Archinect - News

Preservation groups urge to protect Milwaukee's Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

2019-05-07T13:41:00-04:00

The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts was designed by architect Harry Weese, with the surrounding landscape by Dan Kiley, and was completed in 1969. [...] In December 2018, the Center announced an overhaul of the cultural venue, the culmination of a months-long strategic planning process. However, the proposal drew backlash for its insensitve treatment of the Dan Kiley-designed landscape.

At the center of the historic designation discussion is the planned replacement of the 36 horse chestnut trees in front of the Marcus Center with a lawn bordered by 18 honey locust trees.

"Preservationists said removing the trees would harm the legacy of grove designer Dan Kiley, whose other works include the Cudahy Gardens in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum," writes Tom Daykin for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Modernism Week remembers the legacy of modernist landscape architect Dan Kiley

2019-02-19T18:21:00-05:00

Kiley was among the most important, influential, and idiosyncratic landscape architects of the 20th century and the designer of more than 1,100 projects. Yet today his work is not well known outside of the field of landscape architecture and, to a lesser extent, the architecture profession. Despite his renown and importance, his legacy remains fragile.

There are many amazing architects and designers whose work sadly remains unnoticed due to the lack of exposure and presence outside of certain circles. With Modernism Week well underway the traveling exhibition "The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley" makes its debut in California's unmatched modernist getaway, Palm Springs. Housing one of the largest collections of modernist architecture and landscape architecture, the exhibition of Kiley's work during Modernism Week is an appropriate fit.

The practice may not receive as much praise or recognition; however, the importance of landscape architecture was emphasized thanks to the works of esteemed designers such as Kiley, Caldwell, and Jensen. The beautiful blend and appreciation of horticulture, ecology, art, and design are what these incredible designers sought to create. The history of landscape architecture can be dated back to Europe in the 18th century when royal families hired designers to transform the grounds and land...

The Ford Foundation's impressive (and much needed) renovation

2018-12-30T16:01:00-05:00

Astonishingly, the feel of the original emerged largely intact. [Darren] Walker, an aficionado of mid-century design with an eye for detail, spent serious money to salvage whatever was salvageable. Hanging brass lighting fixtures, door handles, granite-topped credenzas (some with embedded hot plates), Platner tables and chairs, black walnut bookshelves, bronze trim — 1,500 items in all — were given back their mid-century gleam. The Ford Foundation Building has become a museum of itself.

After many years of detailed renovation, the Ford Foundation has been successfully renovated and is ready to house 2,000 occupants. According to New York Magazine, "[the Ford Foundation] has withdrawn into a fraction of its previous space, halving the size of the president’s once imperial, now merely princely, suite. That shrinkage frees up space for three other nonprofit groups to rent, plus an art gallery and an abundance of meeting rooms."

Photo: Richard Barnes/Ford Foundation

Built in 1967 in Manhattan, New York, the Ford Foundation was designed by Dan Kiley and Roche-Dinkeloo Architects as a 160-foot “corporate greenhouse.” In his book, Manhattan Atmospheres (2014), the historian David Gissen argued that the Ford Foundation was a significant project in the history of environmental design for its ability to marry the image of botanical conservation with burgeoning practices in worker productivity, allowing the building to receive generous funding in its production of a building h...

The designer that Columbus, a film featuring numerous Modernist icons, forgot about

2017-08-25T16:11:00-04:00

The Miller House and Garden, now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, is acknowledged as one of the greatest Modernist collaborations. This thirteen-acre property was developed between 1953 and 1957 as a unified design through the close teamwork of Kiley, architects Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche, interior designer Alexander Girard (who is acknowledged in the film), and clients J. Irwin and Xenia Miller.

The recent film Columbus is centered around a love story of a son of a renowned architecture critic stuck in a small Midwestern town and a 'young architecture enthusiast' who works at the local library. Taking place in mid-century Modernism mecca, Columbus, IN, the motion picture spares plenty of spectacular views of iconic Modernist sites: the Miller House, North Christian Church (1964), Cummins Inc. Irwin Office Building (1954), First Christian Church (1942), and Columbus Regional Hospital Mental Health Center (1972). The characters, surprisingly, do not fail to acknowledge the architects at each location—there are mentions of Eero and Eliel Saarinen, James Polshek... However, Dan Kiley, whose landscapes are often the movie's pivotal settings, got left out and never once credited.

Kiley designed more projects in Columbus than any architect—over thirty landscapes which among many others include the Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden (1962), Jefferson National Expansion Expansio...

A closer look at the current exhibition "The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley"

2015-04-23T13:33:00-04:00

“The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley,” an exhibition at the Center for Architecture, shows how modern landscapes often make a better case for modernism than the architecture itself. Over a span of 60 years, Kiley (1912-2004), a founding father of modern landscape design, worked for the best architects around, among them Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He was fully versed in architecture’s modernist strategies and overriding focus on form and abstraction.