Beverly Willis

Beverly Willis
Born February 1928 (age 88)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Nationality American
Alma mater University of Hawaii
Occupation Architect
Buildings Manhattan Village Academy: New York, New York
San Francisco Ballet Building: San Francisco, California
Union Street Shops: San Francisco, California
Yerba Buena Gardens: San Francisco, California
Aliamanu Valley Community: Honolulu, Hawaii
Projects Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis: CARLA

Beverly Willis (born February 17, 1928) is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). Willis played a major role in the development of many architectural concepts and practices that influenced the design of American cities and architecture.[1] Willis' achievements in the development of new technologies in architecture,[2] urban planning, public policy and her leadership activities on behalf of architects are well known.[3][4] Her best known built-work is the San Francisco Ballet Building[5][6] in San Francisco, California. She is the co-founder of the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C., and founder of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, a non-profit organization working to change the culture for women in the building industry through research and education.[7]

Early life and education

Willis was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, daughter of Margaret Elizabeth Porter, a nurse, and Ralph William Willis, an oil industry entrepreneur and an agriculturalist. Willis' brother, Ralph Gerald Willis (1930–1999), served in the United States Army and later retired to the Fiji Islands.

During World War II, at age 15, Willis learned to fly a single-engine propeller plane in order to qualify for the Women's Air Service. Willis then moved with her mother, now divorced, to Portland, Oregon, where Willis graduated from high school. Willis studied engineering at Oregon State University from 1946-48. She graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1954 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors.[8]

Career

Willis Atelier

After graduating from the University of Hawaii, Willis founded the Willis Atelier in Waikiki, where she continued the mural and fresco work begun in college under the training of Jean Charlot. In Charlot’s studio, Willis was introduced to the geometric and organic connections between art and nature, analyzing plants, buds, and flowers to discover nature’s intrinsic geometry. This understanding of the relationship between geometry, nature, and beauty would later influence her humanistic design approach to architecture.

In 1956, Willis pioneered a technique for sand cast mural panels, including a panel used in the Shell Bar at the Royal Hawaiian Hilton. The Shell Bar, also designed by Willis, became a backdrop in the television series Hawaiian Eye.

Beverly Willis Architects

In 1958, Willis opened a design office in San Francisco, California. Her early career as a multi-media artist, in Honolulu, Hawaii, led to her work in retail store design, for which she was nationally recognized.[9] In the late 1960s, when suburban expansion was booming, Willis combined her retail experience with large-scale housing, that later evolved into designs for institutions, urban planning and development. She is best-known for her innovative approaches to new and varied building uses, including: the San Francisco Ballet Building, the first building in the US designed exclusively for the used of a Ballet company and school; the Union Street Stores, that some historians describe as an initial contribution to the advancement of the Modern adaptive re-use of historical buildings movement;[10] and the Manhattan Village Academy, a New York City Department of Education high school that was a prototype for new teaching concepts embodied in small or charter schools.

Willis’s innovations were based on extensive research and the resulting architectural designs were developed from specific, often new, building functions, giving each building an individualized appearance. Among Willis’s most notable achievements was the in-house development and coding of the computer program, Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis, called CARLA, in 1970.[3][11] In 1995, Willis founded the Architecture Research Institute to study the future development of global cities. In 1997, the National Building Museum published her book, "Invisible Images– The Silent Language of Architecture."[12] Realizing that women’s significant and distinguished contributions to architecture were not included in the historical narrative of architecture – and understanding that the future is based on the past – she founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, in 2002, with the mission of changing architecture culture through research and education.[13]

Architecture

Beverly Willis’ architecture is rooted in a humanistic design approach that is reflected in the individualistic, functional plans of her buildings.[14] Willis’ work extends from the belief that design can influence human behavior and that the spatial concepts of form, function, proportion, texture, and color visually communicate with the senses. At the core of Willis’ concept of a humanistic design is her belief that form follows function and a Vitruvian understanding of the relationship between design, nature, and proportion as expressed in De architectura.

Her architecture portfolio spans diverse scales, from retail spaces to residences, commercial structures, and cultural facilities. One of her most notable design achievements, the San Francisco Ballet Building, was without precedent in the United States.[15] At the time of its completion in 1984, the San Francisco Ballet Association Building was the first building in the United States to be designed and constructed exclusively for the use of a major ballet institution.[5] The building, located within San Francisco’s Civic Center District, went to serve as a model for the design of future American ballet companies and schools.[6][16]

In 1974, Willis & Associates, Inc., was awarded an architectural and engineering contract for the design and plan of the Aliamanu Valley Community for Military Housing in Honolulu, Hawaii. The project was a $110 million family-housing complex of 11,500 inhabitants, residing in 525 buildings on a 524-acre site. Though CARLA had been previously employed successfully, Willis’ firm faced a greater challenge presented by the Aliamanu site, located on a non-active volcanic crater floor in a one hundred year old flood plain of clay. Through the use of CARLA’s analyses, Willis’ plan for Aliamanu projected earth-moving for the project at 40% less than the previous firm’s plans, causing less destruction to the environment and lowering overall construction costs.[2]

Resulting from their technical achievements in the development of the proprietary computerized approach to residential land analysis known as CARLA, in 1976, Beverly Willis & Associates was awarded a federal building commission from the General Services Administration (GSA) in Washington, D.C., representing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).[17] Though never built as a result of federal policy shifts in the regulation of computer data privacy,[18] the project was conceived by the IRS as a prototype design that would be site-adapted for nine subsequent buildings in IRS regions across the country as part of an $800 million program.

Among Willis’ other notable design achievements are the Union Street Stores, recognized as one of the pioneering projects in historic preservation and adaptive reuse projects[9][10] in both San Francisco and the United States, and the Manhattan Village Academy in New York City. The Manhattan high school received national recognition for its design[19][20][21] and was published as one of the exemplary examples of architecture in education facilities by the American Institute of Architects.[22]

Significant buildings

Awards and honors

Awards

Honors

Exhibitions

Scholarship

Books

Symposiums

Papers

Architecture Research Institute

R.Dot

Films

Philanthropy

National Building Museum

Willis' philanthropic efforts include being a founding trustee of the National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C. In 1976, Willis joined The Washington Post art and architecture critic Wolf von Eckhardt, architect Clothiel Woodward Smith, Smithsonian architecture historian Cynthia Fields, and attorney Herbert Franklin to create the National Building Museum. Housed in the former U.S. Pension Bureau’s Headquarters, four blocks from the National Mall, the museum’s mission is to “advance the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives."[28]

Architecture Research Institute

In 1995, Willis created the Architecture Research Institute as a think-tank to develop and advocate urban policies through interdisciplinary partnerships between academics, governments, corporations and the public. The Institute sought to “promote research in design and planning that informs public policies and strategies that create livable, compact, global cities that are eco-sustainable, walk-able and less automobile dependent."[29]

The Institute developed and advocated urban policies to make global cities more livable. After the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11, the Institute co-founded Rebuild Downtown Our Town (R.Dot) with Susan Szenasy, editor Metropolis Magazine. R.Dot mobilized hundreds of designers, professionals, and civilians to create a coordinated response to help guide the rebuilding effort and establish a planning framework for the city of New York.[30]

Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation

Displeased with the relative dearth of scholarship on women in the architecture history books, in 2002, Willis established the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) national research and educational organization, to advance the knowledge and recognition of women’s contributions to architecture.[13] The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation’s (BWAF) mission is “to change the culture of the building industry so that women’s work, whether in contemporary practices or historical narratives, is acknowledged, respected and valued.”[13] BWAF collaborates with museums, professional organizations and other groups in the areas of architecture, design, landscape, engineering, technology, real estate and construction.

References

  1. ↑ McCann, Hannah (2007). "Q&A: Beverly Willis—A Pioneer in the Profession Makes Sure the History Books Tell the Whole Story". Architect Magazine. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  2. 1 2 McGrath, David J. (November 1976). "A-E Computerized Path to Large-Scale Housing". Engineering News Record.
  3. 1 2 Wright, Gwendolyn (2008). USA – Modern Architectures in History. London: Reacktion Books, Ltd. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-86189-344-4.
  4. ↑ Ng, Henry. "The ArchRecord Interview: Beverly Willis, FAIA | Features | Architectural Record". archrecord.construction.com. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  5. 1 2 Dunning, Jennifer (1983-12-17). "SAN FRANCISCO BALLET OPENS NEW HEADQUARTERS". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  6. 1 2 Armstrong, Leslie, Roger Morgan, and Mike Lipske (1984). Space for dance: an architectural design guide. New York: Center for Cultural Resources: National Endowment for the Arts Dance Program. ISBN 978-0-89062-189-9.
  7. ↑ "Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation". Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  8. ↑ "Beverly Willis: Pioneering architect | Malamalama, The Magazine of the University of Hawai'i System". www.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  9. 1 2 Thomas, Lynn (October 1973). "Restored Commercial Buildings: How the City Saves Face". San Francisco Business.
  10. 1 2 Marlin, William (April 1973). "The Streets of Camelot". The Architectural Forum.
  11. ↑ Sattler, Meredith. “Early Technological Innovation in the Systems Approach to Environmental Design: Situating Beverly Willis and Associates’ CARLA platform [Computerized Approach to Residential Land Analysis] within the developmental trajectory of Geographic Information Systems." International Archive of Women in Architecture Center, Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design (GIS), 2014-15.
  12. ↑ Willis, Beverly (1997). Invisible images the silent language of architecture and the selected works of Beverly Willis. Washington, D.C: National Building Museum. ISBN 978-0-9619752-8-9.
  13. 1 2 3 "Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation -". Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  14. ↑ Willis, Beverly (1997). Invisible images: the Silent Language of Architecture and the Selected Works of Beverly Willis, with a biography by Nicolai Ouroussoff. Washington, D.C.: National Building Museum. ISBN 978-0-9619752-8-9.
  15. ↑ Freeman, Allen (December 1988). "City Beautiful Civic Center". Architecture.
  16. ↑ "THE BUILDING OF A BALLET HOW SAN FRANCISCO DOES THINGS". secure.pqarchiver.com. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  17. ↑ "Beverly Willis Oral History Project // Regional Oral History Office". bancroft.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  18. ↑ Hunter, Marjorie (July 27, 1978). "U.S. to Tighten Computer Security to Halt Abuses". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ Kershaw, Sarah (1995-05-24). "ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS: Career Preparation Or College; Combining Techniques Old and New". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  20. ↑ Gould, Kira L. (May 1999). "New York's Cool Schools". AIArchitect: The Journal of the American Institute of Architects.
  21. ↑ Thrush, Glenn (September 1994). "Visionaries in Exile- NYC's Small School Movement". Metropolis Magazine.
  22. ↑ Educational Facilities: Exemplary Learning Environments. New York: American Institute of Architects: AIA Committee on Architecture for Education. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978-1-86470-098-5.
  23. ↑ LLP, Anchin, Block & Anchin. "Anchin Announces Winners of 2015 New York Construction Awards". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  24. ↑ "Beverly A. Willis". www.dartmouth.edu. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  25. ↑ "Honorary Degrees by Name". Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  26. ↑ "Women in Architecture 1888-1988 "The Exceptional One"" (PDF). American Institute of Architects. 1988. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  27. ↑ Gross, John (1988-07-24). "ABOUT THE ARTS: NEW YORK; Fancies Flow in a Quiet Garden As Californians Experiment With Outdoor Chairs". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  28. ↑ "About the National Building Museum". www.nbm.org. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  29. ↑ "Mission". www.architect.org. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
  30. ↑ Szenasy, Susan S., Ann S. Hudner, Akiko Busch (2013). Szenasy, Design Advocate: writings and talks by Metropolis magazine editor Susan S. Szenasy. Metropolis Books. pp. 114–115. ISBN 978-1-938922-39-8.

External links

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