Walter Netsch-SOM

From Archiplanet

Jump to: navigation, search
Walter Netsch, SOM
Title FAIA
Born February 23, 1920; Chicago, Illinois, USA
Died June 15, 2008; Chicago, Illinois, USA
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Firms SOM
Notes
At Great Buildings http://www.GreatBuildings.com/architects/Walter_Netsch-SOM.html

Contents


[edit] Works

[edit] Discussion

"...in particular, Mr. Netsch’s buildings and urban spaces proved difficult to use and were vilified or even destroyed. Yet many scholars now argue that his body of work represents a significant break from the boxy modernism of the 1950s and 1960s and anticipated the unorthodox, computer-generated shapes of such contemporary architects as Peter Eisenman of New York City and Frank Gehry of Los Angeles." – Blair Kamin, Chicago Tribune

[edit] Related Content from Wikipedia

Walter Netsch

Walter Netsch ( February 23, 1920- June 15, 2008) was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture, as well as the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. His signature aesthetic is known as Field Theory and is based on rotating squares into complex shapes. He may be most well known as the lead designer for the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado and its famous Cadet Chapel. The Cadet Area at the Academy was named a National Historic Landmark in 2004.

Summary of work

After graduating from The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Michigan, Netsch studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then enlisted in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He began his career as an architect working for L. Morgan Yost in Kenilworth, Illinois. In 1947, he joined Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which initially assigned him to work in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Later he became a partner for design in that firm.


Following his work on the Air Force Academy, Netsch led the team which designed the original University of Illinois Circle Campus. The campus design grouped buildings into functional clusters and now constitutes most of the east campus buildings at the University of Illinois at Chicago.Circle Campus History During his career, Netsch designed 15 libraries, as well as academic buildings for colleges and universities in the United States and Japan, including Grinnell College, Miami University, Wells College, Illinois Institute of Technology, Sophia University, Texas Christian University, University of Chicago, and University of Iowa. He did the initial design for the Inland Steel Building in Chicago; built circa 1956-1957, this was the first skyscraper built in Chicago's Loop after the Great Depression.Walter Netsch Biography, Northwestern University Library website (accessed January 29, 2008) He also designed the east wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architects Oral History Project - Walter Netsch Netsch designed several buildings at Northwestern University and was the focus of an exhibit at the Northwestern University Library in February-March 2006Walter Netsch, Architect, Northwestern University Library website (accessed January 29, 2008) as well as a monograph, Walter A. Netsch, FAIA: A Critical Appreciation and SourcebookWalter A. Netsch, FAIA: A Critical Appreciation and Sourcebook, published in May 2008.

Recognition

Netsch taught at several universities, received numerous awards and honorary degrees, and served as a trustee at the Rhode Island School of Design and a member of the Board of Governors at Northwestern University Library. From 1986-1989, he served as Commissioner of the Chicago Park District, appointed by mayor Harold Washington.Netsch takes his wine and cheese to the parks. Chicago Sun-Times, July 6, 1986 He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1967. In 1995, he was interviewed for the Chicago Architects Oral History Project.Walter Netsch, Chicago Architects Oral History Project

Netsch was a collector and patron of the arts, along with his wife, Illinois politician Dawn Clark Netsch, to whom he was married since 1963. The couple's art collection has been exhibited several times.

Netsch maintained a private consulting practice and was viewed as a mentor by many architects.

References

General

Notes

pl:Walter Netsch

Above content from Wikipedia available under GFDL retrieved Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:25:54 -0800


[edit] References

  • Walter Netsch. Characteristics of the House as Determined by Space-Use, and its Application to Storage. Thesis, B. Arch. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 1943.
  • Walter Netsch. “Programming the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School of Engineering, Monterey.” Architectural Record 115, no. 6 (June 1954): 150-7. 11 il. 7 plans. 1 map. 2 charts.
  • Walter Netsch. “Die Hochschulanlage der Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado: Die Entwicklung eines Gesamtplans.” Bauen + Wohnen 11 no. 4 (April 1957): 124-28. 3 il. 9 plans. 3 maps.
  • Walter Netsch. "What Architecture Is and Is Not." Typescript, 8 p.
  • Walter Netsch. "On Political-Economic Horizons." American Institute of Architects Journal 66 (June 1960): 82-84.
  • “Background Paper: Architectural Concept of Northwestern University’s New ‘Laboratory’ Library.” May 1964. Northwestern University Archives.
  • Walter Netsch. University of Illinois at Chicago Circle-Revisited" in Architecture and the College Proceedings April 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 1966. Department of Architecture, University of Illinois-Urbana (1966): 84-93.
  • Walter Netsch. “'The Philosophy' in Comprehensive Building Systems: Threat or Promise?” Building Research 3, no. 5 (September/October 1966): 8-11.
  • Walter Netsch. "Impact '67, University of Illinois Architecture." Chicago Tribune (February 26, 1967): R40.
  • Walter Netsch. “EE-RLE Fairchild Building at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.” Design Quarterly no. 90-91 (1974): 60-61. 2 il. 1 plan.
  • Walter Netsch. “Postmodernism in Context” in “Other Views: Modern Opinions.” CRIT no. 4 (Fall 1978): 17.
  • Walter Netsch. "Creativity: A Personal View" in Perspectives on Creativity and the Unconscious, ed. Donald W. Fritz (Oxford, Ohio: Old Northwest Publication, 1979): 9-37.
  • Walter Netsch. "Case Study: The University of Blida in Algeria" in Places of Public Gathering in Islam Proceedings of Seminar Five in the series Architectural Transformations in the Islamic World. Held in Amman, Jordan, May 4-7, 1980 (1980): 29-37. 9 il. 5 plans.
  • Walter Netsch. "Remembering Nat Owings." Inland Architect 28, no. 5 (September/October 1984): 9. 1 il.
  • Walter Netsch, and Lawrence B. Anderson. "Conversation Between Lawrence B. Anderson and Walter Netsch, Lois Craig Attending." Chicago, 1984. Typescript, 30 p.
  • Chicago Park District. Preliminary Reorganization Report. Chicago: The Park District, 1986. 157 p. il. maps. diagrams.
  • Walter Netsch. Classic Parks-How Can They Live Today? Charlottesville, VA: Division of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia, 1987. 12 p. 1 il.
  • Al Johnson, Mary Decker, and Walter Netsch. "Final Report of Mayor Washington’s Stadium Review Committee." Chicago: The Committee, 1987. 24 p.
  • Walter Netsch. Interview by Betty J. Blum. "Oral History of Walter Netsch." Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1997. 474 p.
  • Detlef Mertins. “Walter Netsch Interviewed by Detlef Mertins.” SOM Journal 1 (2007): 136-51. 16 il. 14 plans and diagrams.


[edit] External Links

Retrieved from "http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Walter_Netsch-SOM"
Personal tools