Wednesday / November 18, 2015 / 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Ike Colburn: Emotion in Modern Architecture
AIA Chicago, 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 250, Chicago IL
Jay Pridmore’s new book I. W. Coburn: Emotion in Modern Architecture chronicles the career of one of Chicago’s unique mid-century modernists. Mr. Pridmore’s illustrated talk about his book and its subject will trace the influence of Irving Walker Colburn, FAIA (1923-1992; better known as I.W. Colburn, or Ike) and his richly textured career as an architect of high-end residences, academic buildings, churches, and historic restorations.
Colburn was a confirmed modernist, having studied at Yale with Louis Kahn and then working for Paul Schweikher, and ultimately establishing a national practice. His forms, in the fashion of his time, were stripped down and abstract. What infused them with enduring character were undercurents drawn from historic sources: arches, atriums, Palladian symmetry, and even the New England saltbox.
Through discussion and photos of iconic projects such as the McLennan House in Lake Forest, Cummings Laboratory at the University of Chicago, and the DuPont House in Wilmington, Delaware, the talk will present a designer of consummate skill, and also shed bright light on the social side of architectural practice: how a supremely confident architect worked productively with clients to create a truly distinctive architecture.
Refreshments courtesy of SAH Chicago and AIA Chicago. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Speaker: Jay Pridmore is the author of more than 20 books, many of them about Chicago architecture. His Chicago Architecture and Design (Abrams, 2005) remains a bestseller in its class. Pridmore’s Building Ideas (University of Chicago Press, 2013) examines the rich and unparalleled architectural history of the University of Chicago. He lives near Chicago.
