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Charles Willard Moore (October 31, 1925 – December 16, 1993) was an American architect, educator, writer,
Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
, and winner of the
AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...
in 1991. He is often labeled as the father of postmodernism. His work as an educator was important to a generation of American architects who read his books or studied with him at one of the several universities where he taught.


Education

Moore graduated from the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in 1947, where he was one of the top students in his class. After graduating, he worked for several years as an architect, served in the Army, and studied with Professor Jean Labatut at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, where he earned a master's degree and a PhD (1957). He remained for an additional year as a
post-doctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...
fellow, and as a teaching assistant to the architect
Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
, who was teaching a design studio. While at Princeton, he met and befriended the architect
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
. While at Princeton, Moore developed relationships with fellow students
Donlyn Lyndon Donlyn Lyndon is an American Third Bay Tradition architect and the Eva Li Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California, Berkeley. Lyndon was a co-designer of Sea Ranch, California. Education M.F.A. Archit ...
, William Turnbull, Jr., Richard Peters, and
Hugh Hardy Hugh Hardy (July 26, 1932 – March 17, 2017) was an American architect, known for designing and revitalizing theaters, performing arts venues, public spaces, and cultural facilities across the United States. ''The New Yorker'' writer Brendan ...
. All remained lifelong friends and adherents to a view of architecture as a joyful, humanistic, pursuit that promised to make people happier and healthier. During his Princeton years, Moore designed and built a house for his mother in
Pebble Beach, California Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of the golf cou ...
, and worked during the summers for architect Wallace Holm of neighboring
Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
. Moore's Master's thesis explored ways to preserve and integrate Monterey's historic adobe dwellings into the fabric of the city. His Doctoral dissertation, "Water and Architecture", was a study of the importance of water in shaping the experience of place. The dissertation is significant for being one of the first pieces of architectural scholarship to draw from the work of
Gaston Bachelard Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and '' epis ...
. Moore used some of the material in his later book, ''The Poetics of Gardens.''


Career

In 1959, Moore left
Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
to take a teaching position at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. There he teamed with Donlyn Lyndon, William Turnbull, Jr. and Richard Whittaker to form a new and influential firm: MLTW. They were among the first American architects to favor contextual designs—fitting well with the urban fabric of San Francisco—over harsh Modernist buildings that were alien to the texture of the city. When hired to design an innovative, environmentally sensitive condominium complex on the north coast, they applied some of their sensitivity to "place" to the project. Sea Ranch became one of the most admired, influential, and beloved works of the late twentieth century. Moore rose to become chairman and professor of architecture at Berkeley in five years. His work was featured in the seminal "Forty Under Forty" exhibition at New York's Architectural League that established the "Whites and the Grays" as competing camps of avant garde designers. Curated by
Robert A.M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...
, the show eventually became a book in 1969. When Paul Rudolph resigned as Dean of the
Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...
, a nationwide search finally settled on Moore as his successor in 1965. As Stern observed in his history of the school, Moore was an energetic though often controversial leader who managed to steer the program through some of its most tumultuous, but also creative years. He served in that capacity for five years, leaving in 1970. With
Kent Bloomer Kent C. Bloomer is an American sculptor, professor and author who is a well known proponent and creator of architectural ornament. He has taught classes on ornament at the Yale School of Architecture for over forty years, and many of his public wo ...
, Moore founded the Yale Building Project in 1967 as a way both to demonstrate
social responsibility Social responsibility is an ethical framework in which an individual is obligated to work and cooperate with other individuals and organizations for the benefit of the community that will inherit the world that individual leaves behind. Social ...
and demystify the construction process for first-year students. He also pushed Yale president
Kingman Brewster Kingman Brewster Jr. (June 17, 1919 – November 8, 1988) was an American educator, academic and diplomat. He served as the 17th President of Yale University and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Early life Brewster was born in ...
to hold a competition for a new mathematics building on the historic campus. The results of the contest were divisive, since Moore was seen as a champion of the winning architect,
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
. Many of Moore's students became leading architects of the next generation, including Mark Simon, Buzz Yudell, Gerald Allen,
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (born December 20, 1950) is a professor at the University of Miami's School of Architecture and an architect and urban planner in Miami, Florida. Plater-Zyberk is considered to be a representative of the New Urbanism scho ...
,
Andrés Duany Andrés Duany (born September 7, 1949) is an American architect, an urban planner, and a founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Early life and education Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Ch ...
, David Sellers, and Turner Brooks. An innovator in practice who often held design "charettes" to gain insights from clients, Moore also pioneered multi-partner, "suitcase" firms with his former students: Centerbrook Architects (Connecticut), Moore Ruble Yudell (Los Angeles) and Moore/Anderssen (Austin, Texas). The constant changes resulted, in part, from Moore's extensive worldwide travel and his moves to
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
and then to
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
. While at Yale Moore wrote a useful residential design book: ''The Place of Houses''. Clients and designers loved its easy going style and beautiful drawings, but especially its commitment to "placemaking." With Donlyn Lyndon, Moore also founded the journal ''Places'' in Berkeley to expound ideas about the ''genius loci''. He continued to write essays and books for the remainder of his career, including the influential "You Have To Pay for the Public Life," in ''Perspecta,'' one of the first predictors of suburban sprawl and the rise of the theme park in America. In 1975, Moore moved to the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
where he continued teaching. Finally, in 1985, he became the O'Neil Ford Centennial Professor of Architecture at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
. He died at home of a heart attack on December 16, 1993. One of his last books, ''Body, Memory and Architecture,'' not only introduced new psychological and anthropological ideas into design theory, it also anticipated today's revolution in neuroscience, and the theory of "embodied cognition."


Buildings and legacy

Moore preferred bold, colorful design elements, including striking color combinations, supergraphics, stylistic eclecticism, and the use of non-traditional materials such as
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
, (aluminized) PET film,
platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...
tiles, and
neon sign In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in D ...
s. His work often provokes arousal, challenges norms, and can lean toward
kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...
. His mid-1960s New Haven residence, published in ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
'', featured an open, freestanding shower in the middle of the room, its water nozzled through a giant sunflower. His house in
Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados ...
was also sybaritic, featuring an
aedicula In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (plural ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, ...
over the bed, a tree growing inside through the roof, and much natural light. He made no bones about his love for roadside vernacular buildings in places like
San Miguel Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Quer ...
, the Sunset Strip, and Main Street in
Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
. His early work with MLTW was noted for the invention of a west coast regional vernacular in residential architecture that featured steeply pitched roofs, shingled exteriors, and bold areas of glass, including skylights. Moore and his partners always cited the influence of their predecessors in California, particularly Bay Area pioneers such as
Bernard Maybeck Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was an instructor at University of California, Berkeley. Most of his major buildings were in ...
,
William Wurster William Wilson Wurster (October 20, 1895 – September 19, 1973) was an American architect and architectural teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, best known for his residential desig ...
, and Joseph Esherick. A whole school of west coast designers followed their lead in designing shed-like, wooden residences for their newly affluent clients. Moore was also sensitive to the needs of clients, building an innovative house for a blind man and his wife, and designing several churches. His urban design schemes were tailored to context and history, and his books are full of sophisticated scholarship on such things as Renaissance gardens, English Georgian houses, and Italian piazzas. His travels were always documented by color slides, sketches, and souvenirs, which he displayed prominently in his residences. Moore's Piazza d'Italia (1978), an urban public plaza in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
, made prolific use of his exuberant design vocabulary and is frequently cited as the archetypal postmodern project. His university work includes the
Hood Museum of Art The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the o ...
at Dartmouth, the
Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...
in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the
Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public university i ...
at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Faculty Club at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kresge College, at UC Santa Cruz, (demolished in 2020) was one of the most innovative residence hall buildings in America at the time of its construction. Such design features (historical detail, ornament, fictional treatments, ironic significations) made Moore one of the chief proponents of postmodern architecture, along with
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
,
Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...
,
Stanley Tigerman Stanley Tigerman (September 20, 1930 – June 3, 2019) was an American architect, theorist and designer. Biography Early years Tigerman was born into a Jewish family, the only child of Emma (Stern), a typist for the federal government, and Sa ...
, and
Charles Jencks Charles Alexander Jencks (21 June 1939 – 13 October 2019) was an American cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian, and co-founder of the Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres. He published over thirty books and became famous i ...
. The Charles W. Moore Foundation was established in 1997 in Austin, Texas to preserve Moore's last home and studio. Its non-profit programs include residencies, conferences, lectures, and publication of PLACENOTES, a travel guide.


Work

* The influential Sea Ranch (1963) planned community in Sonoma County, California (with landscape architect
Lawrence Halprin Lawrence Halprin (July 1, 1916 – October 25, 2009) was an American landscape architect, designer and teacher. Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist a ...
) * Mutual Savings Bank Building,
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
(1964) * The Seaside Professional Building (1959-60), in Seaside, California, was his first commercial building (1959-60), occupied by
Monterey County Weekly The ''Monterey County Weekly'' (sometimes called the "Weekly," formerly the ''Coast Weekly.'') is a locally owned and independent newsmedia company founded in 1988. As per the publication's name, it publishes in print weekly, and since 2020 onli ...
since 1991. * The Faculty Club at University of California, Santa Barbara, (1968) with William Turnbull * Kresge College (1971) at
University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...
* Leland Burns House, Pacific Palisades, (1973) (House noted for having a pipe organ in the living room) * The postmodern archetype Piazza d'Italia (1978), an urban public plaza in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
* David Rodes House, Brentwood, California (1980) (featured in Life Magazine, December 1980) * University Extension at the
University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...
* Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (1989) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa * Pleasant Hill City Hall (1991) in
Pleasant Hill, California Pleasant Hill is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 34,613 at the 2020 census. It was incorporated in 1961. Pleasant Hill is the home of College Park H ...
* The Beverly Hills Civic Center (1992) in
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, California *
National Dong Hwa University National Dong Hwa University (NDHU; ; shortened as "") is a national research university located in Hualien, Taiwan. Established in 1994, NDHU is widely considered as the most potential research university and the most prestigious university ...
, Hualien,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
(1992) * Gethsemane Episcopal Cathedral, Fargo, North Dakota (1992) * The California Center for the Arts, Escondido in
Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Et ...
(1993) * The
Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as Berkeley Haas, is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a public university i ...
(1995) at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
*Lurie Tower at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(1995) * The Preview Center (became a Bank of America branch) in Celebration, Florida (1996) * The
Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...
addition in
Williamstown, Massachusetts Williamstown is a town in the northern part of Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, United States. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolit ...
. * His last work, the
Washington State History Museum The Washington State History Museum is a history museum located in downtown Tacoma, Washington, United States. It is operated by the Washington State Historical Society under the official approval of the Washington State Legislature. The muse ...
in
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...


References


Bibliography

* ''Architekten, Charles Moore.'' Edition: 1. Auflage. Stuttgart: IRB Verlag, 1986. * Allen, Gerald. ''Charles Moore''. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1980. * Allen, Gerald and Charles W. Moore. ''Dimensions: shape, space and scale in architecture.'' New York: Architectural Record Books, 1976. *Bloomer, Kent C. and Charles W. Moore ; with a contribution by Robert Yudell. ''Body, memory, and architecture.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977. * Johnson, Eugene J. ''Charles Moore: Buildings and Projects, 1949-1986''. New York: Rizzoli, 1986. * Keim, Kevin P and Charles W. Moore. ''An Architectural Life: Memoirs and Memories of Charles W. Moore''. Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1996. * Littlejohn, David. ''Architect: The Life and Work of Charles W. Moore''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1984. * Lyndon, Donlyn. ''Chambers for a memory palace.'' Donlyn Lyndon and Charles W. Moore; with illustrations by the authors. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. * Moore, Charles W. ''Water and architecture.'' Princeton University, thesis, 1958. * Moore, Charles W. ''The city observed, Los Angeles: a guide to its architecture and landscapes''by Charles Moore, Peter Becker, Regula Campbell ;photography by Regula Campbell. New York : Random House, 1984. * Moore, Charles W. ''The poetics of gardens'' / Charles W. Moore, William J. Mitchell, William Turnbull, Jr. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1988. * Moore, Charles W. ''The Yale Mathematics Building competition: architecture for a time of questioning.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974. * Moore, Charles W. and Sally Woodbridge. ''The cabin, the temple, the trailer''; drawings by Diana Woodbridge nited States ublisher not identified 1985. * Moore, Charles W., Gerald Allen and Donlyn Lyndon. With axonometric drawings by William Turnbull. ''The place of houses.'' New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. * Moore, Charles W. ''You have to pay for the public life : selected essays of Charles W. Moore'' edited by Kevin Keim. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. * Nakamura, Toshio (ed.). ''The Work of Charles W. Moore''. Tokyo: A + U Publishing, 1978.


External links


The Charles W. Moore Foundation
Austin, Texas

* ttp://www.moorerubleyudell.com Moore Ruble Yudell* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060209163656/http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/haas/building/Moore.html The Haas School of Businessat the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

The Yale Building Project
* ttp://www.asla.org/lamag/lam04/may/feature3.html On the successful restoration of Moore's Piazza d'Italia in New Orleans {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Charles 1925 births 1993 deaths Postmodern architects UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty Yale School of Architecture faculty UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty University of Texas at Austin faculty Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning alumni Princeton University School of Architecture alumni LGBT architects 20th-century American architects 20th-century LGBT people Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal