Eighth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ), originally founded in 1965 in Wilkes-Barre, PA by Peter Bohlin and Richard Powell, also has offices in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Seattle, and San Francisco. Through their numerous projects ranging significantly in scale, site, program, and circumstance, Bohlin and BCJ respond to the nature of man-made and natural places, the diverse nature of people, the materials with which they build and the unique sensibilities and values of the institutions they form. In a spirit akin to Situationsarchitektur, Bohlin believes that an authentic, “humane and spirited architecture” derives from a sensitive approach to the particular “web of circumstances” inherent in each situation. The outcome of this design attitude is a poetic, viscerally and socially adept architecture that draws upon careful observation of human activities while exploring the emotive dimensions of site, climate, materials, and their technical and emotional impact on human experience. Bohlin’s biomorphic design studies at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute and Cranbrook Academy of Art reveal an emerging phenomenologically-based, humanist design philosophy. Projects from this period integrate human experience, memory, and environmental forces, while revealing the process of their making through the direct tectonic expression of their architectural elements. Design content is carefully choreographed in an experientially charged spatial cinematography that celebrates a “dwelling-in-place” revealed by moving between “place forms” on the way, as Bohlin frequently notes, “from here to there.” Positioned among the vanguard of the sustainable movement, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson’s design practices are regionally inspired, site-specific, and environmentally responsible, deployed to counter the contemporary environment’s “mediocrity and deadness.” Bohlin refers to both the ethical and experiential dimensions of sustainability as he notes, “We’ve always viewed sustainable design as not only the right thing to do ethically, but also an opportunity to make a richer and more powerful architecture.” Like contemporaries Will Bruder, Tom Kundig, Glenn Murcutt, Mack Scogin, and Tod Williams, Bohlin draws upon the poignancy of natural and man-made landscapes that offer cues for his spatial, tectonic, and environmental design responses.