Grants and Contracts Details
Description
This oral history transcription grant proposal will complete the transcriptions of oral
history interviews conducted by Professor Gregory A. Luhan and Amelia Armstrong
conducted between 01 January 2002 and March 01 2004 with funding in part by the
Kentucky Oral History Commission and the University of Kentucky, College of Design -
Department of Historic Preservation. A previous oral history transcription grant funded
by KOHC has allowed us to transcribe 25 interviews of the 52 interviews. This proposal
will enable us to complete the transcriptions.
Louisville Modernism - Critical Regionalism, 1950-1980
The traditional registers for architecture are writing, drawing, modeling, and
building. The intention of these registers is to provide the general public with a
critical insight into the designers and the design processes they use to shape our
built environment. Often though, due to economic, time, or other constraints,
architects do not write, they do not model, and their drawings are stored
improperly, discarded, or destroyed. As a result buildings are often the only link
to the design process.
Building as Register
Today two legacies of modernism--buildings and architects--are disappearing fast.
Modern buildings are being razed giving way to new construction, which removes
the first register of the architect's creative endeavor. The Historic Landmarks
Commission is struggling to record through drawings, surveys, and photographs,
these historic structures before their destruction. The last major push to survey
these historic structures in Kentucky was in 1979. The purpose of that survey
project was to document architecture built prior to and at the turn of the twentieth
century.
Architect as Register
The architects in practice from 1950 to 1980 are now between the ages of 70-90
years old. Several major figures have passed away since the early 1990s. One
prime example, Jasper Ward, a pivotal figure in Louisville Modernism, passed
away only days before my scheduled interview. With him, an entire legacy and
ideology ceased. He did not write. He taught by example. He did not model. He
left his buildings to be the best representation of his work. In his death we lost his
general sense of being, his creative insights, and his passion for architecture that
extant examples of his architecture can only begin to convey.
Necessity for the Oral Interview
Kentucky architects during the modern period generally did not write or promote
themselves and little is known about their work. The primary purpose ofthis oral
history project is to learn from the interviewees how buildings and architects link.
I am interested in the interaction between artifact and designer and how the
designers became a vital part of the modern cultural legacy of Louisville,
Kentucky. By conducting these interviews, the architects themselves, will reveal
the human equation in design and will also identify the focus of our future
research projects.
Current Research
These interviews will provide a great deal of information for my research projects
on Louisville architecture. My investigations fall into four themes from which
both general publications and national presentations will emerge.
First, a guidebook of Louisville architecture for which I am the lead
author, entitled The Louisville Guide (co-written with Dennis Domer
and David Mohney), to be published by Princeton Architectural Press
(due for release August 2004)
Second, the architects - a book that focuses on John Bickel, FAlA and his
respective offices, Norman Sweet, and Jasper Ward
Third, a survey, analysis, and photo-documentation of the Modern House
in Kentucky and on ModernArchitecture in Louisville from1930-
1980, and
Fourth, presentations, and articles to the Society of Architectural
Historians, ACADIA, and ACSA-Association of Collegiate Schools of
Architecture National Meetings
My long-term research project, augmented by these oral histories will increase our
understanding of the cultural history of Kentucky, especially its recent
architecture. These interviews will identify key figures that have shaped our local
physical and cultural environment, our educational processes, and our 'modern'
ways of living. It is the beginning of a life-long research agenda that ultimately
may bring Kentucky architecture and in particular, this overlooked era, back into
prommence.
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 6/1/04 → 3/31/05 |
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