Victor Lundy - Sculptor of space

>> Victor Lundy: My art form all my life has been architecture. It has taken me all this time to become the maker of space that I am. My strength is drawing. Drawing, making marks, usually with my ebony pencil, is linked with my thinking. When I think thoughts, I draw thoughts. Visible marks come with words I think. I have drawn, drawn, drawn all my life. [ Music ] >> Using his extraordinary command of light and space, Master Architect Victor Lundy elevated architecture to an art form. He created sculptural mid twentieth century masterpieces that were at once bold and serene and which today appear as modern as when first constructed. Lundy used new technologies and innovative feats of engineering to reveal the beauty inherent in modern building materials. His ability to masterfully manipulate structure, enabled him to consistently realize a sense of timelessness, a quality that endures in the collection of religious, residential, commercial and civic buildings he designed. >> Victor Lundy: I'm a hyper guy. I talk with my hands and all of that. But everything I've ever done including, I think my drawings, paintings, my architecture has an ultimate it has a quietness, a serenity. And to me, if I can make an object, a building, that looks totally inevitable, like it has been there forever, that's what I do. And I revere structure. And I think I have an instinct for whatever material I'm working with, seeking to extract the ultimate truth out of what it can do. >> His work expresses that optimism and innovative spirit and inventiveness that comes after World War II when you have a number of American creators actually taking a lot of the things that were learned during the war in terms of new technologies and new materials and adapting them to architecture. Lundy is one of those people who addresses those issues in an incredibly creative and original way. Almost nothing in Lundy is old hat as it were. >> Victor Lundy's ability to skillfully design almost any type of building, no matter how small the size or budget, set him apart from many contemporaries who gravitated towards larger commissions. >> To be able to do churches and hotels and stores and parking garages and resorts and even something like a monumental federal building, like the U.S. Tax Court, which is the absolute alpha and omega of some of these things. And to do them well, that requires very special talent and focus and he has it. >> Such talent brought Victor Lundy great acclaim during the 1950s and 60s when his work was published in Life and Fortune magazines. But as interest in the spare forms of modernism waned in the 1970s and 1980s, the architect's work went largely forgotten until recently. >> In documenting the United States Tax Court, I recognized that Victor was a modern master whose work was really under appreciated, under recognized and that beyond the Tax Court, there was this entire body of work that needed to be documented. >> Renewed appreciation for mid century modern design across all sectors of the American public has led to the rediscovery and celebration of Lundy's work. Lundy's most significant public building the United States Tax Court in Washington, DC is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Tax Court is one of several iconic modern buildings under the stewardship of the United States General Services Administration. >> Victor Lundy's U.S. Tax Court Building sits temporarily and design wise within the context of other major modern masterpieces in GSA's inventory. The works of Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe. And Victor Lundy is one of those four at the top of those significant examples. >> Buildings of the 50s, 60s and 70s are being evaluated now not just by GSA but across the country by other federal agencies and individuals because they are approaching the 50 year threshold set by the National Register of Historic Places. And Victor Lundy's Tax Court, which was designed in the 60's constructed by '71 is significant in terms of its modernist expression use of materials and engineering. [ Music ] >> The sheer artistry of Lundy's buildings stems from simple, powerful forms conceived through fluid drawing. >> Victor Lundy: My thinking process is contiguous with drawing. I draw, obviously, better than I talk, good grief. I was born in the middle of Manhattan Island. Actually, in a brownstone, my mother never made it to a hospital. >> Born in 1923, Lundy showed early talent for both drawing and painting. >> Victor Lundy: I was brought up in New York City. Went through the public school system there. And my beginnings were totally in the realm of art. We were a typical small immigrant Russian family. I spoke and understood Russian, but my parents were determined, fiercely determined, to make me American. >> In 1933, during the Great Depression, Lundy's father, Alfred, moved the family back to Russia in search of a better future. >> Victor Lundy: My dad made a decision, which I think was really, in retrospect, very seriously flawed. He just decided to take his family back to Russia. I was nine years old. Stalin was in control and there was a big program of trying to bring back talented, serious, professional people who had fled his tyranny. >> Unhappy with life in the Soviet Union, Lundy's mother, Rachel, decided to return to New York with young Victor and his sister Nora just days before their passports expired. >> Victor Lundy: We were one week away from becoming for no longer being Americans. And my mother just said to my father, "Okay, Mr. Genius, if you want to stay, you stay. We're going back." And my mother got us back, before our passports ran out, all of us went through Brussels, Belgium, where my mother had a sister. And we lived there for a year. And my dad went back to New York. And to his credit, did faux marble and earned the money to get his family back. Well, I was the high school artist. And when I decided to become an architect, I remember my art teacher who I loved dearly and who loved me, was in this tears. She said, "Victor, architecture? You'll never make it. You don't have the political skills for that sort of thing." And I think she was partly right, although I made out rather well. >> Lundy graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and enrolled in New York University where he served on the yearbook art board and documented the campus's historic Hall of Fame for Great Americans. From 1939 to 1943, he studied architecture following the tradition set by the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the school of fine arts in Paris. This French academy exerted an enormous influence on American architecture schools during the early 20th century. Its teaching methods required a student to start a design with an esquisse, or quick sketch. And then organize the building into a balanced hierarchy of spaces. >> Victor Lundy: The Beaux Arts way of working never left me. You'd be presented with an architectural problem. You'd have maybe 4 to 6 hours to come up with an initial scheme. A building, a solution out of the blue that would sort of freeze what you'd be working on for the next 2, 3, 4 months. And that has never left me. Having confidence in original reactions. I'm a very instinctual designer. And I'm quick. Drawing has given me the facility to make marks, visual marks, fast. >> Before he went to architecture school, before he went into the army in World War II, he was trained as an artist and also as an architect in the Beaux Arts system. That is, he knew how to do renderings and ruled renderings and how to run washes. Now this was anathema to the modernist movement in the Bauhaus and in fact, they, to some extent, it rejected drawing even though some of them were great draftsmen like Paul Rudolph. They used models more than drawings to represent their buildings and show them. But, when you do drawing in the Beaux Arts system, one of the things it's all about is light and how a building exists in light and how that changes through the day and how it's malleable. And one of the other things, it's a great skill to know how to do these washes. It takes a lot of training. It's something you almost never see in a modernist drawing because they didn't have that. And Lundy uses it. He's just this veil. And also on a grand scale that make some of his drawings almost magical, poetic. [ Music ] >> Lundy's college days ended in 1942 when he enlisted to fight in the second World War. After months of training, he was placed in the 26th Infantry Division of Patton's Third Army. >> Victor Lundy: There I was in the infantry. Out of the blue, with this New York background. I'll never forget arriving in Columbia, South Carolina. And loaded into trucks off the train. >> In the fall of 1944, Lundy was sent to fight in France. But not even war stopped him from drawing. While on duty, he captured his experiences in sketchbooks small enough to fit in the pocket of his uniform. [ Music ] >> Sometimes with a full field pack, I would make sketches as I walked and I had kind of a wonderful record. There were 27 sketchbooks and only eight have survived. >> That November, tragedy struck his battalion when German tanks surrounded them in a French village. Hundreds were killed and Lundy nearly lost his left arm. >> I was wounded on November 12th, 1944. And that was just before and during the big build up of German troops for the Battle of the Bulge. And I think those of us who were in the front lines knew something was up because you could hear this tremendous roar. You know, tanks were out there. Something was happening. As it got dark, right at that time, here come the tanks shooting up the town. And everything was on fire. And I remember the house we were in suddenly got on fire. So, our squad, I got them to go to the neighboring building. And I remember there were some steps down to the cellar. And I said, down, down, quick, quick. You know? And so, I was at the cast iron door and as I turn to look up, across the street, here comes this big tiger tank. What I should've done was quickly jump to the side. And I remember taking the cast iron door and slamming it shut. And then as I turn this way, the projectile went through the door and I lost my left arm. >> After being wounded, Lundy was transported to an English hospital. >> Victor Lundy: I was very lucky that the doctor in charge turned out to be a famous orthopedic surgeon from Chicago, Hampar Kelikian. He was Armenian. And a total genius orthopedic surgeon who took care of ballet stars in Chicago and baseball players and all that stuff. And I remember I had, which I've numbered sketch book number eight in my tunic here. And he lifted it out and he said, "Oh sonny boy, I've been looking for someone who can draw." And he, I must say he's the one who kind of repaired me. But he also used me. I did drawings in the operating room. And in a way, he probably saved my life because he kept me. He didn't want me fixed up there. He made sure that I got transferred to Walter Reed Hospital. >> Lundy spent nearly a year recovering from his wounds at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. For wounds he sustained in action, Victor Lundy was awarded the purple heart. >> Victor Lundy: I came back from the war a different person. No doubt about it. [ Music ] >> Lundy's wartime experiences changed the direction of his career when he encountered a captured German soldier. >> Victor Lundy: I remember my buddy saying, "Hey Victor, you ought to talk to this guy. There's a Nazi architect back there." And I met him. And he was kind of a neat aristocratic guy with impeccable English. And we I got in trouble because we just hit it off. And he's the one who told me that Gropius was at Harvard. Mies was in Chicago. I learned about that. >> Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, had left Nazi Germany in 1934 for England. He moved to the United States a few years later to teach at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. On the advice of the German officer that he had met, Lundy enrolled in the Harvard program in 1945 a week after the war had ended. >> Victor Lundy: And then I remember going to Harvard to meet Gropius. And I had my uniform on and my combat infantry badge and the Rhineland Campaign ribbons. All this stuff. And when I met Gropius, I remember the hair on the back of my neck got erect. He looked exactly like the German officers I'd been fighting in France. >> At Harvard, Lundy learned a new way of designing based on the principles of European modernism. He was encouraged to reject historical traditions and reduce a building to its essence, much like the abstract art of the post war age. >> Harvard became the epicenter of modernism. And Gropius came in. He said, "We're getting rid of all of this kind of Beaux Arts history. We paint everything white." You know, it just became, you know, try to start fresh, let's say. >> After earning a bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1947 and a master's degree in 1948, Lundy toured Europe on a Rotch traveling scholarship from the Boston Society of Architects. >> Victor Lundy: The Rotch trip was the defining moment in my life. There I was with the opportunity to pick and choose and experience the great spaces and buildings of the world. I wasn't seeking anything, all I did was experience, respond, react, draw, paint. Painting, making marks. That's part of how I think and work. >> During his travels, Lundy, again, recorded his experiences in sketches just as he had done during the war. He would rely on his recorded experiences and ideas when developing building designs. Documenting each project in multiple notebooks containing sketches, concepts, writings and other inspirations. >> Victor Lundy: I call them brains books because they're almost like diaries but without the formality of a diary. I just write down everything that happens in the process of a project. Telephone calls, you'll find immediate reactions. Four letter words that I can't repeat here and sketches, drawings. Drawing is part of I'm very facile at drawing and I can draw fast. Drawing is part of how I think. [ Music ] >> Lundy's ability to draw and paint helped him land his first building commission. In 1951, he moved with his wife and two children to Sarasota, Florida where some of his contemporaries had settled. Soon, this resort town became a hot bed of trailblazing modern architecture. >> Sarasota architecture is a perfect place for an architectural revolution to start. And because in the 1930s, are artists, writers, photographers this group of people flocked to the keys there. And so, the whole atmosphere was just right for architects. There was Harry Seidler from Australia who was quite well known. Of course, Paul Rudolph. This was just a spot to be if you were going to be an architect. And they were all there. His first project was the Chamber of Commerce Building which he got from his artistic skills. Which, they had a competition for artists, and Lundy entered it and had a great rendering. I think it was a church he told me. And at that point the person that headed the show was, associated with the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and asked Lundy if he would do some sketches of what he thought the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce should look like. Well, at that point, Lundy did water colors. Lundy was a water colorist. Lundy could do in any medium. He could do sculptures. He did great sculptures. And at this point, they liked it. And so, he did the building for them. What was unusual about this building, it was a bit oriental in style and had a glaze, beautiful blue glazed tile roof on it, which is still there. That building still exists. The unusual thing was, there was no air conditioning initially. But Lundy came up with the idea of running the air conditioning supply ducts under the floor. And with the unit separated so that nothing touched his roof, his spatial aspirations of the building. And it was very successful. >> Another early Sarasota project was a drive in church that was published in Life magazine. >> It was amazing how he got so many of these structures built within a very tight budget. And it was just his great imagination. Plus, being from New York and having done some preliminary architecture work there before he did move to Sarasota, he knew the structural engineers there and he was able to use them, the best structural engineers at very reasonable prices. He used steel, he used wood. He used plastic. For windows, which I don't think any of the other architects did, he precast roof umbrellas for the hotel he did. He always was able to get excellent workmanship from whoever the contractor was. >> Victor is recognized by his clients as always being able to do a lot with a little. And to take a often minimal budget and produce a work of art. Because he knew how to transform simple materials into something magnificent. >> Lundy extended this structural ingenuity to ordinary commercial buildings. In 1958, he designed the Warm Mineral Springs Motel in Venice, Florida with concrete columns shaped like umbrellas. Lundy's modern designs were far less rigid than the earlier structures of Wright, Le Corbusier and Gropius. The exuberant shapes of his architecture expressed the optimism and technical possibilities of the mid twentieth century. Lundy was part of a generation of architects including Paul Rudolph and Eero Saarinen who set a new direction for modern architecture. >> Victor Lundy: Eero Saarinen befriended me. Early in my career, he really was after me to join him. And in retrospect, maybe I could have gone a different direction and ended up doing giant buildings, oh well. [ Music ] >> Between 1956 and 1964, he designed several distinctive churches that drew critical acclaim. >> Victor Lundy: Louis Kahn befriended me and gave me three awards for those first church structures, which, you know, unfortunately, sort of labeled me as a church architect. >> One of these award winning buildings is the dramatic Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut. The spare sanctuary free from the burden of tradition, suggests the spiritual mission of the Unitarians. >> As soon as you walk in this room you know there's something special here. And people say it to me all the time, especially, new, they come to memorial services or weddings. You know, so they're not congregants. You know, and I get it all the time. And the first question when we leave the sanctuary and go into the foyer, people say, "Who's the architect?" [Chuckles] so, Victor Lundy's name gets mentioned a lot. >> The church was built for about $300,000, a low cost even for the 1960s. But the tight budget didn't stop Lundy from developing his original idea. >> Victor Lundy: Well, as far as I'm concerned, it was a mutual love affair right from the beginning. And the congregation, my meetings with them, they didn't interfere with what was to come. I think they were looking for a response from the creative source to achieve their aspirations for a church. >> In designing the church, Lundy imagined his building as symbolizing hands in prayer. >> Victor Lundy: You know, I use my hands like this and what's interestingly enough, when you put, you know, we discovered that when you put your hands together like this, it's a sign of submission and abjectness. And in a way you're saying, "Oh God, I can't do this myself. Punish me for my sins, help me." But when you crack your hands apart, forget it. It's like you're letting air and light come through and, in a way, that idea surfaced right away. >> Inspired by this symbol of prayer, the curving roof over the sanctuary took shape. Its double curves are built of laminated beams and closely packed two by fours. >> Every one of these two by fours was placed singly and spiked into the adjoining two by fours. And as I remember, it started on the perimeter, two by fours, two by fours and then finally the form evolving. You know, wood structure is a live structure. I'm sure that in certain weather it makes very gentle noises [chuckles] that are pleasant to hear. >> Glass walls on the sides provide views of the surrounding woods to connect the sanctuary to nature. >> Victor Lundy: For me, stain glass would be unthinkable in this building. It's part of the irreducible and the idea of it having no style. Looking out through clear glass at these beautiful woods, experiencing the seasons, you know, the idea of progression from spring, summer, fall, winter. People who sit in this space, this is part of what they're here together for. [ Music ] >> As his reputation grew, Lundy established an office in New York City in 1960. Soon, he was being offered prestigious government commissions. >> Victor Lundy: Roughly in that time zone, I received the commission to do the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka which was really great. That project took 23 years to achieve. >> In Sri Lanka, Lundy used traditional materials such as teak, granite and ceramic roof tiles to integrate the embassy into its surroundings. Trips to supervise construction provided him the opportunity to travel throughout Asia and sketch what he saw. >> Victor Lundy: On one of these trips, there's a sleeping Buddha in granite carved. And what struck me, it has this incredible delicate close together striation. >> The curves carved into the Buddha sculpture provided Lundy with inspiration for the I.Miller Shoe Showroom in Manhattan. Through simple curve sections of wood, the architect managed to imbue the small space with the majesty of a gothic cathedral. >> Victor Lundy: We covered existing structure, sheathing it in this lace work of delicate wood which is inspired by a granite sleeping Buddha. >> Such early designs reflected Lundy's growing fascination with architectural form inseparable from structure. >> Victor Lundy: Throughout my practice, I revere structure and the showing of it. Not disguising it. And I've always worked with worthy engineers. And early in my practice, Fred Severud, distinguished Norwegian born engineer befriended me. We were close friends. >> This close collaboration with engineers enabled Lundy to achieve structures that seemed to defy gravity. >> The engineering of his buildings is often quite exceptional. And for me that's a lot like what really began the excitement in American architecture in the 19th and early 20th century when you had architect engineers working together and where, like the early skyscrapers were more distinguished for the structure than for the system of ornament. You know, that sort of develops later. So he just fits so perfectly in that. And then you add the top layer, the fact that he draws like an angel. And, in many ways, his methods of representation are very different from any other architect or any other architectural archive we have. >> To create his bold structures, Lundy experimented with economical materials developed during World War II including laminated timbers, plywood and synthetic rubber. A commission for the 1964 World's Fair led him to design with inflatable elastic membranes. The architecture of these pavilions acted as both surface and structure. >> One of the more playful projects produced by Victor were the hot dog stands and the bathrooms for the World's Fair in New York . Beautiful, inflatable bulbous structures that almost rose above the fair like hot air balloons. >> Victor Lundy: And at night when they were lit up that was an amazing thing. When ten of these happened all at once. And I remember, I got a call from Philip Johnson, saying, "Wow, what have you done here? He and Aline Saarinen loved these. They were sort of a hit. >> Other temporary structures from this period include graceful shade canopies for the Smithsonian on the National Mall. >> The overall form was just sort of a cloud of wood. But when you looked up it was, I think, a beautiful thing to look at. And it kept the sun off. [ Music ] >> At mid career, Lundy received his most significant commission from the federal government -- The United States Tax Court in Washington, DC. GSA allotted $450,000 for the project and chose a prominent downtown location near the National Mall. >> Victor Lundy: It was in the early 1960s the people in my office got ahold of me. I was wandering about somewhere in New York. And they said, "Victor, you have to call a man named Karel Yasko called you from Washington, very important." >> Karel Yasko, Special Assistant to the GSA Commissioner of Public Buildings was influential in improving the quality of architecture built by the federal government. His inspiration came from the guiding principles for federal architecture developed in 1962 under President John F. Kennedy. The goal of this new policy was to create public buildings representing the finest architectural thought of the time. >> The U.S. Tax Court embodies the guiding principles that were promulgated from President Kennedy's commission to look at how we could bring to federal design the best and the brightest of private architects practicing at the time. And Victor Lundy's U.S. Tax Court shines as one of those examples. >> Lundy designed the monumental building as a podium for justice. Its granite courtroom block appears to float above the entrance. >> Victor Lundy: The original obvious image was of a big block of stone. Color was not involved. But just thinking as a sculptor. And because of my early training as a Beaux Art architect, I was sort of use to the idea of first impressions. And thinking, what kind of, you know, just out of the blue, making an image. >> The U.S. Tax Court was purpose built and continues in that function today. Which is, somewhat unique. A lot of federal buildings, the tenants switch in and they switch out. But for the U.S. Tax Court, the judges who practice law in that building also have a profound appreciation for the architectural environment in which they work. And the highest respect for Victor Lundy and what he's done for them to provide a workplace of honor and elegance and beauty. >> Ada Louise Huxtable architecture critic for the New York Times agreed with the judges' assessment. She praised Lundy's design for sensitively responding to Washington's urban traditions, noting, "The Tax Court building deals in the timeless sense of balance, order and serenity that is genuine classicism. It meets the challenge of today's expression and technology as a prime creative objective. It is heart, hand and mind working together." >> The building is, at the same time, as it is a modern masterpiece. It is a study in traditional materials. The granite, the bush hammered concrete, the teak, the hemlock. There's a simplicity. There's an elegance to the design, yet it's overwhelming. You ascend the monumental staircase. You enter the building under this 4,000 ton cantilevered granite courtroom. And you emerge into this soaring space of the Hall of Justice. And you see the natural light coming through and reflecting off of the beautiful teak wood. It's very simple. It's very elegant. It's a study of volumes. It's a study of light. It's a study of craftsmanship and materials. All of which are traditional aspects of making a great piece of architecture. >> Influenced by his church designs, Lundy designed the courtrooms as contemplative spaces lined in concrete and wood. >> Victor Lundy: The courtrooms were something special. And I remember listening carefully to opinions on how they should be. And I think the idea there was to create inner sanctums of serenity, repose. This building, in a way, is almost a culminating work in my career as an architect. Judges of the Court and people who work here seem to love it. And I'm very proud of the Tax Court building. It's a building of its time and it's sort of timeless. [ Music ] >> In 1976, Lundy briefly moved to California to teach. >> Victor Lundy: So I went to California. And I spent a rather neat year there as a fifth year design professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. >> The architect and his second wife, Anstis, an accomplished water colorist then permanently settled in Houston with their son. >> Victor Lundy: At the time Houston was big time. I mean, things were happening here. The climate, the greenery, just totally reminded me of Southeast Asia. >> The architect soon began designing larger corporate buildings and office towers as a partner of the firm, Taylor, Lundy/HKS >> Victor Lundy: And I was design principal at HKS. And for close to five years. I'm proud of some of the unbuilt projects that I was responsible for. And I'm very proud of the GTE telephone operations world headquarters in Irving, Texas. >> In addition to designing his house and studio in Houston, Lundy built vacation homes in Marfa, Texas and Aspen, Colorado. >> Victor Lundy: The house in Aspen is one of my favorite buildings. I spent 18 months working on that house. It's a garden house. We can see the sky, the mountain tops. That building has really worked. It's been nominated for listing in the National Register. In fact, the city of Aspen is almost insisting on that. [ Music ] >> A half century has passed since a young architect presented Washington with a bold federal building design he named, 'truth for today and tomorrow.' Today, as a new generation explores the modern architecture of mid century America. The work of Victor Lundy embodies the truth of that era. An era defined by sculptural design principles and unprecedented technological advances. >> GSA has been extremely proactive in documenting its mid century masterpieces. A large portion of our assets are from this era. And it is extremely important that we have a very good understanding for identification and evaluation of which ones are significant and which ones are not, because that leads to appropriate planning and treatment for these historic buildings which are part of GSA's legacy and part of the legacy of the federal government. >> The Library of Congress has recognized the importance of Lundy's achievements by adding his archive to its architecture, design, and engineering collection. >> We have the archive of Paul Rudolph. And so, in a way, because Paul Rudolph was a major figure, in what was called the Sarasota School at the beginning of his life. And then Joan Brierton at the GSA, also told me about their interest and in Lundy and in documentation of his life and career, and in particular, his work on the U.S. Tax Court. So I ended up calling him. Invited me down to Houston to visit. And when I saw what was in his studio, and the quality of the drawings. And how exceptional his work was. And how different it was. And how well documented it was I was able to make the argument here at the library and to Mr. Lundy that this is where it should be. You can never fully predict what a legacy is going to be. All you can do is do your best to allow it to happen how it will. But I guarantee you, as a person who's been working with archives for 35 years. This is a doozy. >> The enduring appeal of Lundy's architecture lies in its variety. Originality and audacity. A shoe store resembling a cathedral. A church that receives its congregation under an upward sweeping seemingly open air roof. An imposing Court house appearing to float above glass. These remarkable designs have amazed for decades and now inspire a new generation of artists and architects. >> Victor Lundy: Architecture is the making of form. It's the solving of how you let light into spaces. It's the making of space. How you let light come into the space. Where you keep it out. That's the magic. [ Silence ] [ Music ]