Test your Design IQ

MANILA, Philippines - Who is the Chinese American architect known for his dramatic use of concrete and glass? His iconic works include the John Hancock Tower in Boston, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Ohio, and the Pyramid in the Louvre in Paris.

He was born in Canton, China on April 26, 1917.  His early childhood was spent in Canton and Hong Kong, where his father worked as director of the Bank of China in the late 1920s.  The family later transferred to  Shanghai where he watched the growing cityscape, which planted the seeds for his love of architecture.

His father, who had many British banking connections, encouraged him to attend college in England, but he decided to move to the United States in order to study architecture. He enrolled first  at the University of Pennsylvania, and then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  When he graduated in 1940, he won the “American Institute of Architects” gold medal and the Alpha Rho Chi.

He remained in the US during World War II, and enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he was introduced to the work of Europe’s leading architects.  He quickly absorbed their ideas about designing unadorned buildings in abstract shapes — buildings that exposed their systems of support and materials of construction.

Between 1943 and 1945, he designed several low cost modern houses with EH Duhart and Frederick Roth.  These were intended to be built of prefabricated plywood panels and “plug-in” room modules.  Several of these designs were featured in the Arts and Architecture magazine and gave him his first national exposure.

In the 1950s, he became an architect of Webb and Knapp, overseeing the design of some of the most extensive urban development schemes in the mid-20th  century, including the Mile High Center in Denver, Colorado and Hyde Park redevelopment in Chicago.  These projects gave him the opportunity to work on a large scale and with big budgets in collaboration with the community, business, and government agencies.

In 1955, he established his own design firm, coming out with ambitious projects like the Place Ville Marie in Montreal, Canada, the Kips Bay Plaza apartment complex  in Manhattan, and Society Hill, a large housing development in Philadelphia.

In terms of style, his work during the ‘50s and ‘60s was strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe  —  especially his slab like skyscrapers sheathed in glass.  But unlike Mies, who supported his towers with frames of steel, he experimented with towers of pre-cast concrete window frames laid on one another like blocks.  This system proved to be quick to construct and required no added fireproof lining and exterior sheathing, making it relatively inexpensive.  The concrete frames also had the aesthetic advantage of looking muscular and permanent.

During the ‘60s, he continued to build “skin and bones” office and apartment towers, but he also began to get commissions for other types of buildings that allowed him more artistic expression.  Among the first of these was the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado, which was distinguished by a series of unusual hooded towers and situated against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.

Of his many museums, he became best known for the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington DC.  Located on a distinct but oddly shaped site,  he cleverly divided the plan into two triangular sections —  one containing a series of intimate gallery spaces, and the other housing administrative and research areas.  He connected these sections with a dramatic sky lit court,  bridged a various levels by free floating passageways.

A master of the curtain glass construction, his work in the ‘80s and ‘90s include the Allied Bank Tower in Dallas, the well-publicized glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.

He has received many numerous awards, but he places personal significance on the Medal of Liberty Award received from President Reagan at the Statue of Liberty.  To him it is a symbol of acceptance and respect from the American people.

Last week’s question: Who is the Italian-American celebrity chef who was named the top chef in 2010 the US by the James Beard Foundation? He also won an Emmy Award in the same year for Outstanding Reality-Competition Programming as executive producer of ‘Top Chef.’

Answer: Tom Coliccho

Winner: Manuel Antonio Arlegui of Marikina city

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