Douglas Newby Insights - Page 12
Prior to Fireflies
As the sun sets on the Wabash, one knows the show will soon begin. Twilight is like an evening sorbet that cleanses the palate of the day to give one a fresh canvas for the millions of fireflies (lightning bugs) about to appear from the grass on the ground to the stars in the sky. This last year the cliché of small town inhabitants heading to New York has been turned on its head with people from New York moving to small towns in Indiana. I decided I didn’t want to miss out on the midwestern small town experience. It is easy to forget how many small towns or cities have wonderful museums and where the nature is sublime. My birthplace of Freeport, Illinois, a site of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, has a delightful art museum and massive parks and landscaped boulevards I still think about. The village of Hinsdale, Illinois, where I was raised, had tree-lined, brick paved streets and triangle parks. Hinsdale also had a health museum that people came to from miles away. Whether it is a small town or a big city, it is important to balance art, architecture, vibrancy, and nature in an honest and organic way. *Prior to Fireflies
#Twilight #Nature #NewHarmony #SmallTown
Family Expression
21st century cemeteries seem to take their clues from New Urbanism—controlled, uniform, efficient sameness, packed together with the obligatory bench and fountains. Farm church cemeteries express the personality of the several generations of family resting there along with a view of what brought them to this land, and how it provided for them. I have loved cemeteries like this since I was a child. They seem to exude history and joy versus sorrow and loss. Organic Urbanism perpetuates the good and fun of the past and of the future. *Family Expression
#HistoricCemetery #ChurchCemetery #CountryCemetery #FamilyFarm
Nature Begets Architecture
A historic silo is programmatically modern. Form follows function. The materials are from the region. The architecture is honest, and it submits to the landscape. The genuine need for a silo over 100 years ago leaves us now with a piece of art and architecture. I love the curved, red, high-fire brick with five aligned vertical windows perfectly placed and the site on the edge of a row of trees with a foreground of farmland. It has been several years since I visited corn, bean, and wheat fields that became an ingrained impression of my youth when I was visiting farms owned by relatives on both sides of my family. Nostalgia, nature, and architecture translate to a city as well as a farming community. Organic Urbanism enhances what people love. *Nature Begets Architecture
#HistoricSilo #Beanfield #Architecture #Brick #HistoricFarm
Art on Wabash
Art is maybe the most compelling when it is unexpected. Walking through a narrow path surrounded by trees and crossing water, it was a delight to come across this sculpture. It reminded me of an Eduardo Chillida sculpture found in the Basque countryside sculpture garden in Hernani near San Sebastian. Just like the Richard Meier architecture found in both the farmland of New Harmony and in the urban atmosphere of Dallas, the Eduardo Chillida sculpture is hidden in the Basque countryside and it is also prominently displayed in front of the I.M. Pei designed Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. You can see examples of this Chillida sculpture in my Instagram posts around August 27, 2019. It shows how sensitive we are to the environment for art and how sensitive we are to nature in our cities. We need art and nature in our daily lives. In this picture, farmland and the Wabash River are in the background and on the other side of the path is the MacLeod Barn Abby, a quiet space for meetings, lectures, and events that offer solace for the mind, body, and soul. Gail Thomas and the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture permeated Dallas with a heightened sense of the city having a soul that needed to be nurtured. It became understood that a nurtured city would nurture its inhabitants. A successful city, town, or neighborhood needs to be nurtured. Organic Urbanism treats these places like a garden to be gingerly planted, groomed, and enjoyed. *Art on Wabash
#Art #WabashRiver #NewHarmony #MacLeodBarnAbby #GailThomas #DallasInstituteOfHumanitiesAndCulture #Sculpture
Labyrinth to New Harmony
Preservation is more than just preservation. Preservation is revitalizing an earlier energy and vision of the community. Jane Owen revived the 1814 German Utopian town that originally had buildings from the 1800’s and a hedge labyrinth for meditation and prayer. The best cities, towns, and neighborhoods have organic leadership motivated by passion to preserve, perpetuate and create good ideas and projects. The communities that are the most successful are not because a planner dictated the urban policy that they were taught in graduate school, but the communities are successful because of village driven projects embraced by the community. In 1988, Jane Owen created a polished granite labyrinth in New Harmony dedicated by the Rector of Chartres Cathedral, the cathedral that she visited with the architects to replicate the measurements. A labyrinth has become the unofficial logo of New Harmony. The hedge labyrinth and polished granite labyrinth have architectural appeal, are sophisticated and urbane, and add depth and meaning to the public spaces surrounded by nature. These labyrinths are additional successful expressions of Organic Urbanism. *Labyrinth to New Harmony
#Labyrinth #ChartresCathedral #NewHarmony #GraniteLabyrinth #OrganicUrbanism #HedgeLabyrinth
Philip Johnson Country Church
A country church by architect Philip Johnson certainly adds more visual vibrancy to a small town than a traditionally designed church. Jane Blaffer Owen, a patron of New Harmony, commissioned The Roofless Church in 1960. Born in Texas, she was a philanthropist, an heir to the Humble Oil fortune, who also funded the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. Jane was educated at Bryn Mawr and also at Union School of Theology. This was a great cultural and theological pedigree for her to orchestrate The Roofless Church. As Allison Hatfield commented in the last post, “One amazing restaurant is all a person really needs,” maybe one amazing patron is all a town really needs. Jane Owen was amazing. She was named by Queen Elizabeth II as Commander of the British Empire. I have found that successful cities, towns, and neighborhoods have major patrons. Dallas had Margaret McDermott as a patron. Munger Place, a small neighborhood, had the insight and drive of property owners like Bob Logan to transform the neighborhood that had been in decline for 70 years since Margaret McDermott had lived there as a girl. In New Harmony, The Roofless Church conveys surprise and joy—surprise to see it at the end of the block when one checks into the New Harmony Inn; further surprise to see what first looks like a walled garden reveals a sculptural chapel, and then another surprise when the sheltered church pews around the perimeter have a backdrop of beanfields. The Roofless Church is a meditative space where one can enjoy time by oneself. It also becomes the site of glorious weddings. The Philip Johnson architect-designed church adds to the Organic Urbanism success of New Harmony. *Philip Johnson Country Church
#PhilipJohnson #Architect #RooflessChurch #NewHarmony #OrganicUrbanism #Modern #SacredSpace
One Restaurant Town
To emphasize the point that New Harmony is a “one restaurant town,” I am posting the picture of the one restaurant. However, New Harmony also has a fabulous coffee shop with the best espresso I have had this year. I should have known the coffee would be good and New Harmony was a vibrant town when I saw two policemen drinking their coffee there. I was so impressed with the espresso, backed with small batch tonic, that I told the barista/owner that this is the best coffee east of the Wabash. *One Restaurant Town
#NewHarmony #SmallTown #Historic #MainStreet #OrganicUrbanism
Field of Dreams
The beginning of this summer I visited New Harmony, Indiana, to see if Organic Urbanism thinking translates for small towns and big cities. I usually think of Organic Urbanism as a way forward for cities. However, it is interesting that a small town of 980 residents like New Harmony can have an organic evolution, celebrate nature, generate vibrancy, and showcase art and architecture. My upcoming series of posts will review a small town with lots of energy, important architecture and pastoral charm. Field of Dreams—Build It and They Will Come could certainly apply to New Harmony. Jane Baffler Owen, wife of New Harmony founding family descendent, orchestrated the Richard Meier architect-designed Atheneum in 1969 serving as the New Harmony Visiting Center. In Dallas, we are more familiar with the Richard Meier designed Rachofsky House on 3 acres in Preston Hollow. The architecture is similar, equally suited to urban or farm land. They serve in somewhat the same capacity as The Rachofsky House could be considered an Atheneum of art and architecture. It is the first place I bring friends from Europe to get a sense of Dallas. When great architecture is built, they will come. *Field of Dreams
#RichardMeier #Architect #Architecture #NewHarmony #Dallas #Art #OrganicUrbanism #ModernHome
Hidden In Highland Park
It is easy to forget how modern homes in Highland Park can have uncovered walls and windows and still maintain their privacy. On what I think of as Oglesby corner—a corner of Highland Park that has two homes designed by Oglesby Architects fifty years apart—architect Joe McCall, as a young associate, worked on the first one of these homes and, as an AIA Fellow, he designed this new modern home. Both homes face each other, benefitting both from their deep setbacks that allow a lush landscape. Landscape architect David Hocker designed the landscape for this Joe McCall designed home, including the pool, with subtle spacing between the bluestone comprising the deck that allows any water splashing over the perfectly flat plane of deck and water to be collected. *Hidden In Highland Park
#JoeMcCallArchitect #DallasArchitect @JoeMcCallFAIA #ModernArchitect #OglesbyGreenArchitects #DallasLandscape #DallasLandscapeArchitect #DallasArchitecture #DallasPool #HighlandParkHome #HomesThatMakeUsHappy #DallasModernHome #HighlandParkModern @HockerDesign
Architectural Code
Highland Park might have the most rigorous building codes in Dallas, but this Highland Park home designed by Joe McCall, FAIA, has the most interesting deployment of code. On the front door, is a subtle greeting in Morse code to let guests know they have arrived at the right home. *Architectural Code
#FrontDoor #MorseCode #JoeMcCallArchitect #ModernArchitect @JoeMcCallFAIA #DallasArchitect #Architect #DallasArchitecture #HighlandParkModern #DallasModernHome #HighlandParkHome #Design #ModernHardware #ContemporaryDesign #DouglasFir