Back in December we were lucky enough to interview Pat Rand, FAIA, professor of many sought-after classes and the author of numerous books, with another currently underway. We saved his interview to kick off the spring semester of the blog - hope you enjoy it!
Q: Where did you grow up?
Well, I was born in Kentucky, then I lived in New Jersey for
6 years during grade school, and I spent high school in Richmond, Virginia. A variety of places.
Q: What’s one thing you would tell your college self?
I don’t know... I wouldn’t change anything necessarily. I think I seized opportunities pretty
well, I think I was optimally serious, but not too serious. Maybe I'd tell myself to be prepared for the unexpected. I think I expected to follow a certain
path toward practice, and now I’m not practicing primarily. So maybe be alert for certain
opportunities, and be prepared for adjustments.
Q: Your book “Materials for Design” features case studies that
exemplify different materials.
Which of the buildings you selected would you go see tomorrow if you had
the chance?
The one that’s on the cover, which is a glass house, is a
ridiculous proposition; that one would build an entire house out of glass! So I guess I might like to see it
simply because of its unusualness, not because it’s exemplary. I would never suggest that anyone do
that ever again. It’s called
Laminata.
I was talking about the German Foreign Ministry in
class just yesterday, describing some of the things that Jamie Carpenter did in the glass wall that I cannot see in even the really high quality photographs
that we’ve got. That’s one where I
think he was doing some unusual things, putting in some partially reflective
glass and some spectrally reflective glass that you can’t really
photograph. That’s one that
would like to see in real life because I don’t think you can capture the glass qualities
even with really good photographs.
Q: What’s something that surprised you while researching your
most recent book?
How many really amazing projects are out there! We picked the projects because they were engaging
architecturally in general and they also used some material in some interesting
way. When you have a photograph that you keep zooming in on and
it keeps revealing to you more stuff, that's inspiring. How they invent a way to connect
materials in a way that doesn’t interfere with the appreciation of the quality of
the material. Invention, by a good
designer, occurs at every scale.
Q: How do you take your coffee?
Black. Strong
and black.
Q: You have a free morning; no meetings, no student interviews,
no classes to prepare for – what do you do?
I don’t have too many of those. When you’re working on a book it basically fills every free
moment you might have. If I have
time I would take care of myself a little better, exercise a little, take the
dog for a walk.
Q: If you had to recommend a few books from your shelves to an
aspiring architect, what would they be?
Ching's "Form, Space and Order". "The Visual Dictionary of Architecture" by Ching. They both explain concepts in a clear way.
Those aren’t terribly new books, but they do get across significant
ideas and celebrate hand drawing as a way to communicate something about
architecture.
Those are what I would recommend for the novice.
Start really simple and try not to scare them. That will come later.
Q: Who is a contemporary architect whose work you look at and
think “they’re doing it right”?
These questions are so reductive, it makes it hard, because there are so many really powerful people that are doing
really wonderful things. Let’s see, the firms in the first book that impressed
me a lot are a European, Despang Architekten comes to mind. They do small, socially responsible, high quality designs that I admire. Not over the top cost-wise, very environmentally respoinsible. I
look at their work and admire it greatly.
I really appreciate architects who tempt me with a big idea, with a big move but are
worthy also at the close scale due to their rigorous refinements.
From the new book we're writing there is an affordable housing project from South Africa that brings together a wood frame, packed sand bags as masonry, and an applied stucco surface. The design boasts good proportions, small footprints with space to store bicycles, hang
laundry, have space for a dog.
They way they built the walls, the occupants participated in packing the sand bags for their own home. It's not a textbook solution for how to make
a cheap house, and it's very inventive.
Thanks so much, Pat! See everyone at convocation this afternoon!
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