What I've Learned
TMH looks at the insights and experience of local architects

Compiled by George Smart, Jr.                                                          

June 2008
ELLEN L. WEINSTEIN, AIA

Ellen Weinstein is a partner with Dail Dixon in Dixon Weinstein Architects in Carrboro, North Carolina. The firm has received numerous design awards, been published in local, regional and national press and in 2003 received the North Carolina AIA Firm Award. A native of New York City, Ellen earned a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Ohio State University and Master of Architecture from NC State in 1987. Ellen regularly teaches design studios at NC State and has also offered a short-course on small houses at Duke University. Active in the AIA, Ellen is currently President of the Triangle AIA.  In 1999, she received the highest design honor for mid-career North Carolina architects, the Kamphoefner Prize.

 

 
 

April 2008
RICHARD LEE "DICK" RICE, AIA (1919-)

Born in Raleigh, Rice graduated from NCSU in 1941 with a BS in Architectural Engineering then served in WWII.  He worked for H. A. Underwood, Carter Williams, and Cooper and Maybin.  He left to go on his own for year, then rejoined what would now be called Cooper, Haskins, and Rice as a partner.  After Cooper's death the firm became Haskins & Rice, a partnership with Al Haskins that would last for decades.  Rice is known for many churches and schools in the area, One and Two Hannover Square, and the 1989 renovation of Memorial Auditorium.

Here are some of my thoughts about architecture:

  • I particularly dislike architects who take all the credit for good designs when their associates or employees did all the designing.
     
  • My pet peeve is having to take boring courses each year to maintain my architect’s license.  I learn little from these sessions.
     
  • When I go into a house I have designed I usually feel like rearranging the furniture or throwing it out.
     
  • In practice I never could find an electrical or mechanical engineer who could satisfy me. Some structural engineers were o.k., not all.
     
  • I believe it is true that “he who copies from the most sources is the most original.”
     
  • My admiration for Frank Lloyd Wright has been expensive for I have traveled to many places to see his projects and have bought a number of his furniture pieces for myself and my three sons.
     
  • Although Henry Kamphoefner was a close friend of mine, I did not appreciate his calling us architects who graduated from NCSU before he formed the School of Design “Engineers.”  Only “Architectural Engineering” was available at NCSU prior to his becoming Dean. 
 

March 2008
THOMAS G. CROWDER, AIA

Raleigh native Thomas G. Crowder began his carrier as a draftsman with  Holloway-Reeves Architects in 1973.  In 1976 he moved to Bartholomew and Wakeham Architects and stayed there until forming ARCHITEKTUR in 1993.  Crowder is one, if not the last, of North Carolina's architects to become registered without any formal education, grandfathered under NCARB’s abolished apprenticeship program in 1984.  In the 1980s he worked with the late Harwell Hamilton Harris on additions and renovations to a home designed for NCSU Professor Duncan Stuart.  Crowder’s work has won numerous design awards from regional, state and local AIA's.  Crowder served two terms on the Raleigh Planning Commission from 1999-2003 and is currently serving a third term on the Raleigh City Council.

1.  I love the innocence of kids. For one thing, they assume that everybody else thinks the way they do, or they should.

2.  I was drawn to architecture not only by the art form, but also because of the way it can inspire you emotionally. It’s not two-dimensional or even three-dimensional. The power is the space within, which impacts your life and psyche. That’s the fourth dimension – space.

3.  Over my career, I’ve learned that the fifth dimension is probably the most important – which is the social dimension: how architecture affects the larger community and environment it resides within. The fifth dimension is respect and love of context, whether it is the natural environment, or one's neighbor.

4.  When you start out in design, it does tend to be all about self-gratification – you see the great architectural spaces in the world and you want to create something equally wonderful as an extension of yourself. As you mature, you realize the best projects are not the ones that are in your face, it is those projects which respects their surroundings.  Besides, you’re not going to take this stuff with you – it’s about what kind of legacy you’re leaving behind for future generations.

5.  You can build a legacy without having your own name attached to it. Raleigh was built by a lot of nameless, faceless people (to many of us, anyway) who made this the great community it is.

6.  Architects are artist, builders, problem-solvers…and psychiatrists…and sociologists. We have to get inside the heads of our clients, understand how they think, what they see, how they live, and then come up with the best possible solutions to meet their needs.  I love how we are able to learn so much about our fellow man and other professions. 

7.  Like any artist, we work for benefactors. Because of who they may be, I think our profession is often times intimidated to be outspoken on social issues. But part of our job is to educate them about the impacts of the choices they may make, and go out on a limb sometimes. That extends to the general public and the political arena.

8.  I’ve never subscribed to the notion that perfection is the enemy of the good. I say, strive to come up with the absolute best possible solutions given the challenges you’re given and the constraints and context you’re working in.  Why would you not?

9.  I think the true architects are the lawmakers and the politicians who design the framework for our communities, the country and the world. That’s what drew me into politics.  Who better to address our community’s and nation’s challenges than the problem-solvers?

10.  I do like politics. It’s not about fame and definitely not about fortune – if it were, I do not believe I would like myself.  It is about the soapbox, the chance to extend one’s influence by putting ideas and solutions regarding our future out there for the public to ponder.

11.  Great environments don’t have to be gold-plated, or vast, or elitist. Great environments are the ones that lift people up regardless of their economic circumstances. There is no shame in being poor, just allowing our poor to live in poor conditions.

12.  It’s interesting that economics are so foremost in our decisions. We often forget what drives economics – that beneath it all, there’s something important that’s sustaining any economy, and it’s our quality of life. I do think enough is enough. We used to pride ourselves in the South on getting along with our neighbors, bless their hearts.  In an agrarian society you must often depend on your neighbors for help on the farm.  Because of that codependence on each other, you were reverent and respectful of your neighbor’s feelings. I do worry about the increasing narcissism of the present day – we seem to be losing our sense of neighborliness.

13.  My strongest belief is that good design truly doesn’t cost more.  It costs less…in the long run.

14.  When Jefferson talked about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he was talking about individual liberty but also the pursuit of the common good,  Happiness was about living in a community and insuring our fellow man equal access to their happiness.

15.  I am very proud of my profession, because I think we do try to have a global vision, take a moral high road and address issues of sustainability and a social imperative.  We have a lot of work before us.