the history of the mill.) In 2004 a catastrophic fire destroyed the majority of the building; the remains of which and surrounding land have become a preserve thanks to Spartanburg County.

Photos by Rush David Dixon IV:

Fire Island Modernism | Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction

One of the best things about growing up on Long Island was spending summers working on Fire Island where the commute typically involved coffee (“light and sweet”), my best friend and a ferry ride across the Great South Bay to Ocean Beach, NY. I worked for a flower shop and landscape company, with the best days spent as the extra set of hands for the landscape crews. I would deliver and/or plant flowers at the second homes of Manhattan’s prominent and intriguing inhabitants (looking at you Zabars and Lobel’s). The houses ranged from the expected - quaint beach cottages with clever names and a salt air patina - to the unexpected and, for me, immensely magnetic - the bold, modern, sculptural objects that I needed to know more about. Enter, author Christopher Bascom Rawlins, some 30 years later, with his epic ode, Fire Island Modernist, detailing the modern architecture and culture on Fire Island through the eyes of architect an architect I wish I knew about sooner.

Rawlins crafts this comprehensive look at the often overlooked architect Horace Gifford (1932 - 1992), his approach to design, portfolio of seaside pavilions and houses with in the broader context of personal challenges, social and cultural movements.

“As the 1960s became The Sixties, architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York's Fire Island. Growing up on the beaches of Florida, Gifford forged a deep connection with coastal landscapes. Pairing this sensitivity with jazzy improvisations on modernist themes, he perfected a sustainable modernism in cedar and glass that was as attuned to natural landscapes as to our animal natures. Gifford's serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation.” Christopher Rawlins.

Travis-Wall House, Fire Island Pines, 1972-1975

Burge Pavilion, Fire Island Pines, 1965

A majestic presence on the beach which harkins to the massing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Company Administration Building.

Fishman House, Fire Island Pines, 1965

“Twelve robust columns, containing closets above and below, lifted the Fishman residence into the air. Early Fire Island cottages squatted akimbo upon skinny pilings, evoking the architectural equivalent of “martini legs.” Gifford composed and selectively clad his own version of these posts, realizing a muscular base still in harmony with the surrounding architecture.” (excerpt from Fire Island Modernist)

Fishman House Floor Plans

Please read this book for an exact insight (both colorful and heartbreaking) into Horace Gifford’s world, American architectural history and the mid-century modernist movement. "The injustice of Horace Gifford's early death was compounded by the fact that his important contribution to American domestic architecture of the 1960s and 70s has been overlooked by history.” Paul Goldberg

Paul R. Williams | New Homes for Today

Continuing our study of the noteworthy African-American architect, Paul R. Williams (1894 - 1980), we have been pouring over his book published in 1946, “New Homes for Today.” The book is light on words and heavy on images which is just how us visual learners like it.

We first wrote about Paul R. Williams on the blog in June when we discovered the “Paul R. Williams Student Scholarship” organized by DesignClass. In their words, “Paul Williams kicked off a prolific career by becoming the first licensed African-American member of the American Institute of Architecture in 1923. Throughout his life he designed over 2,000 buildings in California and helped shape Los Angeles into the metropolitan city it is today. In 1957, Williams became the first African-American elected as a Fellow of the AIA. DesignClass honors the legacy of Paul R. Williams with a scholarship for African-American architecture students seeking to foster curious and creative confidence in their communities.” The scholarship provides financial assistance to African American students studying at a NAAB accredited architecture program. [As of last week, they have more qualified students than sponsors, so if you are able to contribute $500 to sponsor an African-American architecture student please contact them here. Our industry desperately needs diversification.]

While Mr. Williams had a wide multi-faceted based in Los Angeles, including the design of public buildings, working for the Navy and designing over 2,000 homes (even that of Frank Sinatra!), this book seems to focus on smaller homes, perhaps for the middle class. His words appear to approach homebuilding and designing with refreshing clarity and practicality:

“Two items for consideration face the homebuilder of today which did not confront the homebuilder of yesterday. One: higher building costs; Two: The necessity of reducing household labor to the minimum. The former can be done by skillful planning, the latter by the intelligent use of present labor-saving devices.”

He goes on discuss the merits of solar orientation, single or multi-story homes, warns against highly individualized designs as they could effect resale value and shares trends on the rumpus room (informal living area for the non-Boomers / Gen Xers reading this.) The structure of the book itself allows just two pages for each house design and includes the description, floor plan and classic-now-vintage perspective renderings. Home names like “The Flamingo” and “The Country Gentlemen” start to paint a picture of each home’s character. Our favorite is the “The Esquire”, a 2 bedroom house totaling 1,260sf with a large living room opening to a side patio and double fireplace - one indoor and one outdoor. We may want to individualize it a touch in the bathroom department, but the plan’s efficiency and architecture’s overarching modernist lines and components are a lesson in what you really need and want in a home.

His advice includes a “Do’s and Don’ts” section:

“DO arrange the rooms so that passage may be made from one part of the house to another without the necessity of going through the living room.

DON’T plan the entrance door to expose all of the living room every time the door is opened.

Antiques can be mixed with modern pieces, but it is a job for the expert rather than the amateur decorator.”

And to the question posed in the book “Can we afford an architect?” he answers “To this question there is only one answer: You cannot afford to build a home without an architect.” I do believe we would get along very well, Mr. Williams.

Product Design by Architects

Attending architecture school is often regarded as the foundation for establishing a rigorous design process. This can then be applied not only to designing buildings, but other disciplines of varying scales such as urban design, graphic design, furniture design or in Rush’s case, product design. We have always drawn inspiration from architects who toggle between such scales or disciplines. Some of our favorites include:

Aldo Rossi (1931 - 1997) 

An Italian architect and leader of the postmodern movement, Rossi was known for built works of architecture, theory, drawing and product design. We first saw his “Il Conico" tea kettle and “La Conica" espresso coffee maker for Alessi and knew it was no ordinary design.  

Rossi’s tea kettle, “Il Conico”

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (1887 - 1965) 

“Le Corbusier” as he was known as, was an architect, designer, painter, urban planner and writer. Notable works of architecture include the Villa Savoye and the Ronchamp chapel and collaborations with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, led to several iconic pieces of modern furniture that we have all likely seen, such as the sling chair. 

Le Corbusier’s sling chair

Philippe Starck (1949) 

French architect, Philippe Starck is known for cultural venues and hotels, also designed yachts and furniture. The iconic juicer is our favorite.

Rush3 Product Design Studio

Truth be told, a slow economy, a goal set 10 years prior, and a chance encounter with a vintage bottle opener led to the creation of Rush3 Product Design Studio in 2011.  Local branding company Slant Media made the process of starting a product design company including logo creation, web site development and product branding fun and extremely exciting.  The next several years were a mixture of architecture and product design - using the design process to jump scales and functions. Some highlights of the Rush3 Product Design Studio chapter…

Kebo® - One Handed Bottle Opener

Inspired by the Theodore Low bottle opener from the 1930s, the Kebo Bottle Opener is a modern interpretation that offered better seamless function and classic styling. It was cast of stainless steel and polished to a mirror finish because it needed to feel good in your hand and be a sculptural if not architectural piece. The “Kebo®, short for “bottle key”, won the Innovation Award in the ‘Handtools and Cutlery’ category at the 2012 International Home and Housewares Show. Fun times were had in research and development (yes, we drank a lot of beer) as well as press in Men’s Journal, Core 77, Buzzfeed, Fast Company and the Today Show. Kebo was sold at many local shops, small businesses and even Restoration Hardware and the Museum of Modern Art.

Kebo® The One Handed Bottle Opener is a 2012 International Home and Housewares Show Innovation Award winner, was featured on The Today Show and was named as one of Men’s Journal’s “Perfect Things”

Kebo Light

Anyone in the product industry knows that before long, knock-offs sprout up.  At first when a colleague suggested we do our “own knock-off” we thought it impossible to consider anything other than the pure, stainless steel original Kebo. But when attending industry trade shows we were shocked to see derivations of last show’s newest products be presented as their own fresh ideas. It’s rough out there even with trademarks and patents in place. Enter “Kebo LIght.” A different iteration of the original Kebo with a nod to light beer.  It was lightweight (made from aluminum) and available in colors so this captured a lower price point and more of an impulse buy - a bottle opener you would have on the boat or at tailgates.  

Kebo® Light offers the same elegant design extruded from lightweight aluminum making it perfect for picnics, a day at the beach or any time on-the-go.

Munch Stix®

One night when having take-out Chinese for dinner, our then 7 year old asked for chopsticks but mispronounced them saying “chomp” instead. This was a good chuckle, but then we said, what if chopsticks could actually chomp. After initial launch, a bit of a trademark hiccup had us re-brand to “Munch Stix.” We still had fun with “Chum” the shark, “Al” the alligator and “Teri” the Pterodactyl as kid-friendly chopsticks. These were a finalist for the 2013 International Housewares Association Innovation Award (Tabletop category) and made the rounds on mom-blogs including Cool Mom Picks and A-List Mom.  Retailers included kitchen and toy shops as well as the Museum of Natural History and the Georgia Aquarium. 

Munch Stix® are child-friendly chopsticks that all have mouths and munch! Made in the USA, Munch Stix® are an AmericasMart ICON Honors Innovation Award finalist, an Editor's Pick for The Gourmet Retailer and one of A-List Mom's "Toy of the Year" in 2014. Meet "Chum the Shark" who has also been endorsed by pediatric Occupational Therapist, Lindsey Biel OTR/L.

"Al the Alligator" Munch Stix® was featured in Sharon Garofalow's "Cupcakes and Cutlery" blog and named, along with his sibllings, as a 2015 Family Choice Award Winner.

"Teri the Pterodactyl" Munch Stix® was the cover girl for Fancy Food & Culinary Products Magazine in June of 2013.

Tre™ Bottle Opener

Returning to the bottle opener space (because beer) the last product Rush3 Studio designed and produced was a sculptural triple function beer opener crafted and contoured for 1) twist-off bottles, 2) pry-off bottles and 3) can tabs. We did a small run of these in 2017 mainly for client gifts and local sales. 

Released in November of 2017, TRE is a triple-function bottle opener crafted and contoured out of stainless steel for twist-off bottles, pry-off bottles and can tabs.

Certainly a great education not only in jumping design scales and function from buildings to housewares, but in dipping our toes in the product / retail sector. We have since dialed down the product design studio for now and have been focusing on architecture in the Charleston metro area. Though we still enjoy designing at a range of scales and are life-long fans of modern product design. 

Eldridge Street Synagogue

In a recent design inspiration trip to New York City, a last minute tour became the true highlight. As always, the trip included many hours walking the NYC streets, studying facades and building details, meandering through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and if I’m being honest, eating bagels. The agenda also included the Tenement Museum where you can select from various behind-the-scenes tours to better understand tenement and immigrant life in the 1800 and 1900s. As a descendant of Sicilian immigrants (this is Judy talking) who arrived and settled in NY, I have long been intrigued with the hardships, courage, and work ethic of my grandparents and others who left everything in search of a better life. It was there when the Eldridge Street Synagogue, a landmark synagogue from 1887 and just a few blocks away, was suggested as a follow-up tour.

The docent shared that the Eldridge Street Synagogue was likely the first house of worship built for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in America. It was designed by the Herter Brothers who were also the architects of several nearby tenement buildings (the better ones) and was their first synagogue. The building was embraced and well-used for decades until its members began moving out of the neighborhood; synagogues are located in the same neighborhood so members can walk to worship on the Sabbath. This shift in the neighborhood sadly resulted in the worship space being closed off (a smaller subset still worshipped in the lower level) and it subsequently fell into disrepair. During the 1980s, the Eldridge Street Project formed to stabilize and restore the structure. After 20 years and $20 million, it became a National Historic Landmark and working museum.

Architecturally, the barrel vaulted space is striking, if not surprising, with Moorish detailing, gold and blue hues , stained glass and pendant light fixtures. The construction budget was tight yet the direction from the client was to make it ornate. To that end, no wall was left unadorned including painting the columns to look like marble. The pews were perhaps a result of value engineering as they are from a catalogue and harken to Christian trinity symbolism. No matter, the design moment that solidifies the story for me is the stunning rose window above the ark. It is the only contemporary design element in the space since the original window was destroyed. I am always a fan of the meaningful and graceful juxtaposition of ‘new and old’. As the museum website describes, “A final crowning element was the addition of a monumental stained-glass rose window by artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans in 2010. This beautiful sacred artwork is the only contemporary element in the main sanctuary. It marks the revitalization of the building in the 21st century, the most recent chapter in a story that is ever evolving.” The poignancy, symbolism and beauty is best described by the designers themselves; click here for a more in-depth explanation.

For something that almost didn’t happen, touring the Museum at Eldridge Street has become a favorite lesson of mine as it tells a story of architecture, historic preservation, immigrants and the power of community.

*****

[Back to neighborhoods ebbing and flowing, while the building was originally located in the heart of the Jewish Lower East Side it is now part of Chinatown. The building exterior was hard to fully absorb because the Chinese New Year parade was simultaneously happening outside which I am not sad about…]

Distillery Homework

We are nothing but life-long learners and curious creatives. The discovery and research phase of a new project is when we immerse ourselves in the client / industry and where relevant pieces of information are uncovered; we may not know exactly how they will be incorporated in the final project design, if at all, but we collect them none the less as we begin to conceptualize a design. After a period (sometimes short, sometimes long) of researching, studying and marinating with the history, images, precedents collected - the design concept is crafted with memories of these discoveries.

When we began the design phase for Firefly Distillery’s new facility, the first step was to visit their existing distillery and tasting room on Wadmalaw Island, SC to learn their history, better understand their brand, see their process, and well, taste some products. It was important for us to know how Firefly started and where they were going, how they differentiated themselves in the industry and thus what functional spaces and visitor experiences to help create in the architecture.

Original Firefly Tasting Room located in an old horse barn on Wadmalaw Island, SC.

Products on display and for sale inside the Tasting Room.

Becoming experts in Firefly’s brand and business was only the first step. We needed to visit other distilleries with successful brands, products and distillery tours, so the team headed to Kentucky for some serious homework. (There are worse things to have on one’s To-do list.) The goal was to visit several distilleries of varying size and personality to study the visitor experience - this was not to replicate any one of them, rather to understand varying ways to showcase a brand, tell a story and how the built environment supports the experience. We’re not going to lie - a great time was had by all; but more importantly, the research trip provided countless moments to document and reference during the next year of design work.

BUFFALO TRACE

Located in Frankfurt, KY, Buffalo Trace is a National Historic Landmark and heavy hitter with over 20 brands including Van Winkle, Sazarac Rye and Wheatley Vodka. Take aways include their expansive, historic campus, choice of multiple tours and events (including a behind the scenes “hard hat” tour, path of a bourbon barrel tour and a ghost tour), and how their rustic brand is reinforced throughout the grounds in both big and small ways.

Inside of one of the historic rickhouse structures.

Buffalo Trace logo cut into a stormwater grate.

WOODFORD RESERVE

The drive to Woodford Reserve in Versailles, KY was exactly how you wanted it to be, with horses and expanses of blue grass. While this distillery has a rich history as well, we noticed the polish and exactness they incorporated into the visitor experience.

Woodford Reserve’s information counter with backlit bottles.

There was a precise balance between the historic structure, distillery function and visitor experience.

The Woodford Reserve tasting experience was restrained, elegant and on-brand.

COPPER & KINGS

In Louisville, KY our first stop was Copper & Kings, a newer distillery with an industrial aesthetic using shipping containers to greet you, a large courtyard for events and a steel, glass and concrete distillery. Bonus: they play music in the cellar for their barrels while they age. (Related: this blog was written to John Coltrane.)

Shipping container welcome center and gift shop for Copper & Kings.

Large outdoor courtyard with gathering spaces, fire pit and places to project movies.

Barrels age to music at the Copper & Kings’ cellar because “Brandy Rocks!” They post the day’s playlist on their website.

ANGELS ENVY

Another stop in Louisville was Angel’s Envy, a VERY large facility that felt like a cathedral to distilling in the best way possible. It was reverent with grand spaces, a clear focus on education and showcasing the process and finished product.

Angel’s Envy Distillery map

The tallest column we have ever seen.

Our design process is richer because we walked through these spaces, listened to the stories told and became students again. We are ever thankful for the hospitality shown to us and look forward to visiting again.