Modern Happenings

Egg chair and ottoman by Arne Jacobsen, designed in 1958. Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art

Check out these Modern architecture and design-related events!

May 16 – August 31, 2014: Danish Modern Exhibit

The Nordic Heritage Museum goes “Mad Men” with the eye-catching and interactive exhibition Danish Modern: Design for Living. On view from May 16 through August 31, the exhibit highlights the unique furnishing designed and made in Denmark during the 1950s and 1960s. Learn more.

Exhibition–Related Programs at the Nordic Heritage Museum:

PechaKucha Night: Living Loving Nordic Design: Thursday, June 5, 6:00 p.m.
PechaKucha Night Seattle returns to the Museum, this time focusing on Scandinavian Design, inspired by the Danish Modern exhibit now on view. First formed in Tokyo in 2003, this 20×20 format features simple presentations of 20 images shown for 20 seconds accompanying presenters’ talks. These informal and fun gatherings have since spread around the world.

Docomomo WEWA Night: Wednesday, June 25, 7:00 p.m.
An evening of Danish design, remarks, reception, and special viewing of the exhibit Danish Modern: Design for Living. This event is co-sponsored by Docomomo WEWA, a local community of individuals who share a passion for Northwest Modernism. Their mission is to promote appreciation and awareness of Modern architecture and design in Western Washington through education and advocacy. $5 suggested donation.

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June 13 and 14: Mid-century Modern Resources Workshop

The Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) along with the City of Everett is proud to bring a workshop to both sides of the state on Modern Resources. Everett, through a CLG grant, contracted with the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions to plan the workshop.  Wade Broadhead from Colorado and Professor Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll from the University of North Carolina will join Washington State’s Architectural Historian, Michael Houser, to explore how to recognize, identify, evaluate, and apply the Secretary of the Interior Standards to Post WWII Resources.

The workshops will be held in both Spokane and Everett.  The Spokane workshop will be held on Friday, June 13th from 9 am to 3 pm at the Spokane City Hall Council Chambers.  The Everett workshop will be held on Saturday, June 14th from 9 am to 3 pm in the Everett Performing Arts Center.

For more information and to register online, go to DAHP’s website.

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Saturday, June 14: Modern Queen Anne Architectural Tour

On June 14, from 2 pm to about 6 pm, the Queen Anne Historical Society will offer Modern Queen Anne, a new tour that focuses on two mid-century structures with unrivaled views, Canlis and the Swedish Club, while stopping by five recently completed homes to learn from the architects who designed them about program goals and the place of their work in the contemporary idiom. (Interiors are not on the tour). The automobile tour starts at 2 at Canlis. The bike version begins at 1:30 at the Swedish Club.

View the poster for this Modern Tour.

Join the tour by sending an RSVP to Help@qahistory.org or purchase tickets now at BrownPaperTickets. Members $15; non-members $20.

Society of Architectural Historians Call for Papers Deadline – May 31

Screenshot – SAH/MDR website

CALL FOR PAPERS

Museums: Building Collections, Building Community

ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS

MARION DEAN ROSS/PACIFIC NORTHWEST CHAPTER

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – OCTOBER 3-5, 2014

In recent years Seattle has re-purposed several important historic buildings to showcase the region’s history, arts, and culture. Join us for an exciting conference that focuses on old and new museum spaces and collections set in the growing, vibrant city of Seattle. This year’s theme is Museums: Building Collections, Building Community. Please consider submitting an abstract or proposal for a paper or work-in-progress report for the 2014 annual meeting of the Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, to be held in Seattle, Washington, October 3-5, 2014.

Submissions for the conference may include profiles of architects, builders, city planners, and landscape architects that helped build the city, preservation case studies, or important historical trends that made the Seattle area what it is today. These topics will be given first priority. Other proposals addressing any aspect of the built environment from any time period or place are also welcome. All abstracts adhering to the submission guidelines listed below will be given a fair assessment. Abstracts will be blind peer reviewed by the SAH MDR Review Committee with a select number chosen for oral presentation. Applicants may be offered a poster session if their abstract is not selected for oral presentation.

Graduate students and advanced undergraduates in fields related to the built environment are particularly welcome to present at the conference. Membership in the Marion Dean Ross/Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians is not required for abstract submission, although everyone chosen for presentation will be asked to contribute chapter dues for the current year.

Submission Guidelines: The abstract should be no more than 500 words, and should fit onto a single-sided page. On a separate single page, include the author’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address with a brief, 100-200 word paragraph biography or one-page curriculum vitae. Abstracts are due on or before May 31, 2014, and authors of papers chosen for presentation will be notified by June 11, 2014. Registration fees apply. Please indicate in your abstract whether you intend to deliver a twenty-minute paper or a ten-minute work-in-progress report. Ideally, the papers or work-in-progress reports delivered at the conference should be analytical or critical in nature, rather than descriptive and aim to make an original contribution. Completed manuscripts of accepted papers must be submitted in full to conference organizers by August 12, 2014.

Authors shall retain copyright, but shall agree that the paper will be deposited for scholarly use in the chapter archive in the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Electronic submission of proposals is preferred. Please email submissions as a Microsoft Word attachment with the subject heading SAH MDR Conference 2014 on or before May 31, 2014, to Phillip Mead at pmead@uidaho.edu. If you are unable to send your submission electronically, please send it via regular mail to:

Phillip G. Mead AIA
College of Art and Architecture
University of Idaho
PO Box 442451
Moscow ID 83844

Norton Building Tour (May 22) – Seattle’s First Modern Skyscraper

Join Docomomo WEWA for a tour of the iconic Norton Building in downtown Seattle. Built in 1959, the building was designed by the Seattle firm of Bindon & Wright, in consultation with the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM), and built by the Howard S. Wright Construction Company.

WHERE: 801 Second Avenue, Seattle (check in at the main lobby)

WHEN: Thursday, May 22, 2014
The event is from 5:30 and 7:00 pm. Please arrive no later than 6:15 to allow enough time to experience the spaces open to view.

WHAT: Opportunity to get an in-depth look at Seattle’s first modern skyscraper! Upon check-in, you’ll receive a tour brochure and receive information about the spaces/floors that are open to view. The tour is self-guided but Docomomo WEWA volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and discuss notable features of the building. The offices of LMN Architects and Coughlin Porter Lundeen (CPL) Engineering will be open to view. You’ll learn about the history of the building, its significance and changes/improvements over time.

COST: FREE (but donations are always welcome)

The 16-story Norton Building is Seattle’s first modern skyscraper and one of the city’s earliest aluminum and glass curtain-wall office buildings. The building was the first major downtown office structure built in the Modern era following the Depression and World War II. A designated Landmark, it is widely recognized as the finest local example of the International Style, due to the successful application of modern materials and construction technologies that allowed for efficiency, flexibility and elegance through the use of an innovative composite structural system and prefabricated and curtain-wall assembly.

This event is supported in part by a 4Culture Preservation Sustained Support grant.

Roots of Tomorrow E-Book Release

Crosscut just released an eBook of Knute Berger’s Roots of Tomorrow: Tales of Early Seattle Urbanism.

About the book:

Did you know that Seattle at the turn-of-the-century was home to a state of the art bike highway system and roving bike gangs? That an arts commune spawned modern Bellevue and an Italian godfather invented P-Patches in Seattle’s Wedgewood neighborhood? Roots of Tomorrow: Tales of Early Seattle Urbanism highlights Seattle’s modern-day urbanism and explores its deep roots in area heritage. With a foreword by former Seattle mayor Greg Nickels.

Here’s a Crosscut article about the book. Download the e-Book through Amazon’s Kindle store. It’s only 99 cents!

14th Annual John D. Spellman Awards – May 15