Michigan Architecture Papers

MAP 9 · Shim·Sutcliffe

Published to commemorate the Charles & Ray Eames Lecture,

given by Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe at Taubman College

on March 30, 2001.

Editors: Brian Carter and Annette W. LeCuyer

Designed by: Christian Unverzagt with Craig Somers at M 1, Detroit

Typeset in News Gothic and Adobe Garamond

Printed and bound in the United States of America

ISBN: 1- 891197- 21 - 5

© 2002 The University of Michigan

A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning

and Shim·Sutcliffe Architects, Toronto

In col laboration with Herman Mi ller, Inc.

Taubman College

2000 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2069 USA

734 764 1300 734 763 2322 fax

www.tcaup.umich .edu

Shim· Sutcliffe

Michigan Architecture Papers 9

Wood · Water· Wea1 Introduction 6 ·The Image of Charles & Ray g · Wood 20 · Water 52 ·

hering Steel feathering Steel 74 · Shim·Sutcliffe 90 · Charles & Ray Eames 92 · Herman Miller, Inc. 94 · Acknowledgments 96

6 Introduction

Charles and Ray Eames are inspirational characters. Their

belief in rhe value of design and enrhusiasm for collaborative

work establ ished new definitions for the discipline, while their

imeresr in rhe everyday and irs potential ro transform prompted

differem ways of seeing. The lines that they drew have retained

their elegance and potency, yet at the same rime that they were

drawing, they were also making films, considering rhe impact

of science, observing the circus and exploring the influence of

borh printed word and projected image. Charles and Ray Eames

had an enclless curiosity about rhe properries of materials-

a curiosity rhar is obvious in the furnimre, spaces and objects

that they designed. They were appreciative of good workmanship

and seemingly compelled ro devise rhe beautiful connection.

It is lirrle wonder rhen rhar the armual Charles and Ray Eames

Lecture at rhe University of Michigan, which brings partners

who are working rogerher in design ro speak about their work

at rhe College, has become an evem of major imporrance in

our calendar. The series was founded in 1998 to celebrate the

work of rwo of America's fmest designers. The architect Charles

Eames and artist Ray Kaiser mer in Michigan. They began

working together here and underrook rheir first collaborative

ventures wirh indusrry when rhey starred making furnimre with

the help of Colonel Evans in Detroit. Later they were to sustain

a long-lasting working relationship with Herman Miller, Inc.,

a company rhar has been building rhe furniture rhar Charles

and Ray Eames designed for almost sixty years in Michigan.

Like the work of Charles and Ray Eames, this lecture is also

a collaborative project- one that is generously supported by

Herman Miller, Inc. and the A. Alfred Taubman College of

Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan.

The inaugural lecture, presented by Tod Williams and Billie

Tsien, like the lectures that have followed, was published in

the Michigan Arch.itecture Papers, a pmject that brings students

and faculty to work together with the guest speakers.

The 200 I Charles and Ray Eames Lecturers are Brigitte Shim

and Howard Surcliffe. These two young architects have been

working together since 1987 and, from a modest studio housed

in a former garage in the heart ofToronto, have been shaping

a practice that is unconventional in many ways. Their work

has included not only the design of buildings but also the

construction of furniture and the creation of landscapes.

They ofi:en fabricate the things that they design. Their work

embraces craft enthusiastically and respects the craftsman.

They also engage their clients and respond to the need to

create fine rooms as well as civic spaces, albeit sometimes in

remote places. This is work that has been widely published

and has received nwnerous prestigious international awards.

Brigitte and Howard are, accorcling to the designer Bruce Mau,

"intellectual without being distant or hermetic." It is an honor

for the University of Michigan to host the 200 I Charles and

Ray Eames Lecture, and I invite you to look closc;ly at the

inspiring collaborative work of Shim Sutcliffe.

Brian Carter,

Professor of Architecture

7

The image of Charles and Ray Eames is , for us,

inext ricably li nked to the photographs of the two of

them working together. There are many, yet in each one

they look as if they are having a very good time. What

you also notice from looking at these photographs is

that these two outstanding Ameri can designers took

enormous pleasure in creating things. Everything that

they touched and shaped became part of a world of

design, and their view of design as a discipline that

cou ld include architecture, fi lm-making, furniture

design, graphics and communication has become

a model for practice. Charles and Ray Eames made

this way of worki ng part of their everyday life. In doing

so, they created a community of designers around

themselves. It was a community that included their

stud io colleagues, their cl ients , industrialists like D.J.

De Pree, fabr icators and the many other people w ith

whom they collaborated . This is what is so inspirationa l

about their work. It has influenced our work and way

of working significantly and , as a result , we are

espec ially honored to have been invited to. give the

2001 Charles and Ray Eames Lecture at the Taubman

College of Architecture and Urban Planni ng at the

University of Michigan.

9

Charles and Ray Eames were preoccupied with materials.

They explored the potential of plywood, fiberglass , wire,

steel and aluminum through their design studies and

focused investigations of technica l processes. Much of

this work was related to the design of furniture. The

consideration of furniture has also been central to the

development of our own ideas about design and practice.

It is helpful because it directly connects design and

construction. We know that a chair is not a building,

but there are many lessons that can be learned from

using specific materials at the scale of the body. Both

the limitations and potential of those materials can be

explored in a piece of furniture but can also be developed

further at the scale of a building. The design of furniture

has also enabled us to establish long-lasting re lationsh ips

with fabricators. Working directly with them has helped

us to gain direct knowledge of the capabi lities of materials

and how particular materials can best be used.

ll

When we are working on the design of furniture we

usually make a lot of models. These models are often

small and quickly made but they help us to visua lize a

conceptua l idea. Often they turn into full-scale mock-ups

that then transform into working prototypes. The design

of chairs, tab les, lamps or doorhand les is important

in our explorations of materials and construction

at very different scales. They help us to be more

courageous about what we might try to do at a larger

scale. Sometimes we show this furniture to our clients

and that in turn encourages them too.

One way of understanding the potential of materia ls is

to learn first hand for oneself what can be done. Howard

has an instinct about how to do things but little interest

in reading manuals or fol lowing instructions. So when

we designed a project using weathering steel, he decided

to work on the fabrication himself. Through a contractor,

we found a factory in Southern Ontario where steel was

used to repair farm equipment and construct gravel

crushers. The people in the shop were experienced in the

use of the materia l and, although they rare ly questioned

him about what he was actua lly doing, they would

almost always tel l him what he could do better.

13

Howard was directly involved in the flame-cutting of a

sheet of weathering steel for the roof of a sma ll pavilion

that we were designing for a garden in Toronto . We

developed the design using a series of models that

we would ta ke to the shop. The fabricators there wou ld

point out things that they thought cou ld create problems.

They explained why and we would go back, rethi nk our

ideas and bui ld a bigger model. As they looked at the

different models and commented about our ideas, the

materia l and techniques for its fabrication, a dialogue

developed that was to become the basis of the finalized

design and influence the way that the pavilion roof

was eventually made.

This notion of connecting design, craft and production

is important to us. It embodies a process that has evolved

now to the stage where we can work directly with different

companies to design and make specific things. At first we

started bui ldi ng actual pieces of projects , but now our

practice has grown and we are designing more of the

furniture and fi ttings for our buildings. However, we also

tend to supply specific pieces to a project. Working in

this way, we are able to take something designed for one

project and consider how it might be helpful for another.

15

At the same time as much of the world becomes

increasingly placeless, so we also find that the particular

characteristics of the natural landscape become more

and more important. In Canada both the vastness of

the actual landscape and its mythic qualities are part

of the national psyche.

These mythologica l qualities are most clearly reco rded

in the paintings of The Group of Seven - a group of

artists who portrayed the wi ld , romantic and often

hosti le landscapes which they experienced while

canoeing and portaging in the country during the early

1900s. The vastness of Canada raises issues of remote

sites, extreme climates and the availability of certain

natural materials - issues that in turn define particular

challenges for architects working across the country.

Like architecture, landscape also represents an act

of construction. These ideas permeate our work. As

a resu lt we think in terms of creating both site and

building so that each gives meaning to the other. In

considering and reconsidering what is object and what

is ground , the words 'carving' , 'sculpting' and 'digging'

have become important components of our vocabulary.

17

18 Consequently, we tend not to view our work

chronologically or by building type but rather

through considerations of material. Our designs

develop from ideas that are rooted in materials

and the landscape, and it is possible to trace the

evolution of that work through the examination

of those concerns. In particular, our work can

be viewed through the lens of three specific

materials- wood, water and weathering steel.

Moorelands Camp is run by a non-profit cha rity

that sponsors programs for econom ica lly disadvantaged

chi ldren from Toronto . The camp is located on a remote

site in the Hali burton High lands. This section of the

Canadia n Sh ield , granite bedrock exposed after the last

Ice Age, is characterized by many sma ll lakes surrounded

by dense forests. The camp is located on a peninsu la that

juts into Lake Kawagama and the on ly access is by boat.

The design of a new dining hall there provided an

opportunity to embody both the spirit of the camp and

its site. Consequently we thought of this project as

building a barn with sticks. Because of the difficu lties of

access and the transportation of materials , we tri ed to

use the smal lest members possible - two by fours- to

make the largest space and the longest spans. Combined

with light steel elements , this sma ll-sca le dimensioned

lum ber creates a simple 'wooden tent.'

23

24 Many of the buildings at other older summer camps

are constructed using logs and, as a result, tend to be

dark with the sta rk contrast of natural light only at the

perimeter. We wa nted to invert this norm and make a

space that is full of natural light at the center. We also

wanted to create a bui ld ing that would glow li ke a

lantern at night and define a luminous clearing in the

woods during the day. By using a standard industrial

motorized greenhouse glazing system, it was possible

to form a central roof light that also incorporated natural

ventilation. Integrated with twelve glue- laminated

trusses, this forms a structural 'lantern' through the

middle of the space. This single great room - 36 feet

wide and 100 feet long - is extended at one end by

a covered porch that provides a shel tered outdoor area

for camp activit ies .

1 dining hall

2 porch

3 kitchen

4 storage

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26

While the camp is heavily used during the su mmer

months, it is closed duri ng the remainder of the yea r.

However, rather than assuming that the dining hall

wou ld be boarded up in an ad-hoc fashion us ing

plywood sheeting screwed into the frame of the building,

we designed the externa l wa ll as a series of folding

brise-soleil screens. During the summer these timber

sc reens can be opened to define an intimate walkway

around the building. They also help to encourage natural

ventilation and offer shading from the summer sun,

yet can be easily folded down to close the building

in the winter.

The design of the dining hall seeks to avoid separating

the bui lding from its surroundings by connecting the

inside world with the natu ral landscape. In th is way,

we hope that the dining hall embod ies the sp irit and

shared ideals of the camp community.

\ I I

29

The Boathouse in Muskoka is also bu ilt of wood .

However, the material is used in a very different way.

The bui ldi ng, which provides two indoor boat slips w ith

another outdoor mooring and a sleeping cabin above,

is on Lake Muskoka. Th is is an area where there are

established traditions of bu ilding with wood and on

the water, as well as in the construction of specia lly

designed long cruis ing boats made of mahogany. One

of our interests was to try to develop a design for the

boathouse that benef ited from these loca l traditions.

Like Le Corbusier's rustic cabin that overlooked the

Mediterranean in the south of France or the Adirondack

camps of upstate New York, the Muskoka boathouse is

a 'hut' in the w ilderness. However, it is a sophisticated

one that requires not on ly the consideration of the

traditions of bui lding with in a harsh climate and rugged

terra in but also the simu ltaneous invention of new

ways to posit a modernist trad ition . To achieve this,

the design seeks to find ba lance not on ly between

bui lding and natu re but also between lessons from

the vernacular and ideas of modern ism .

31

32 For everything that is constructed above the water on

these lakes, there is an entire infrastructure that is

hidden underwater. Traditional ly, bui lders here first

construct a series of heavy timber cribs that form the

foundations for a build ing on the water. To do this, they

wait until the middle of winter when the lake is frozen

before drawing out a plan on the ice that defines the

extent of the build ing and the deta iled location of the

cribs that w il l eventually support it. Based on this plan,

and using chain saws, they cut holes in the ice where

the cribs w il l be located. Sleepers are placed over the

holes, and the cribs are built up over the sleepers on

the ice. Having measured the depth of the water and

the slope of the lake bottom w ith sticks and tapes,

the cribs are constructed to precise dimensions using

large squared sections of hemlock. Once the cribs are

completed, the sleepers are cut and the structures are

allowed to sink into the water. The cribs are filled with

granite bou lders and provide an underwater infrastructure

for the wooden superstructure of the boathouse above.

This system of construction has been used for many

years. It enables the builder to work during the winter

and ensures that the construction starts from a pure

plane of ice, an approach which is considerably easier

than trying to bu ild wh ile bobbing about on the water

in boatsl

entrance

2 bedroom I sitting room

3 outdoor deck

4 moss garden

5 kitchenette

6 bathroom

7 covered porch

8 dock

9 outdoor boat slip

10 indoor boat slip

G ~ 0 l 3m

34 Once the buildi ngs are built you are , of course,

unaware of th is massive underwater structure.

The design of the boathouse was also inspired by

the notion of creating a sophisticated hut with a heavy

overcoat. Heavy timbers, rescued from a demolished

warehouse in Kitchener-Waterloo , were re-mil led to

make a heavy oute r sk in . It is as if the underwater

infrastructure has been pulled up out of the water

and made apparent. As a resu lt , something that is

norma ll y suppressed becomes an important part of

the architecture. By constructing a second structure

within the heavy outer skin that is more like the

refined construction of a wooden boat, a series of

habitable spaces is created between and within the

two layers of construction.

Stairs and outdoor porches are planned in the spaces

between these two layers of construction. The indoor

boat sl ips are lined with birch plywood while the

sleep ing cabin above is finished in douglas fir and

mahogany detailed like the spaces of a yacht or the

long cruising boats that are made loca lly.

36

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38 Prompted by the client's own interest, we also used

this project to develop a series of fittings. One was a

boat cleat. Designed to avoid stubbing toes on the dock,

it combines a specia lly designed housing made from a

custom bronze casting with a ready-made stainless steel

shackle purchased from a marine store. This made it

possible to make a cleat that cou ld be installed flush

with the dock. We also designed custom door hand les

and light fixtures. A screen door pull made from red

bronze rods alludes to a snow shoe, and light fittings

designed to go under the soffits combine a refrigerator

light bulb - made to take account of temperature

differential fluctuations- with a bronze housing that

acts as a sconce. For another hanging light in the

covered outdoor porches, we used the largest available

Mason jar - made for preserving fruits and vegetables­

and combined it with a series of elliptical planes coated

with a phosphorescent paint normally used by fly

fishermen to ensure that those planes glow in the dark.

Suspended within a specially designed housing of

stainless steel and copper, they give an impression of

moths fluttering around a light bulb. These experiments

enabled us to not only explore the potential of everyday

found objects but to speculate about their transformation

by adding custom elements to create a new object.

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Our design for an Urban House also exp lores the

potentia l of wood but specifica lly exam ines the capacity

of that materia l to make a bui lding skin. Designed for a

client - an arch itect- who lives alone and whose budget

was modest, this house is located on a street in a part

of Toronto that consists of a mix of houses, cottages,

garages and workshops. We were inspired by this mix

and the two extremes of sca le that it introduced -the

cottage and the loft. It was an area of the city that

presented a sharp contrast to the more normative

residential areas of evenly spaced, evenly sized single

family houses. This prompted us to think of the two

aspects of the house that the client had underlined as

being so important - on the one hand the need for

compact living areas and on the other a large workspace

for research that was focused around a reference library.

We developed a scheme that integrated these different

aspects of both program and setting. The ground floor

was planned with low cottage-like livi ng spaces made

up of a series of modest sized rooms looking onto a south

facing garden, whi le the upper f loor was organized as a

single large and lofty workspace looking west and south

and consequent ly flooded w ith natura l li ght.

43

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4 library

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The design of the externa l skin of the building was

developed to reference these two different types of

spaces. At the ground floor, the house is clad with

narrow wood siding simi lar to the Victorian cottages

that still exist in the neighborhood. Joints are detailed

to emphasize the horizonta l, and the windows are

modest in size. In contrast, the cladding of the upper

leve l cons ists of large manufactured plywood panels

with butted and cau lked joints. Sized to invoke the

sca le of the industrial loft, this skin fo lds back to form

a single large window that lights the workspace.

In this way, the cladding materia l has been exploited

to create a skin that is differentiated in response to the

characteristics of both the program and this particular

urban site.

45

The Orchard House also advances these ideas of the

use of wood as a skin. However, the setting for this

house is rural with views of Lake Huron to the north and

across the gently rolling countryside of the Beaver Va lley,

which is dotted with smal l villages and apple orchards,

to the south. The transformation of these landscapes

from summer to winter, including the forty year old

working apple orchard wh ich surrounds the house, is

dramatic. The client, a retired soc ial worker and a

painter with an interest in medieval structures and

fortifications, needed a modest house with a studio that

offered both good views out and a sense of protection .

As a result, the design was developed to create two

clearly articulated parts - a low masonry bu ilding that

was seen as a part of the landscape and an articulated

wooden tower that provides a lookout to distant terrain.

These two elements are connected by a stone wa ll that

encloses a ga·rden with a single apple tree.

47

courtyard 49 2 porch

3 dining

4 kitchen

5 bathroom

6 bedroom

7 studio

G ~m

50 The most significant pieces of architecture in this

region are the loca l ba rns and, although they are rarely

weathertight, they have highly syncopated wooden skins.

Their timber cladding creates a texture and scale that

inspired us in our stud ies for this new house. While the

domestic spaces within the rustic limestone clad bui lding

were planned on one level, cut into the ground and

tucked under a sod covered roof, the studio was elevated

high in the tower. We were interested in pul ling the

inside out and the outside in, and consequently this

tower was thought of as a wooden cabinet. The externa l

skin, a series of articulated plywood panels and timber

fins, was drawn into the building to encase the studio

and wrap vertica l wi ndows positioned to focus and frame

views of the pastoral landscape beyond . Whi le the house

defines the edge of an escarpment, it is marked in the

landscape by the triangular wooden tower. In winter,

the rest of the house is concea led by snow, and in

summer by grass and apple trees .

Rarely considered as a construction material in

architectu re, water has played a sign ificant ro le in

our work since our earliest projects. In designing the

Contemplative Garden with a Pavilion for a

client who owned a site at the edge of a verdant ravine

in Toronto, we introduced water. The creation of a

series of reflecting pools located the pavi lion and defined

places of repose withi n the landscape. This use of water

also prompted a consideration of the nature of the

material palette that in turn led to a study of concrete .

Although it is a material frequently used by arch itects

in North America, concrete is considered primarily as

a structural material and one that is usually clad and

concea led by other finishes. However, the transparency

of the water w ithin these reflecting pools also revea led

the structure below, and this made us think of ruins

and submerged groundworks. In this scheme, the

plastic qua lities of concrete were developed to mark the

ground and define a path through the site. By creating

a series of steps and retaining wal ls in concrete , the

water is both channeled and contained. A pavili on is set

within this high ly articulated arch itectural composition.

A leaf-like canopy of sandblasted weathering steel is

supported by, yet set off from, a grove of ten slender

colonettes by stai nless steel col lars . A single tree is

retained with in a crushed stone pathway as if to

contrast f igu re and ground, architecture and nature.

55

57

The extent of water in the Laneway House is quite

modest. However, it is at the heart of the design .

The site is on an alley in a res identia l neighborhood

in the center of Toronto. It is embedded in the fabric of

the city and completely surrounded by existing houses .

By carving away the ground, the main floor is pushed

three feet be low the level of the existing grade and

contained within a walled garden. Viewed from outside,

the house reads as a wooden pavi lion wrapped by

a garden wall. The garden is ded icated to water and

it plays an instrumental rol e in centering the house.

Ri chly textured materials and large pivoting windows

between the living space and the garden help to blur

the relationship between inside and out, as does the

action of the water moving wi th in the garden duri ng

the different seasons.

59

60

1 entry

2 living I din ing

3 pool

4 fountain

5 kitchen

6 library

7 bathroom

8 bedroom

G n__________r---

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62

64

Ledbury Park uses water at a civic scale. Sited in a

suburban neighborhood, the existing three-acre park just

north of Toronto was flat and under-used. Consequently,

the Parks and Recreation Department asked that it be

reorganized to create a new recreational facility with a

range of amenities provided through the design of a

constructed landscape. Water creates a physica l link

between the different programmatic elements on the site.

A new outdoor wading pool and a 25 meter swimming

pool are elevated three feet above grade to provide views

out over the park, whi le a sha llow reflecting pool is formed

at a level lower than natural grade. Th is reflecting pool

is designed to be a pleasure skating cana l that can be

used during the winter months. Around three sides of

the skating canal , the ground is scu lpted to form a series

of earth berms- grassy embankments that provide

informal sitt ing areas in summertime and also offer

protection from the wind for skaters in the w inter.

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A long brick bui lding is designed as an integra l part of the

scheme. It houses skating and swimming pool changing

rooms, a park maintenance garage and workshops,

and also links the wi nter skating cana l and its adjacent

year-round viewing pavi lion w ith the swim ming and

wading pools. This build ing extends into the park to define

a series of wa lkways and planted allees that, together

with two pedestrian bridges and a sma ll plaza, connect

the park to the surrounding residential neighborhood.

The park was a public project that was tendered to the

lowest bidder. This prompted us to reconsider our working

method and think how best we cou ld still achieve a

level of refinement w ithi n a pub lic bidding process. We

decided to focus on the design and fabrication of one of

the pedestrian bridges, a fountain and the externa l lights.

We designed the 75 foot-long bridge, together with the

fountain and lamp poles using weatheri ng steel.

67

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For the bridge, we used the smallest hollow structura l

sections available to provide the longest span. Twenty-five

millimeter solid steel spacer blocks , randomly set

between these hollow sections and projecting from the

outer face of the truss-balustrade structure, suggest that

the steel has been stacked and filleted. This pedestrian

bridge was a key piece of the project and we were

concerned about the overall design. The detail ing of

the Douglas Fir deck and the underside of the bridge

were critical , as they would be clearly visible to people

at the water's edge and as they skated under it. By

making all the horizontal elements and the handrail

work structurally, we were able to keep the bridge deck

thin and visual ly light. We col laborated with the engineers

and the custom bridge fabricator to develop the design

and benefited from their experience of the use of steel.

After the construction of the bridge was completed, it

was kept in the fabricator's yard to pre-weather the

steel prior to its installation at Led bury Park.

This form of collaboration is one of the benefits of living

in a place like Southern Ontario. Like many of you

studying and working in Michigan, we have access to

extraord inary craftsmen. Both areas have rich industrial

and manufacturing traditions, and the inevitable wealth

of experience and knowledge that these traditions offer

can, and perhaps should, influence design. It also has

the potential to enrich architectura l practice by connecting

design and making in ways that Charles and Ray Eames

so exemplified in their own work.

71

1 kitchen

2 living room

3 study

4 master bedroom

5 deck

6 reflecting pool

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The Thousand Island House, bui lt recently on a

pastora l island in the St. Lawrence River, extends the

use of water to the sca le of this expansive rura l site. By

creating a large reflecting pool and combining it w ith a

series of gardens and terraced green roofs, this water

becomes the site for a new 'pavi lion. ' The pavilion is a

tall , light room that forms the main living space of the

house. It is in marked contrast to the remainder of the

house that has been planned in a linear wing. Defined

by a low enclosing concrete wa ll, this wing helps to

form a boundary between the neighboring fie lds and the

forma l geometry of the new gardens. At the same time,

it directs the frontage of the house to the pool and the

broad expanse of the river beyond.

73

~!11011 ; "' ~0G? !1(1 ~r_ . I ,p II;

/);

Working with the same material in different ways over

an extended period of time is important in order to ga in

a deep understanding of its properties and potential.

We are intrigued by the organic properties of weathering

steel. Low-a lloy high-tensile weathering steel was first

developed for highway bridge construction . Later it was

perfected by the architect John Dinkeloo for use in

buildings, such as the John Deere Headquarters, that

he designed with Eero Saarinen. Formulated with higher

copper levels that enhance corros ion resistance by

developing their own protective oxide surface film,

weathering steel reacts to impurities and pollutants in the

air. It creates a rich, rustic color that shades progressively

from orange to russet to brown. The weathering of the

surface makes reference to the material's existence over

time and, when used to clad a building, this materia l

also records the different characteristics of climate and

weather acting on the site and the building.

The experience that we gained in deta il ing the weathering

steel for the pedestrian bridge for Led bury Park helped

us when we considered using this material in the design

of a Landscape Memorial. This simple garden room,

set w ith in a larger non-denominational cemetery , was

to contain the burial plots for ten members of one family.

77

A small level area was created by carving into the gently

sloping hillside. This exposing of the earth defined a

slightly sunken space- represented by red granite

gravel - and allowed a simu ltaneous separation and

connection with the surrounding cemetery landscape.

Two outer edges of the garden are marked by a half

inch thick angled blade of weathering steel. The

threshold is defined by a weathering steel gate set

between a concrete wall and a copper beech hedge.

To mark the entrance, the gate is intentiona lly massive

and incorporates the name of the family in its design .

Each of the six inch high letters is made up of half

inch thick welded steel plates.

Within the garden there is a single piece of green

rough-hewn granite that has been spl it and reconnected

with bronze rods. The stone, which forms a tombstone,

is inscribed w ith an ancient Hebrew text on the rough

exterior surface and an English inscription on the

smooth inner surface. A bronze shelf formalizes the

Jewish ritual in which family and friends leave stones

on the headstone as a reminder of their visit.

81

The Steel-Clad House that we designed in Toronto,

which is also built using a weathering steel skin ,

approaches the deta ili ng of this materia l in an entirely

new way. The site is on a suburban street but also backs

onto a ravine with fine views out over the city As a

resu lt, the front fa~ade of the house has been brought

close to the line of the street and designed to be

distinctly opaque. The weathering steel is bracketed by

two wings faced in Douglas Fir, topped by a landscaped

flat roof and integrated into the site with a series of

retaining walls. An upper f loor, treated as a box that

appears to levitate above the wood wa ll , is clad in

vertical panels of weathering steel w ith a negative joint.

The weathering steel is a rainscreen that has an airspace

behind. The material has to be able to dry out, so we

have designed this skin to have wet and dry cycles.

The joint detai l contrasts with the seam weld ing of joints

at the corners of the house and around niches. One of

these niches- a recessed bay that forms an inverted bay

window - brings in natura l light and marks the entrance.

83

84 The rear face of the house is designed to benefit from

the fine views and the landscape of the ravine , which

is so particu lar to the city and th is site. Consequently,

its form has developed a more plastic quali ty. Here

the house is virtual ly separated into two wings that are

clad with weathering steel, wood panels and expansive

areas of glass. They are connected to an open and

newly created ga rden plan ned arou nd a clover meadow.

A refl ecting pool, inserted into the volume of the living

room and almost separating the two wings, spills out

into a swimming pool that extends deep into the garden

and al igns with the CN Tower on the city skyline. Both

the house and the site have been constructed. Many

of our ideas about materials- of wood, water and

weathering steel -and our experience of their use

combine in th is project fusing furniture and building,

construction and idea, architecture and landscape.

86

il d _,\._._i

entrance

2 garage

3 living room

4 dining room

5 ki tchen

6 family room

7 swimming pool

8 terrace

9 study

10 master bedroom

11 bathroom

12 bedroom

G) 0 I 5m

While the world around us abounds with examples of

sophisticated technology - of computer circuits, medical

equipment and telecommunications devices - the world

of bui lding construction is, in contrast, part of a more

messy process. It is also part of an intrinsical ly slow

way of working. We are constantly made aware of human

impact on the bui lding process. Our practice, which

sta rted with the making of furniture , has advanced to the

design of public bui ldi ngs and landscapes. This evolution

is the resu lt of an enormous amount of trust and fruitful

collaboration with clients, builders and fabricators .

It is important that arch itects today go beyond the banal

and res ist the litigious constraints which influence

so much of what we see bui lt in North America. To

create architecture requires the creat ion of a site for

that arch itectu re - both physica lly and psychologica lly.

Ray and Charles Eames opened our eyes to the

meaning of design. They have enriched our minds

and their work conti nues to engage our sou ls.

Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe

89

90 Shim·Sutcliffe

Brigirre Shim and H oward Sutcliffe are partners and

co llaborato rs who have created an office and a li fe around

their shared passion for architecture, landscape and furni ture.

T heir inrerest in construction and fabrica tion of buildings,

sites and their intersections has forced them to ques ti on

fundamental relarionships between object and ground ,

building and landscape, man and nature. T heir different

backgrounds and sensibilities offer a rich starting poinr

for rheir work.

Howard Surcliffe was born in Yorkshire, England in 1958 .

Educated at the University of Waterloo, he received degrees

in Environmental Studies and Architecture. H e worked

with significant Canadian archi tects incl uding Ronald Thom,

Paul Merrick, Barton Myers and KPMB Architects. He has

played a key role on several award winning competition teams

for both Barton Myers and KPM B Archi tects including the

Ki tchener City H all (KPMB Architects) . In 1992, he was the

fi rst recipient of the Ronald]. Thom Award for Early Design

Achievemem given by the Canada Council fo r the Arts.

Brigirre Shim was botn in Kingsron, Jamaica in 1958. She

was educated ar the University of Waterloo where she also

received degrees in Environmental Studies and Architecture.

She worked in Vancouver with Arthu r Erickson and

Associates and in Toronto with Baird/Sampson Architects.

A member of the University of Toronto's Faculty of

Architecture, Landscape and Design since 1988, she has

taught architecture design studios and lecture courses on the

history and theory of landscape architecture. She was an

Invired Visiting Professor at Harvard University's Grad uate

School of Design in 1993 and 1996. In 1997, her work in

the Second Year arch itecture design studio ar rhe Univers ity

ofToronro was acknowledged by rhe American Insrirure of

Archirecrs Education Honors. ln rhe fall of 2001, she was

rhe Bishop Visiting Professor and rhe Visiting Bicenrennial

Professor of Canadian Srudies ar Yale University's School of

Architecture. In 2002 Brigirre Shim was a Visiting Professor

ar the Ecole Polyrechnique Federal de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Shim and Sutcliffe live and work in Toromo. The city's

diversity and ethnicity make ir a viral metropolis reflective

of borh global and North American issues. Their work

references rhe city and the wider Canadian landscapes rhar

surround ir. The role of rheir numerous collaborators wirhin

the office and in the community is essenrial to rheir view

of design as a discipline thar comribures positively to

people's lives.

91

92 Charles & Ray Eames

Charles Eames was born in Sr. Louis, Missouri in 1907

and, after studying architecture for two years at Washington

University and traveling in Europe, returned to Sr. Louis

in 1930 to open an architectural practice of his own. Seven

years before, the famous Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen had

arrived at the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor,

Saarinen became acquainted with the Booth family who

offered him design responsibilities for the new Cranbrook

Academy of Art. After moving to Cranbrook, Saarinen

saw Eames' work published and, in 1938, offered him a

Fellowship. Two years later, Charles Eames became the

Head of the Industrial Design Department.

Charles met Ray Kaiser at Cranbrook. Five years younger

than Charles, Ray was an accomplished artist and a founding

member of the American Abstract Artists group who had

studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York prior

to coming to Michigan. When Charles Eames and Eero

Saarinen were working on their 100 studies to initiate the

designs for the Museum of Modern Art Organic Furniture

Competition in 1940, Ray worked with them to develop the

proposals that were subsequently awarded first prize in each

of the two main categories. However their designs did not

go into production, as World War II was imminent, and rhe

procedures for molding plywood into complex curvatures

and cycle welding for bonding of metal to wood had nor

yet been perfected.

The Eames lecturers

1998 · Tad Williams & Billie Tsien

1999 ·Mack Scogin & Merrill Elam

2000 ·Annette Gigon & Mike Guyer

2001 · Brigitte Shim & Howard Sutcliffe

Charles and Ray Eames were married in 1941. In the same

year they moved to Los Angeles, where they continued rhe

research and resting of molded plywood construction rhar

they had initiated with Colonel Edward S. Evans of Evans

Products Company in Michigan. George Nelson introduced

rhe Eames ro rhe Herman Miller Furniture Company and, in

1946, when their designs for molded plywood furniture were

ready for production, the company bought the distribution

rights as Evans did nor have the capability of mass-marketing.

Three years later, as Charles and Ray Eames completed

their Case Study House #8 in Santa Monica, Herman Miller

rook over the complete manufacturing rights for the molded

plywood furniture and a manufacturing plant was built in

Zeeland, Michigan. The Office of Charles and Ray Eames

continued to work on the design of furniture for almost forty

years and Herman Miller has been the sole manufacturer of

all Eames furniture in the United Stares.

Alongside their designs for furniture, Charles and Ray Eames

developed an office which promoted design in many ways.

Through programs of design research, materials investigation

and technological innovation, they worked in the fields of

architecture and interior design, exhibition and graphic design,

product development and film making. They encouraged

collaborations across the disciplines and designed new ways

of working that connected industry and design,

The Royal Gold Medal for Architecture was awarded to

rhe Office of Charles and Ray Eames in 1979. Ray died in

1988- ten years to the day after Charles.

93

94 Herman Miller, Inc.

D.J. DePree joined the Star Furniture Company in Grand

Rapids, M ichigan in 1909 as a clerk. The company, which

was four years old ar rhe rime, manufactured high quality,

traditional style residential furniture. Ten years later he

became the President and in 1923 convinced Herman Miller,

his father-in-law, and a small group of investors to join him

in purchasLng a majority of shares of Michigan Star stock.

They renamed the company, bur nor until rhe New York

industrial designer Gilbert Rohde visited the Grand Rapids

Showroom of the Herman Miller Furniture Company in

1931 did the idea of manufacturing simple and flexible

modern furniture become of particular interest to them.

Rohde became the company's design leader, and it was

his proposals for furniture that led the company to pursue

innovation in both design and technology. In 1933, modern

furniture manufactured by Herman Miller was shown at

the "Century of Progress" exposition in Chicago. Six years

later, with sales shipments totaling $160,000, the company

opened a showroom there followed by one in New York and

a third in Los Angeles in 1942. By this time, with a new

modular system designed by Rohde, Herman Miller had

entered the office furniture marker. As corporate sales

increased, the company phased out the manufacture of all

traditional style furniture in favor of modern designs.

When Gilbert Rohde clied, D .J . DePree invited the architect

and author George Nelson to serve as design director. From

1944, under Nelson's able leadership, the company was to

establish long-term relationships with a number of ourstancling

designers. Charles and Ray Eames first started working wirh

Herman Miller in 1946, a partnership that spanned more

than forty years and produced a wide range of outstanding

furn iture. Molded plywood chai rs fabricated in I 946 were

followed by a series of molded fiberglass chairs developed

out of experiments into airp lane production techniques,

the Eames lounge and ottoman of molded wood and leather

in 1956, and, two years later, the aluminum group chairs

which led to a series of new approaches to seating.

In 1962 Hugh De Pree assumed the leadership of Herman

Miller as President and Chief Executive Officer, wirh D.J.

De Pree taking up rhe position of Chairman of the Board.

In 1968 rhe company introduced Action Office, the world's

first panel system for offtce furniture , designed by Robert

Propst and a team of designers. By the time D.J . DePree

died in 1990, the company bad manufacturing centers in

America and abroad, a new Corporate Center in Zeeland,

and the Design Yard in Holland, M ichigan. Continuing to

act as an inspired parron and working with designers from

England, Germany and rhe USA, their design studies in

work searing led to the introduction of ergonomic chairs

in 1972 and the recyclable no-foam Aeron cha ir in 1994.

Three years later, and with sales of $1.5 billion, Herman

Miller was ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of the top

rwenty-ftve most admired companies in the United States.

95

96 Acknowledgments

The Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

is extremely grateful to Herman Miller, Inc. for their

encouragement, interest and generous assistance that have

made both the Charles and Ray Eames Lecture and this

published record possible.

Faculty, staff and students at the College have helped in

many ways. Mary Anne Drew and Sallie Kne ensured

that everything ran smoothly and Ken Thomas's help was

invaluable on the day of rhe lecture.

Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe's design inspiration and

hard work in d1e studio, workshop and on the building sire

have created outstanding buildings. Their help has also been

central to the preparation of this book. In addition Monica

Makarus and Betsy Walker in Shim Sutcliffe's studio have

been efficient and generous wim meir rime.

Photographs Michael Awad, 22. 26, 27, 28, 68a, 68c, 78-79, 82, 84. Edward Burtynski, 31, 35. Canada Centre

for Remote Sensing, E-1671 -16352, centered at N51 ' 30', W93' 25.5', 25 May 1974. Bands 4, 5, 7.

Colored remote-sensing image 23 x 23 em. Section of false-color Landsat image, Red Lake area.

Scale approximately Ll ,OOO,OOO. OMNR, Ontario Centre for Remote Sensing, 16. © Queen 's Printer

for Ontario, 1984. Reproduced with permission. James Dow. 14, 13, 14, 34a, 3/b, 40, 43b, 51 , 55,

56, 5/c, 58, 62, 64a, 66, 69, 72, 73a, 76, 80, 83b, 85. Steven Evans. 42, 61 , 65, 6/a, 68b. Courtesy

Herman Miller, Inc. 8, 9. 10, 93, 94 (Pictured from left, Alexander Girard, George Nelson. DJ De Pree,

Ray and Charles Eames). Shim·Sutcliffe Architects. 12a, 15, 30, 31, 3/a, 39a, 39b, 46, 47, 50a, SOb,

57 a, 5/b, 59, 63, 71 , 81, 86a, 86b, 88, 91.

Artwork Printed from a photomechanical transfer; original drawings or works in the collection of the Centre

Canadien d'Architecture I Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 11b, 32, 33a, 33b, 34b, 36, 41 ,

43a, 44a, 44b, 44c, 45a, 45b, 48, 49a, 49b, 49c, 54, 60a, 60b, 60c. © Shim·Sutcliffe Architects.