Where to Begin
EDUCATION As an introduction, I may be the oldest architectural student enrolled in the College of Art & Architecture’s Graduate School.I graduated with “an Accredited Professional degree in Architecture” back in 1975. In those days, it was common for architecture colleges to offer a five (5) year B’Arch. From 1979-1980, I taught a syllabus Design…
Defining the Field
“What are the variables to be observed? And the answer is still another question:`What do you care to measure?’” Change in the constant of Urban Design. How do we understand the stream of communal growth, change, the ebb and flow of urban setting and practise? In the course’s First Module, two components of Urban Design are…
Contemporary Urban Design Theories: Architecturally Exploring Place and Placelessness
In the previous publication, considerations about how to assess an urban setting were identified. How do we interpret what we are observing with newer tools and new filters, which account for non-traditional data sets? The currency of that question continues. Investing in historical study of urban design theories provides the basis. To prescribe a place,…
Contemporary Urban Design Theories Additional Thoughts
Since my last post, Edward Relph’s thoughts continue to haunt my architectural wanderings. Subject of the last post have resonated in conversations with a number of colleagues, friends and neighbors. This is written to further pursue Relph’s thinking. First, a consideration. There is a colloquial saying – ” Are you in? Or are out out?”…
Urban Thinkers
Leon KrierPrologue – Introductory remarksStylist Swings of Urban Design and Architecture As designers, we rarely appreciate the significance of Greco- Roman Architecture, that which is considered Classical Architecture. In the European idiom, the Architectural style of ancient Rome, at her apogee, established the ideological hallmark of power and success.Following Rome’s dissolution, this evolution of design hallmark of…
“ In this and like communities, public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.”
-Abraham Lincoln In past postings, there has been a propensity to generate a lot of text. Interestingly, much of these writings have interpreted lectures, readings and associative materials to form questions. These questions have lead to exploration of topics which are addressed in following modules. My last posting dealt with the evolution of New Urbanist communities,…
Sustainability
What goes around, Comes around There are themes which have appeared in many of my postings. Many incorporate past experiences to illustrate thoughts and arguments, as the Module’s content is considered. Recycled thoughts & demons which are to be enjoyed and exercised. The first part of our module addresses to Sustainability. Much of its contents hold fascination…
Moving Forward – The Ever-changing Metanarrative
Metanarratives – “ What is discourse? Poststructuralism understands discourse as something like the cultural manifestations of the trafficking of thought, distributed into various topical foci.” (Groat & Wang, p. 193 ) Discourse in how we communicate. As planners and architects we are slowly understanding that importance of historical narrative as a means of interpreting the contemporary world’s fluidities…
Representation of Space – Space, Information and Design Interventions
Example 1 : Whitefish City Government Study Commission Introduction: Every ten years, per the 1978 Montana Constitution, a ballot issue is placed before Montana electorates. This issue is whether to study their current forms of government, assess anticipated conditions and past practices, then modify the way the communities are governed. In 2013, the City of Whitefish…
Stylist Swings of Urban Design and Architecture
As designers, we rarely appreciate the significance of Greco- Roman Architecture, that which is considered Classical Architecture. In the European idiom, the Architectural style of ancient Rome, at her apogee, established the ideological hallmark of power and success. Following Rome’s dissolution, this evolution of design hallmark of architecture became muddled, foundered. Style became obscure. The pendulum of…
Truly Sir, You Jest…
Medieval Comedy comes to mind when considering planning in Northwest Montana. Like many in Goldoni’s or Shakespeare’s works, those who participate in the `planning process’ find willing analogous parts within their plays. Much like the formative period found in comedias and dramas during the Renaissance, Planning in rural parts of Montana exist in a very primeval state,…
About
A Montana Architect with a modest practice in Whitefish, Montana. A practice in climates as diverse as forty below to one hundred ten above, throughout the Pacific Northwest and Northern Alberta. An uncommon portfolio extends from high rise design through university and institutional work; from custom homes to extremely affordable, no Montana Architect may come…
ken williams architect 