one-story peanut butter, noun: in reference to urban sprawl, how it spreads and oozes.
The term comes courtesy of Archinector and Archinect Sessions co-host, Donna Sink, who recalls W. Kirby Lockard (1930-2007), Professor of Architecture at University of Arizona, using it to describe sprawl during an urban design studio in 1988:
"The only other recollection I have is that he said it as if "...this is the way we build now". That was in the mid-80s, when sprawl really ballooned, I think. The movie Poltergeist was an indictment of it, certainly. The studio class was looking at different ways to build in the desert, in an environmentally friendly and climate-appropriate way - this was before terms like green and eco and sustainable were popular - so we studied historic Native American settlements and Italian hill towns and talked about transit vs. car."
"He spoke about how, in Tucson, which is a valley, "suburban sprawl was one story going mountain to mountain, spread out like peanut butter". That's more or less a direct quote." (DS)
As far as we can tell, Lockard is the term's author.
What better (or more American) substance to represent sprawl than the fatty, salty-sweetness of peanut butter? Plus, it's a huge mess to clean up.
Welcome to Archinect's Lexicon. Architecture notoriously appropriates and invents new language – sometimes to make appeals, sometimes to fill conceptual gaps, sometimes nonsensically. But once a word is used, it's alive, and part of the conversation. We're here to take notes.
3 Comments
Donna...Mc Neil would have added Jelly to the mixture.....just to sweeten things up.
"But-ter"
If you're going to put together a lexicon, at least break the words in the correct places.
In Phoenix we also called one-story sprawl the red tide, in reference to the red clay tile roofs of the endless "Spanish Colonial" style design.
But peanut butter being spread out with a giant cosmic knife across the face of the planet - really captures the notion that it's an intentional act to smear and spread.
Reminds me, too, of the Sherwin-Williams logo.
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