2022 Projects in the Pipeline

 

If the 2022 Projects in the Pipeline program was any indication, the breadth and volume of projects we can look forward to seeing take shape in here in Lane County over the next few years is impressive. The large amount of work hardly surprises us anymore, as the design and construction industries have proven remarkably resilient despite the economic and social turmoil we have endured since early 2020.
 
As with previous editions of the program, the Willamette Valley Chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute again invited representatives from local public agencies and developers to describe the current projects they're working on. This year, a combined in-person (at the Downtown Athletic Club) and virtual audience learned what the City of Eugene, University of Oregon, Lane Community College, and Atkins Dame, Inc. have in store for interested design professionals, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers.
 
City Of Eugene
Representing the City of Eugene was Allie Camp, Development Investment Liaison for the City’s Community Development Division. Much of the work the city has queued up is associated with maintenance or upgrades to existing infrastructure. The diverse projects Allie enumerated include the following:
 

• Eugene Airport Passenger Parking Lot Expansion
• Eugene Airport Carwash Facility (which will service the rental car company fleets)
• Eugene Airport relocation of FAA fiber lines
• Willamette Connection (see more about this project below)
• Golden Gardens Park Planning
• Monroe Park Restroom Renovation
• Tennis Courts Reconstruction – Churchill Sports Park
• Lincoln School Park Renovation
• Santa Clara Community Park (a phased project for new community park on a 35-acre site)
• Susan Arlie Trail Design (the city wishes to hire one firm to oversee both design and construction of the proposed trails)
• Striker Field construction
• Amazon Creek Naturalization (eliminating the concrete channel the creek presently flows along between 19th Avenue and 24thAvenue)
• Franklin Boulevard (part of the comprehensive, years-long project to improve the Franklin corridor in partnership with the City of Springfield and Lane Transit District)
• Fire Station 1 and Fire Station 11 re-roofing and HVAC replacement
• Eugene Library Main Branch and Hult Center re-roofing projects
• Eugene Police Department Headquarters maintenance
• Lighting projects (including along the Fern Ridge path and lighting upgrades in various city buildings)
• Pavement preservation projects (21 in total, including a mix of pavement reconstructions and overlays)

 

Willamette Connection

I was particularly intrigued by the Willamette Connection project and its promise to improve the existing pedestrian corridor between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue, flanked to either side by the Hult Center and the Graduate Hotel. The City’s goal is to make the path a fully accessible, more welcoming, and safe gateway between Eugene’s downtown core and the Market District to the north. The current grade change between the sidewalk at 7th Avenue and the Hult Center’s south entrance has always struck me as a confounding obstacle for mobility-impaired persons, so addressing this problem alone will significantly improve everyone’s experience. As a member of the local Japanese-American community (well, technically I am Japanese-Canadian), I also hope the Willamette Connection enhancements will preserve and enhance appreciation of the Eugene Japanese-American Memorial, which commemorates those who unjustly were interned by the U.S. government during the Second World War.  
 
University of Oregon
If I heard him correctly, Darin Dehle, University of Oregon Director of Design & Construction (and former colleague of mine at Robertson/Sherwood/Architects) said the UO completed projects totaling an astonishing $1.8 billion during the past biennium. Most notable among these are the Lyllyle Reynolds-Parker Black Cultural Center, the first phase of the Knight Campus for Accelerated Scientific Development, Unthank Hall, the Millrace Drive Garage, Bean Hall renovation, the University Health & Counseling Center expansion, and the new Hayward Field. Further reinforcing the university’s importance to the local economy, Darin provided an extensive accounting of upcoming design and construction projects representing an investment over the next couple of years rivaling the recent sums spent.
 
Like the City of Eugene, a substantial portion of that investment will fund maintenance projects and systems upgrades, among them:

• A new chilled water thermal storage tank
• Essingler Hall roof replacement
• Knight Library Elevator 5 and fire alarm upgrades
• Restoration of the Knight Library exterior
• Replacement of the historic windows of Condon Hall
• Building 130 seismic upgrade
• Baker Center, Cascade Hall, and Lawrence Hall reroofing projects
• Pacific Hall North mechanical systems replacement
• McMorran House deferred Maintenance & ADA upgrades
• Klamath Hall and Onyx Bridge exhaust fan replacements
• 12.5 KVA electrical switching and feeder loop upgrades (Science buildings and East Campus)

Additionally, the University is proceeding with the following larger scale projects:
 

Villard Hall (photo by Andrew Wendt, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons)

• Heritage Project (full renovation of University Hall and Villard Hall, including the outdoor space between them)
• Huestis Hall Renovation ($63 million estimated cost)
• Knight Campus Phase 2 ($200 million estimated cost)

Through these projects and more, the University continues to address a pent-up demand for maintenance, modernization, and expansion, thereby ensuring its future competitiveness on the higher education landscape.
 
Lane Community College
Currently underway for Lane Community College is a set of projects funded through voters’ approval in May of 2020 of Ballot Measure 20-306 for a bond valued at $121.5 million. LCC is using the bond to address safety, security, and accessibility for all students on its campuses, workforce retraining and career technical education investments, and classroom and learning space updates to meet the needs of current and future students.
 
Thomas Goodhew, LCC’s Capital Construction Manager, described the various bond projects, which include:

• A new Health Professions Building
• Expanded Manufacturing and Technology Program facilities
• Campus earthquake and safety upgrades
• Updated Science labs and modernized Math, Arts, and Engineering spaces
• A new Workforce Development Center
• A new Public Safety Operation and Training Center
• Replacement of the college’s IT and cybersecurity infrastructure
• Related site improvements, equipment, furnishings, etc.

 

LCC Health Professions Building - Schematic Design Phase rendering

It’s my pleasure to currently work with Tom on the new Health Professions Building project. Robertson/Sherwood/Architects is the architect-of-record, and our frequent collaborator, Mahlum Architects, is providing design leadership. We are about to embark on the Design Development phase of the $22 million project, with construction slated to begin later this year. Fortis Construction is the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC)
 
A key aspect of the bond projects is LCC’s commitment to fulfilling the goals of its Community Benefits Agreement. The CBA directs the college administration to promote and prioritize local businesses, contractors, and worker in the procurement of services and materials. Moreover, the CBA prioritizes diversity and equity in the project workforce, requires utilization of state or federally approved training and apprenticeship opportunities on building projects, and incorporates sustainability objectives in the project’s design and construction.
 
Atkins Dame, Inc.
During the 2020 edition of the Projects in the Pipeline program, developer Jim Atkins of Portland-based Atkins Dame, Inc. envisioned construction of the first buildings for the much-anticipated riverfront redevelopment of the former EWEB maintenance yard occurring during 2021, but that was before the global pandemic temporarily froze the capital markets. Fast-forward two years, and Jim was pleased to report that construction in the newly dubbed River District will start this year. Atkins Dame’s purchase of the initial parcels recently closed, with further land acquisition slated to occur later this year and during 2023. The company has attracted $30 million in Opportunity Zone equity for the development.
 
The initial Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA #1), signed in 2018, put the project into motion on the entitlement, infrastructure design, and environmental fronts. DDA #2 subsequently committed Atkins Dame and the City of Eugene to choose between “low” and “high” density development options. The maximum possible density would see as many as 1,213 units of housing in buildings up to seven stories in height.

Parcel 3BC apartment building
 

SERA Architects of Portland master-planned the River District and is designing the first two buildings. A 4-story building with 133 apartments will rise on Parcel 3BC (one of the “portal” sites), while Parcel 7 (facing the 1-acre urban plaza at the heart of the development) will accommodate another 4-story apartment building including ninety-five homes. The two buildings will not include retail space (future buildings in the neighborhood will). Atkins Dame tabbed Essex General Construction as the general contractor for the projects.
 
Jim envisions the River District in six to eight years as a vibrant, mixed-use, mid-rise community. Along with the adaptive reuse of the former EWEB steam plant, the development promises to transform downtown Eugene by connecting it to the settlement's historic roots along the banks of the Willamette River. It has been a long time coming and certainly will be exciting to see take shape.
 

*      *      *      *      *      *

 
The popularity and value of the annual Projects in the Pipeline presentation is underscored by the support it receives from sponsors. This year’s list of sponsors is particularly impressive. Thanks to the following companies for supporting this year’s program:
 

• Atkins Dame, Inc.
• Architectural Woodwork Institute
• Lease Crutcher Lewis
• DeaMor
• Delta Sand & Gravel
• KCL Engineering
• Oregon Electric Group
• Mid-Valley Commercial Construction, Inc.
• Essex General Construction, Inc.
• Streimer Sheet Metal Works, Inc.
• Systems West Engineers
• FM Sheet Metal, Inc.
• PAE Engineers
• Scofield Electric
• Rowell Brokaw Architects, PC

And kudos to the members of the CSI Willamette Chapter board for organizing the event. If the Projects in the Pipeline program was any indication, the chapter is off to a great start in 2022!

2022 Reverse Crit

This past Thursday evening, representatives from three AIA Oregon firms presented projects currently in design for scrutiny by University of Oregon architecture students in the 2022 Reverse Crit. Organized by the Oregon chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), the online event attracted a healthy (virtual) turnout comprised of a mix of Department of Architecture students and AIA Oregon members.

The firms who participated this year and the projects they presented were: 

Neuva Esperanza

Neueva Esperanza (presented by Eugenia Fama-Higgins and Amy Cripps of Scott | Edwards Architecture with Paula Barreto of landscape architects PLACE) 

The Ponds

The Ponds (presented by Richard Shugar, AIA, LEED AP of 2fORM Architecture)

The Yakima Valley Transportation Company

The Yakima Valley Transportation (Trolley) Company (presented by Shannon Sardell of 5/4 Architecture, LLC)

The ostensible point of the Reverse Crit was to provide architecture students with the occasion to turn the tables on these AIA Oregon professionals and comment on their real-world projects (as opposed to the usual scenario where it is the students whose work is subject to review and scrutiny); however, as with previous editions of the event, actual analyses or critiques of the projects did not materialize. The notion of a reverse crit appears burdened with unrealistic expectations. Undoubtedly, the students may not have felt it was their place to question the judgment of experienced professionals.

So “Reverse Crit” is a misnomer. Instead, the program was a one-sided pin-up session by the presenters. The students appeared much more comfortable regarding it a learning opportunity rather than a gauntlet thrown down before them by the professional community. There was absolutely nothing wrong in this.

The real value of the program resided in the opportunity to peek behind the curtain to see the inner workings of the projects. All three presentations highlighted the challenges faced by the designers, the multiplicity of their concerns, and how they resolved those issues architecturally. For example, the team at Scott | Edwards Architecture and PLACE are working to design Nueva Esperanza (“New Hope” in Spanish) as an affordable housing development attuned to the specifics of its site in Hillsboro and the diverse population it will be home to. 2fORM Architecture’s (with landscape architects The Satre Group) daunting task is to develop a richly detailed and context-responsive design for The Ponds within the strictures of a previously approved planned unit development (PUD) plan. Shannon Sardell provided a fascinating accounting of 5/4 Architecture’s contributions toward preserving the remnants of the country’s last early 20^th-century electric trolley service still in operation today.

All three projects stressed the realities of the real-world design process and the dynamics associated with getting the job done. This latter aspect of the presentations was of particular interest to the students as it provided insight into how “book learning” translates to professional practice. Real clients and genuine issues are in play in all projects architects undertake, so exposure to that aspect of design can be revealing. My sense is the students genuinely valued hearing these skilled practitioners describe how they arrived at their respective design solutions, all while addressing a myriad of practical concerns.

The event concluded with AIAS conferring three awards, as selected by the meeting’s attendees through online voting:

• Most Sustainable Award: The Yakima Valley Transportation Company
• Best Contextual Fit Award: The Ponds
• Most Inclusive Award: Nueva Esperanza

Sponsors for the 2022 Reverse Crit were the University of Oregon College of Design, the Materials Exchange Community Center for Arts (MECCA), Off the Waffle, AIA Oregon, and my firm, Robertson/Sherwood/Architects pc.

If we are fortunate enough, next year’s Reverse Crit/Professionals’ Pin-Up will occur in-person so direct interactions with the students are possible. I may have graduated from architecture school decades ago, but I will always remain a student of architecture. At this year’s Reverse Crit, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about how a few of my professional peers are harnessing their skills to produce the best possible results for the clients and communities they serve.

Architecture is Awesome #24: The Act of Building

 

This is another in my series of posts inspired by 1000 Awesome Things, the Webby Award winning blog written by Neil Pasricha. The series is my meditation on the awesome reasons why I was and continue to be attracted to the art of architecture. 
 
One of the aspects of being an architect I find most enjoyable is the opportunity to see a project take concrete shape during construction. Until construction begins, the client’s vision exists only as a collection of ideas, albeit thoughtfully conceived and composed by the design team. Drawings, a scale model, or a convincing digital reproduction can stand in for that vision, but nothing surpasses how satisfying it is to watch a building come together, piece by piece.
 
The act of building typically involves the efforts of many hands and machines, requiring considerable forethought by the design team and, in turn, by the general contractor. Because so many people are involved, and because buildings are costly and complex assemblages of interdependent systems, the potential for a project to go sideways is always present. Design and construction are challenging enterprises, and projects often take years to complete. The risks are always substantial, but so too are the rewards when a project proves to be a success.
 
A building site is a beehive of activity. It’s exciting to follow construction as it advances in real-time, especially as the project progressively moves from its start as a bare site, through the sudden erection of its structural frame, to receiving its cladding and its outfitting with myriad systems and finishes. It’s inspiring to work with the builders to translate a design into reality, addressing problems as they arise, while doing our best to stay on schedule and within the available budget. Witnessing the entire process unfold is exhilarating and, if the project is going well, immensely satisfying.
 
The ultimate payoff comes when the completed building opens its doors and welcomes its users. If the design team has done its job well, people will enjoy living, working, learning, being cared for, shopping, or playing there for many years to come. I derive a tremendous sense of purpose and fulfillment from seeing happy faces and knowing my efforts have contributed to a client’s or a community’s wellbeing. From the users’ point of view, the architecture is meaningful and worthy of admiration because the act of building made it so. The completed building has become an important part of their lives.
 
As someone who is not a parent, I can only imagine what the joy and thrill of witnessing the birth of one’s child must be like. Comparing such a profound and miraculous experience to the process of design and construction may be a stretch, but perhaps apt because both involve bringing new life to the world. A building is an architect’s “baby.” The projects I enjoyed the privilege to be a part of have provided my life with purpose. They will be part of the legacy I leave behind after I die.  
 
Architecture is at its most AWESOME and empowering when it leaps off the proverbial drawing board and becomes a physical reality. The completed buildings stand as a testament to the efforts of the many who did their best to create artful spaces and places. My contributions are tangible and with some luck, positive and lasting. The act of building contributes substantially to the meaning I derive from my work as an architect.    
 
Next Architecture is Awesome:  #25 Vernacular Architecture
 

Coming Fast: A Driver of Industry Change

Unfailingly, I’m drawn to news articles and/or essays about technological advancements within the architecture profession. I recently happened to read two especially thought-provoking pieces online about the future of BIM (Building Information Modeling). One of these is by Bill Allen, CEO and president of EvolveLAB LLC on the Autodesk University website. He posits the future of BIM will not be BIM at all but rather a new technology—Building Information Optimization. The second is a two-part series by blogger Graham McKay on his Misfits’ Architecture platform (with input from Mohammad Saad Ahmad) that questions whether BIM is driving the industry, or the industry is driving BIM. Together, these blog posts underscore the accelerating pace of technological change in how we design and construct buildings and the implications of that change for architects.
 
The Future of BIM will not be BIM and it’s Coming Faster than You Think
In a nutshell, Bill Allen says our current design and construction processes are poised for significant change, with increasing reliance upon algorithmic thinking and ultimately artificial intelligence (AI). Rather than manually modeling walls, doors, and columns in our BIM programs, Allen foresees feeding computers “rules” that tell them how to develop a buildings’ optimal footprint, structural load capacity, thermal performance, etc. He argues (correctly) that most architects currently operate BIM software inefficiently, at worst using it like a CAD program rather than capitalizing on the vast potential inherent in using data to inform the design process. One example he cites of how architects might exploit the full potential of BIM is to optimize interoperability between the design tools they already use, such that information is automatically generated in one piece of software and translated to another (i.e. capturing the manipulation of a study model developed in SketchUp in real time within a linked Revit file).
 
Allen describes how developments in AI will progressively automate numerous design processes that are presently manually performed tasks. Among the most exciting of these is a soon-to-be available generative design tool that automatically routes ductwork and piping while being object-aware and avoiding conflicts with the building structure and other MEP elements. This AI algorithm will save enormous amounts of time that otherwise would require laborious coordination by the project team during the design process (regardless of the current availability of numerous clash detection add-ins for IFC data models).
 
I’ve long envisioned AI-based tools that would automate code analyses for land use requirements, fire & life safety regulations, energy conservation codes, and accessibility standards. These tools would automatically generate code-compliant designs. Ensuring conformance with these (and other) disparate sets of rules is always a daunting task, so I welcome any advancements in AI that would automate and streamline code evaluation processes.
 
The American Institute of Architects says its members should welcome artificial intelligence as a tool to augment practice and replace mundane tasks rather than as a threat to their jobs. I agree. The x-factor is the complexity inherent in the design process and making of architecture. I recently argued that architects bring enormous value to projects by virtue of their ability to oversee the integration of the full range of design considerations. This will not change any time soon. Computers cannot yet fully connect and synthesize multiple and complex fields of knowledge (especially those that resist quantification) as architects must do on every project.
 
AI cannot engage in the level of multidisciplinary thinking necessary to arrive at the most cost-effective, sustainable, and attractive design solution to each unique design problem. For the near future at least, the level of analysis enabled by computer technology will not approach that which the human mind is instinctively capable of, nor will a limited set of primitive algorithms autonomously generate truly profound works of architecture.(1)  What AI currently lacks is the power of creativity, a general feature of human intelligence.
 
The Future of BIM as an Active Driver of Industry Change
In his two-part essay, McKay asserts the demands of managing a cloud-based BIM model for large, complex projects are driving a trend toward control of the model by construction managers and general contractors, rather than architects:
 
“We’ve all watched BIM become mainstream and our relationship to it evolve but, even until relatively recently, it was still possible for very substantial and complex buildings to be conceived, designed, and constructed without algorithms to generate their geometry, visualizations to picture them, CAD to document them, and BIM to coordinate their construction.

". . . roles within the building design and construction industry have changed to streamline the process but with competition for control of the BIM model. This is not control for control’s sake but can be justified in terms of higher quality, quicker response to change, and a corresponding reduction in the design and construction phases. All these are good things but owning and controlling the BIM model is where the most efficiencies are to be gained and the greatest profits to be made. It is increasingly common for the BIM model to be controlled by the contractor, and other roles subsumed beneath it, that of architects included.”
 
According to McKay, architects can’t be the “traffic controllers” because we typically lack the requisite engineering, construction, and management knowledge. That said, McKay also believes there is no reason why architects can’t become masters of information systems management and design to performance-based outputs and digitally managed information. The problem is attaining this mastery is presently beyond the reach of most small firms. Small (and medium-sized) offices like mine simply lack the assets large corporate firms have at their disposal. We can’t justify the costs associated with training and dedicating staff to this role, nor can we afford to bring on the highly specialized expertise necessary to coordinate, trouble-shoot, and fully capitalize upon BIM.   
 
Regardless of the challenges posed by the need to manage the exponential burgeoning of information and data sets associated with a typical project, there’s no doubting the benefits of BIM for even the smallest of architectural offices. BIM is based on several principles that can be implemented with relative independence. These include assembling a virtual, 3D model of a future building, which is continuously modified throughout the project’s life, valuably even after the completed building is in use. The model includes attached metadata, such as the material properties of a building component, and parametric modifiers like the height of a wall. Preparation of specifications can be tied to the metadata embedded in the model, and objects linked to online libraries can be updated automatically. And of course, because the BIM model is an electronic simulacrum of the real thing, immersive visualization of an unbuilt design is possible.
 
Despite McKay’s perception that architects may be at a disadvantage across the BIM landscape, I’m confident AI will eventually simplify and alleviate the burdens of information management while lowering costs. As a result, architects stand to regain a measure of the control and influence ceded to construction managers and contractors in recent decades in response to the increased demands and complexity of projects. As McKay avers, recognizing design consequences (cost, embodied energy, energy performance, code compliance, etc.) in the form of immediate and actionable feedback during all stages of design promises to minimize inherently wasteful, serial design “refinements.” The return on investment in BIM and AI will thus be considerable.  

Change is happening so fast it’s hard to keep up. I’ve always fancied myself a bit of a futurist, but I could not have predicted the power of building information modeling and how it has transformed the way architects work. The blog posts by Bill Allen and Graham McKay only hint at how BIM and AI will drive the future of the design and construction industries.  

(1)    As Bill Allen points out, AI can competently replicate the works of great artists, such as a Bach cantata or a Prairie-style home by Frank Lloyd Wright, by analyzing representative datasets and utilizing them to generate algorithms that mimic their work.  

Thinking Architecture

 

St. Benedict Chapel, Sumvitg, Graubünden, Switzerland, designed by Peter Zumthor (photo by  p2cl, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 
Like 2020 before it, 2021 was hardly a banner year. Many people continued to suffer from stress and anxiety wrought by too many, now familiar issues: the COVID-19 pandemic, a toxic level of political divisiveness, social injustice, the accelerating impacts of climate change, and more. In my case, work burdens and family issues compounded my stress and anxiety, manifesting chronic headaches and bothersome muscle tension in my neck and shoulders. I needed to decompress, so a week away from the office between Christmas and the New Year was exactly what the doctor ordered. I indulged in some “me” time, which included leisurely reading the book Thinking Architecture by the Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
 
I previously wrote about Peter Zumthor back in 2011 as part of my review of the book In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honoré. As I described him then, Zumthor is unquestionably the leading proponent of the Slow Architecture movement. Slow Architecture is about the creation, appreciation, and enjoyment of all that is careful, that is textured, and that stimulates the senses in buildings. Slow Architecture is an approach to design and construction, a philosophy of “how” rather than a manifesto of “what.”
 
Zumthor’s process of building design and construction is one that is more patient, more careful, and more detailed. It is a process in which the pace required by human craft dictates how construction is carried out and the passage of time adds a sense of delight rather than decay. Zumthor’s Therme Vals spa complex is often cited as a seminal work of Slow Architecture. Its defining characteristics include the process by which it was realized—a protracted six-year gestation period of reflection, analysis, and design—as well as the sensory aspects of the architectural experience. Therme Vals is perfectly harmonized with its surroundings, a product of Zumthor’s intimate familiarity with the site and commitment to the use of local materials.
 

Interior view of the Therme Vals, designed by Peter Zumthor (photo by Kazunori Fujimoto, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 
On the occasion of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) awarding him its Gold Medal in 2013, The Guardian pronounced Zumthor to be a “man of mystery” possessing a “mythic reputation as a reclusive mountain-dwelling hermit, a monk of materials, with standards so exacting that few clients have the patience, or deep enough pockets, to indulge his uncompromising approach.” Practicing his craft in the tiny municipality of Haldenstein (home to a mere 1,033 residents, located in the Alpine canton of Graubünden), Zumthor and his small staff of youthful acolytes have since 1979 produced a steady, albeit limited body of artisanal work characterized by its phenomenological underpinnings.  
 
Thinking Architecture is a slender volume. The expanded third edition I own is just over 100 pages in length. Despite its brevity, it provides the reader with an unstinting glimpse into the mind of a renowned architect.
 
Central to the book and Zumthor’s approach to his work is a recognition of the power of perhaps forgotten memories to be rekindled by experiences with new places and buildings. We all have such memories (many buried), fond musings about times and places that were comforting and mattered to us. Specific sensations may trigger these welcome recollections: the scent of freshly baked bread that fills a kitchen; the reverberant chords of a pipe organ within the nave of a cathedral; the warmth of the sun on your face on a cloudless winter’s day as you sit on a south-facing porch or the dappling of its light upon the pale wall beside you. Zumthor believes such individual, sensual experiences enrich our subsequent encounters with architecture that is particularly evocative by virtue of its spatial and emotional dimensions.
 
“When I design a building, I frequently find myself sinking into old, half-forgotten memories, and then I try to recollect what the remembered architectural situation was really like, what it had meant to me at the time, and I try to think how it could help me now to revive that vibrant atmosphere pervaded by the simple presence of things, in which everything had its own specific place and form. And although I cannot trace any special forms, there is a hint of fullness and richness that makes me think: this I have seen before.”
 
The weight Zumthor assigns in his work to remembrances of things past brings to mind Marcel Proust’s allegorical search for truth experienced through the involuntary recall of childhood memories in the French author’s novel In Search of Lost Time. Like Proust, Zumthor recounts cues encountered in everyday life and the associations they evoke without conscious effort.
 
Passages from Thinking Architecture read like narrative fiction:
 
“A glass partition divided up the length of the narrow corridor of the old hotel. The wing of the door below, a firmly fixed pane of glass above, no frame, the panes clamped and held at the corners by two metal clasps. Normally done, nothing special. Certainly not a design by an architect. But I liked the door. Was it because of the proportions of the two panes of glass, the form and position of the clamps, the gleaming of the glass in the muted colors of the dark corridor, or was it because the upper pane of glass, which was taller than the average-height swing door below it, emphasized the height of the corridor? I did not know.”
 
In a sense, many of our most vivid architectural experiences are self-biographical. Zumthor says architects should design with images in mind, and it is the images (memories) they gather during their childhood that resonate with and elicit recall of everyone's own cherished experiences.
 
The extent to which the architectural design process is subjective—and beyond the pragmatic aspects of programming, design, and construction, it is—is a basis for a design’s presence. Zumthor works on his drawings for a project until they “reach the delicate point of representation when the prevailing mood [he] seeks emerges . . .” He suggests architects should defer analysis until after processing the emotions they wish to associate with their designs.
 

Peter Zumthor

(Photo by KovacsDaniel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 
It wasn’t until I reached the end of Thinking Architecture that I realized the book is a collection of separate essays and transcribed lectures, rather than conceived as a single treatise. I did sense this was the case; nevertheless, they do coalesce to present a satisfying and recognizable whole, one that coheres as a rich expression of an important architect’s thoughts regarding his life’s work.
 
I have no illusions about the coming year. Though it may pleasantly surprise, I fully expect 2022 will present many of the same challenges as 2021, including a deficit of precious time. I would like nothing else but to be able to lavish the same level of care and attention to each of my projects as Zumthor does with his. Realistically though, ample time during my working years will always be a resource in short supply. There is consolation in being able to think about architecture—about my life’s pursuit—in much the same, reflective way Peter Zumthor has done. Reading Thinking Architecture was time very much well-spent.