OBIE BOWMAN ARCHITECT FAIA MY JOURNAL

Interior Design

2012-02-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our whole mindset is essentially based around what a project is and does rather than how it looks or appears. Strong intentions almost always result in strong aesthetics and pretty much take care of themselves. Form and space are our primary considerations and how these are brought to life with natural light is the key to establishing a successful interior.

It is hard to imagine a serious architect that is not committed to the interior, the exterior, and every other aspect of his design. The interior is not only the driving force behind nearly every building project – it is the very reason for the project's existence…in the words of Lao Tse "The reality of the glass is the space within."

"I have always taken to heart Ero Sarenin and Charles

Eames maxim to always think about both the next larger

and next smaller scale elements while designing. Accordingly,

while designing a room, for example, one should also think

about how the collection of rooms combine to form the whole

building as well as the furniture to be placed within the

room." OGB

While we always orchestrate the interior finishes, lighting, details, and colors, we sometimes find ourselves working with interior designers, especially for furniture selection. Designs for built-in and custom furniture are most often conceived by us in concert with the building and room design.

1 and 2

WINDHOVER: A concrete Rumford fireplace is positioned against a wall of exposed aniline dyed 2x10 framing and cement backer board. The open portions between the framing allow light from an entry skylight into the main living space (1).

LIEB RESIDENCE: Designed for baseball fans, some of the living room furniture reflects the sport via base-shaped end tables and a "Joe" chair. A Rumford fireplace faced with alternating bands of black granite and galvanized sheet metal ties the adjoining spaces together and provides a central anchorage (2).

3 and 4

PINS SUR MER: Establishing a skylit entry in the central portion of the house allows crucial backlighting for every room in the house on this often fog-bound site.Tree trunk columns and a chandelier assembled from industrial lighting components help provides a no nonsense ambiance (3).

OREGON COAST HOUSE: The symmetry of the interior responds to the symmetry of the views which are both up and down the coastline.The cast iron stove backs up to a viewing loft above and glass doors leading out to the bluff below (4).

Kitchens

2012-01-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

One of the things that is interesting about designing a kitchen is that it is usually the heart and soul of the project – a role it has always had. As the kitchen goes, so often goes the rest of the house – this is where technology interfaces with ambiance, and the outcome, always important, can be quite striking.

As with the rest of our design approach our kitchen designs are primarily concerned with their functional role in both the larger and smaller scheme of things (their relationship to other rooms and to the appliances, cookware, and utensils). The aesthetics evolve out of the kitchen's form and function, although with a watchful eye on the rest of the house as well.

(1 ) and (2)

BRUNSELL (Obie House): The clients requested a kitchen that would not separate cooks from guests. The tiled island is thought of as a de facto kitchen and includes the cooktop, grill, sink, and chopping block. There is a separate bar with sink as well as adjacent walls containing pantry, small appliance counter, and major appliances

TIN ROOF: Here the kitchen is open to the rest of the house and is built around a large stainless steel island. A backup area holds appliances, walk-in pantry, sloped shelving, and additional counter space. Dish storage is in an antique hutch set into a wall of exposed 2x10 framing.

(3) and (4)

HOWGUINNLAND: The awkwardness of the existing room layout led to relocating a new kitchen (rotated 45°) within an oversized living space to create more comfortable room scales. The kitchen is capped with a large pyramidal skylight which is in turn fitted with a light modulating cone of perforated sheet metal. Soft light filters down through the holes to illuminate the kitchen while the rest reflects into adjacent rooms as backlighting (4).

SAN FRANCISCO REMODEL: The clients' indecision about open or closed kitchen cabinetry led to the embodiment of both – slatted faces of red birch (recalling the client's boyhood memories). The location at the back of an old Victorian necessitated exposing the exhaust duct which has subsequently been celebrated as a feature element (3).

Santa Rosa City Hall Council Chambers Show

2012-01-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

Obie will have twenty-nine pen/brush and ink drawing giclées on exhibit from January 10 through March 1 at Santa Rosa City Hall. A reception will be held on January 20 from 5 to 7 PM. The Council Chambers are upstairs and the address is 100 Santa Rosa Avenue. Please call (707) 543-3010 for viewing hours. Below are the announcement, City Hall, and the artist's statement.

THE ARTIST

My life as an architect has clearly affected the way I view the world – and the art work I respond to. I'm sure it is no accident that my drawings strive to evoke a sense of space as well as form. Not just the positive and negative composition space on paper, but space imagined by the mind's eye as well. I've always been more interested in the unknown than that with which I am already familiar. Accordingly, the compositions are suggestive and/or intriguing rather than literal and/or appealing to our sense of traditional beauty.

THE DRAWINGS

Having always been drawn to nature I find that biomorphic imagery comes quite readily. Each drawing begins with a thumbnail sketch which is enlarged and loosely transferred onto the final drawing surface. The pen (or brush) and ink drawing can evolve considerably with technique playing an active roll in the process – I want the technique to be an expressive aspect of the work. Hopefully the finished drawing is a balance of order and chaos, a combination of the familiar and unfamiliar and, most importantly, an image that resonates with the viewer.

THE PRINTS

All drawings exhibited are limited edition giclées (archival inks on acid free papers) with medium and large images on 310 g/m²German etching paper. Drawings are priced unmatted and unframed with mats and frames available at nominal cost.

OGB

Traditional Remodels

2011-12-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

I have always liked doing remodels. Two of the biggest reasons for this are 1) they often lead to solutions we might not have imagined if working with a clean slate and 2) when historical accuracy is called for they encourage a scrutiny of "the old ways" that is often both delightful and interesting.

Some examples of scrutinizing "the old ways" include:

Cedar Mansion/Sonoma: This B&B had a number of great details that needed to be respected – some requiring improved technical proficiency.

Brunsell/San Francisco: This Victorian got a new face lift on the front as well as a new kitchen on the rear.

Larkin/St. Helena: Already on the Historical Registry this remodel was completed with care and thoughtfulness for a very discerning client.

Old Milano Hotel/Gualala: With historical accuracy we refurbished the old building and got it listed on the Historical Registry.

Some examples of solutions we probably wouldn't have imagined working with a new project include:

Himot/Tallahassee: Awkward corners in the existing construction led to these zany bookshelves.

Bowman/Gualala: Because there was no entry area into the house we created a symbolic entry out of a new front deck.

Barr/San Francisco: This Victorian suffered from lack of light so we added a glass roofed kitchen on the north side.

HowGuinnLand/Sebastopol: The existing house was so uncomely we just built a mask to hide its front facade.

Ecological Landscaping

2011-11-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

A really big idea in my life and work is that of continuity – the connectedness of things versus the breaking up and fracturing that is the norm in today's manmade world. I have always had an affinity for the California landscape and for me landscaping isn't about creating decorative foundation plantings – it's about connecting back to the larger landscape – perhaps for as far as the eye can see (?). And it's not just about continuity of plants – although this is what we most often think of – it's also about continuity of animal life. It's trying to preserve the ecosystem – not to bit by bit break it down! Not every project allows this to happen, but for those that do we often find that our landscape consultant lacks genuine sympathy with our mindset and this often leads to our doing the landscape design ourselves. A big plus with this approach is that the overall project concept is totally consistent – the landscape being integral with the building design. We have had some wonderful successes working with landscape architects and designers – although usually with projects involving gardens and /or traditional landscape schemes. The following images of our projects illustrate a few of our basic landscape ideas:

Berms and earth covered roofs can merge with the surrounding grade to create an obvious integration with the land.

If existing trees are too close to new construction they can often be saved and integrated into the final composition.

Building extensions like trellises can support exotic species and serve as a kind of mediator between man and nature.

When there is a desire for substantial numbers of non-native species I tend to incorporate them in ways that limit their range – such as planting them in planters or courtyards.

The Old Way of Seeing

2011-10-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

In the good old days when life (and transportation) was slower there was a much greater emphasis on the inclusion of detail in architectural design than exists today. On the exterior this detail was often inextricably linked with light and shadow – creating patterns and textures that helped give buildings a lively face – something of a life of their own. Today we flash by most of our buildings with little scrutiny – and with correspondingly little need for well articulated facades – unless, of course, you slow down enough to actually look (!).

Architects used to study buildings in situ by drawing them – drawing the light and shadow. This took some time and forced one to actually see (and understand) what they were looking at (!). Today's architects can take a few moments and capture numerous photographic images with little critical seeing or understanding (besides, there's always Photoshop). Times have changed and our man-made world is becoming increasingly less appealing.

The older bank is alive and kicking while the newer bank is DOA

Drawing Towards Design

2011-09-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have always marveled at great draftsmanship – whether they be working drawings done by hand or computer, quick conceptual or design sketches or finished renderings. The intent of all drawing is to communicate visually what can't be conveyed with words alone – for me this is usually a sense of the overall character, a sense of the big idea and how it might be realized. Quick, freehand sketches have an inherent looseness that is compatible with the imprecise nature of our conceptual ideas. Following is a selection of my design sketches and drawings starting with a couple of early hard-lined design drawings, followed by the kind of conceptual sketches we do routinely – sometimes right in client meetings (!)

The Parable of the Cave

2011-07-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

One of our presidential candidates recently stated that the U.S. population has increased 25 million over the last 10 years, but that there has been no increase in U.S. jobs over that same period. Both our donkeys and elephants seek to create more jobs by encouraging the making of more stuff. Our donkeys seem blind and totally oblivious to future implications. Our elephants seem aware that living beyond one's budgetary means may have unpleasant future consequences, but are totally unable to extrapolate this thinking towards natural resources, social tensions, environmental degradation, quality of life, and just about everything else one might care to think about.

Political debates over subjects like entitlements, national debt, unemployment, illegal immigration – not to mention the multitude of social, political, and human rights issues – remind me of the inhabitants in Socrates' "Parable of the Cave" – an illustration of the difference between enlightened and unenlightened understanding. In this story men have grown up in a cave wearing restraints that allow them to only see one wall of the cave. A variety of shadow shapes are cast onto the wall and manipulated by others hidden from the men's view and understanding. The shadows are the only "reality" the men have ever known and over time they come to comprehend and even be able to predict the timing and sequencing of the shadow show – they believe that they have achieved an understanding of "reality" – which, of course, is merely the shadows of the actions that are creating the shadows. I see the creation of more jobs and a revitalized economy as but a false (unenlightened) "reality" – the continuing depletion of world resources must surely result in unpleasant realities. This, I believe, is the enlightened reality.

If our long term goals are to improve quality of life, end environmental degradation, resolve social tensions, and stabilize our stock of natural resources then we certainly don't want to increase the difficulty of accomplishing this by increasing jobs – our first priority should be to decrease the difficulty by decreasing the population by 25 million people. The benefits of reducing population seem obvious, but to advocate such would, of course, be political suicide. Looking beyond the obvious is not a strategy that very many of us can come to grips with. It is not easy to act in the interest of future common good when it requires sacrificing some of our present prosperity. Achieving this kind of enlightenment would require instating eyesight into blind eyes.

Multiple Figures

2011-07-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

I am interested in figures and unusual ways of seeing them. I worry about them being too abstract but then I worry even more about them being too literal. Incorporating various pieces of anatomy allows me to navigate through the familiar and unfamiliar while searching for the enigmatic expressiveness that is so elusive.

Opposing Figures

Bent Over Figures

Shoulder to Shoulder Figures

Side by Side Figures

Biomorphic Images

2011-05-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

Of my drawings the most successful and of greatest interest to me are the series of abstract biomorphic images. The following narrative and selected drawings are a good introduction to this segment of my work.

Having always been drawn to nature I find that organic imagery comes quite readily to me. Each drawing begins with a thumbnail sketch which is enlarged and loosely transferred onto the final drawing surface. The drawing tends to evolve from there with technique playing an active roll in the process – I want the technique to be an expressive aspect. Hopefully the finished drawing is a balance of order and chaos, a combination of the familiar and unfamiliar and, most importantly, a work that resonates with the beholder.

So I've Been Doing Some Drawings...

2011-04-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

My interest in art began in college where I majored in architecture and Rico Lebrun and Jerald Silva are two of the artists I have continued to admire since those days. Although I have done a little drawing and painting over the years it is only recently that I have begun to draw in earnest. I find that my technical proficiency is not on par with my compositional visions so this disparity is something I am consciously attending to. I am primarily working on three different theme sets of drawings: old architectural elements, organic imagery, and multiple human figures I’ll post examples from each set separately starting with the architectural elements this time. These weather-worn artifacts are often wonderfully formed and marked by the stories of their history. It is this characteristic that I pursue in drawing them.

Giant Ventilator

Old Sliding Doors

Derelict Kiln

Patched Up Opening

Broken Window

Manny

Ten Architects of Consequence

2011-04-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

I recently completed a series of ten portraits of some of the architects that have impressed me over the years. I used a variety of sources for the likeness and allowed my personal expressiveness to determine composition and technique. All are crow quill pen and ink – with some incorporating extensive use of ink wash(es). They appear here in the order in which they were produced along with explanatory captions.

Louis Kahn: At his best achieved an intense timeless quality.

Christopher Wren: In the 1600s Wren was forced by governing agencies to add two unneccessary columns to his design- it wasn't until damage inspections following WWII that it was revealed that both columns stopped just short of the ceiling (!!!).

Malcolm Wells: Probably the foremost advocate of earth covered roofs and "gentle architecture".

Louis Sullivan: Able to capture a spiritual quality in some of his work.

H H Richardson: An enormous architectural appetite - no holds barred.

Emmet Wemple: Teacher and mentor to many Southern California architects of my generation.

Paolo Soleri: A small man with a huge vision - architecture on steroids.

William Turnbull: A wonderful talent that has yet to be fully appreciated.

Filippo Brunelleschi: One of the great genius-architects of the Italian Renaissance.

Piranesi (father/son): Architectural drawing as good as it gets.

When Do We Right The Ship?

2011-03-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

Historically man's numbers were small and fairly stable but with the development of science, technology, and the division of labor we were suddenly able to produce enough food to literally fuel a population explosion. The last century has witnessed a flash of consumption – and a corresponding reduction in natural resources. As these resources continue to diminish and population continues to grow something will have to give. Presumably the population will level off or reduce to a number that can be sustained by the remaining resources. But the longer we postpone resolving this conundrum the more difficult the eventual solution will be. So far politicians and industrialists have proposed everything but the obvious. The P word (population) is absolutely taboo because it would mean political suicide – and a stable population probably implies a stable economy (unless extraterrestrial resources become available someday).

I expect we will face up to and achieve stability within the next hundred years or so. It would seem possible to achieve stability with a wide range of population densities – it's a matter of how much we do with and without. What a shame we didn't initiate population stabilization efforts a couple hundred years ago. It's just common sense that we can achieve stability more easily with 5 billion than 10 billion, or with 10 billion than 15 billion, and so on.

In the above graphs the red band width represents world population and the green height represents natural resources – note how they change over time. In any event it seems obvious that using up resources and producing more people is a catastrophe waiting to happen. This is an awful predicament somebody will have to face – it just doesn't seem fair – but then, if life was fair horses would ride half the time.

The Good News and The Bad News

2011-02-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

The good news is that we are becoming aware that Mother Earth’s warning light has come on. We keep hearing that things are amiss – whether it be pollution, disease epidemics, political unrest (see the pages of your daily newspaper). This has spurned conservation efforts from every corner of humanity and as a result positive things are happening everywhere and we are even beginning to grasp that there may be limits to the Mother Earth’s gifts.

The bad news is that in spite of our best intentions, we are not "helping to save the planet." It's not that we aren’t recycling and conserving enough – it’s that there is getting to be so many of us that there is just not enough in the gift bag for everyone to get a full serving. Reducing environmental impact is great, but what is truly needed is for us to produce and dispose of less – in fact the same quantities that can be sustained.

At some point in time there must surely be a population-resource recovering. An interesting consideration in this regard is the possibility that our well-intentioned efforts to slow down our impact on ecosystems could be inadvertently hindering earth’s ability to replenish itself. “An ecosystem might actually have more of a chance to become healthy and whole again after a quick collapse that leaves some niches intact than a slow, deliberate, and efficient destruction of the whole” (Cradle to Cradle).

We see plenty of eco-friendly testimonials in just about every advertisement we come across. Green has become a marketing buzz word second only to the "S" word but truly green or not a more descriptive term might be "less bad." Today's rhetoric is so filled with euphemisms that often our only hope for comprehension lies in reading between the lines. We have already altered the natural stability of our planet's resources – Let's be clear and call a spade a spade.

You've Seen The S Word...What About The P Word?

2011-01-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

It is about as difficult to find a contemporary magazine void of the S word (sustainability) as it is to find the word used with much, if any, thoughtfulness. Its most common usage seems to be as a buzz word by those trying to sell something. Usually the implication is that if we reduce our environmental impact by some small percentage (say 10%?) then we will have paid our dues and can feel OK about continuing with our (now reduced) destructive impact. It's probably good to be thoughtful and reduce waste, but passing this off as being sustainable is misleading if not deceitful. Sustainable means continuing without end – not reducing impact. Meanwhile, the human population continues unabated, exacerbating the need for ever more resources.

Reducing our impact on the planet is just easing off the throttle – it slows things down but our increasing numbers will surely catch up with and surpass whatever ecological gains we make. It's just a gamble to assume that future technological development will mitigate or solve this dichotomy – maybe it won't. The combination of increasing population and diminishing resources is an unfortunate event waiting to happen. This is not sustainability – but rather something much more like Postponement (the P word).

My view of sustainability includes continuity – continuity of all things important to life, with life itself being at the top of the list, followed by all the inanimate stuff that allows life to exist. Continuity of movement is one of these (continuity of movement for all life). Architecturally, our all too common approach to development is to disrupt continuity by fencing properties and introducing exotic species. This not only plays havoc with life requiring a range in which to exist, it also fosters to the mindset that property is little more than a placemat to set buildings down upon. In this scenario both building and occupant typically withdraw farther and farther away from any connectedness to the larger landscape and farther and farther away from any sense of place in the larger scheme of things.

The Universal Constant?

2010-12-31T18:05:00.000-08:00

In Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Last Theorem mankind is threatened with extinction at the hands of highly evolved aliens. Eventually, however, the aliens absorb our notion of The Golden Rule and come to embrace this maxim as the great constant that should apply throughout the universe. For me "do unto others…" is a moral and ethical constant applying to the existence of life itself – life in all its forms. I believe that except for the luck of the draw I might just as easily have been born a salamander, a snake, or a cow.

For most of us any sense of relationship with other species is just about nonexistent – we are just woefully uninformed about the other life forms around us. How many of us can name even a handful of our native plants or animals? Very few – although most of us can easily rattle off the titles of numerous TV sit-coms including the names of the cast. It's difficult to have empathy for what you neither know nor understand but I think we would be better off in the long run if we had the humility to think of ourselves as a species among many species (rather than as us versus everything else). The proposition that the plant and animal kingdoms were placed here only to serve us doesn't even deserve a comment.

About the only constant we can interpret from observing life on earth is "systems that work survive." This is representative of the complex web of millions of interrelated life forms that come and go as they respond to ever changing environments. But something very different is taking place these days. Our newly acquired planetary dominance coupled with our exploding numbers has brought about a new age with new ways to provide food for ourselves – we have moved away from biodiversity and towards huge doses of monoculture. Not just our crops – our meat too now comes primarily from penned or caged animals that are born into the world for the sole purpose of providing us sustenance. For now the system is working in spite of its numerous problems – nevertheless it just doesn't feel right…

Human dominance implies human accountability and it is time for "systems that work survive " to receive an update. How about a touch of humanity? How about a touch of The Golden Rule (the ethical code of reciprocity)? If our morality is limited only to each other then what can we expect if we one day encounter superior aliens that may very well not be familiar with such a moral/ethical standard? In time perhaps someday we will find a way to better share the planet with its other species. Then we will be able to show our visitors a world order based on what really could be the universal constant of "do unto others as you would have others do unto you."

About the Header Images

2010-11-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Those familiar with my background probably know the significance of the contrasting header images above. For the rest of you I would like to offer a few words of explanation: The paving of the Los Angeles River during my youth had a profound impact on me and the direction my life and work would take. It was an example loud and clear of how we all too often destroy the life-giving qualities of a place in the name of progress. This turned me against staying in Los Angeles and becoming an urban architect – instead I sided with nature and began a small rural practice that could direct the reshaping of the landscape much less aggressively while allowing plenty of time for reflection. Now, four decades later, I continue that resolve. The header images represent the on-going struggle between my efforts to preserve nature and my hand in converting her into human habitat.

Although these days seem to have more time for reflection than I might like, I feel good that almost all of our projects have been unique and thoughtful responses to their circumstances. While many of these have been natural environments, we have also created numerous urban, suburban and interior projects, both residential and commercial. In fact, it's really the circumstances that are the source of inspiration with much of the conceptualization actually occurring on the site itself – not under the lights and ceiling of our studio. Responding to the unique features of the site, with a constant eye on sun and wind, always suggests innovative solutions far removed from the ubiquitous box with a visually heavy top-hat like roof.

Nearly every project causes some destruction of its site – my goal is to minimize the destruction and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. It is discouraging to see thoughtless development springing up around me with so many missed opportunities – missed because someone's vision was so narrow they just couldn't see clearly or perhaps because they just didn't care or work hard enough. The Los Angeles River is a classic example of this kind of shortsightedness. The river was a unique source of life, habitat, and energy and Los Angles had the chance to feature a river park meandering through it! This opportunity was ignored in lieu of a quick-fix (albeit needed) flood control channel and now, fifty years later, the city is trying to restore some of the river's natural habitat. What a shame – what a waste – what a legacy.

26^th Street Bridge over the Los Angeles River by David Kimbrough

www.bridgehunter.com/ca/los-angeles/53C0868/

The Beginning

2010-11-08T12:28:00.000-08:00

I hope to make an entry early each month – it may be a drawing (s), a reaction to some current event, or perhaps a heartfelt discussion of an issue dear to me. Whatever it is I hope it will be pithy, provocative, and provide insight into some of the values and ideas that underpin our work.

For this first entry I am showing a pair of drawings I recently did – and which can soon be seen at Al Forster's 1043 Gallery at The Ranch Center. They were done with pen and India ink and were executed with little pre-composition – the imagery tending to evolve during the drawing process itself. Some of the things that cross my mind from time to time I believe are worth sharing and so am initiating this journal.