Steven Holl (born December 9, 1947) is a New York-based American
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and watercolorist. Among his most recognized works are the 2019 REACH expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the 2019 Hunters Point Library in Queens, New York, the 2007 Bloch Building addition to the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
in
Kansas City, Missouri,
[Lacayo, Richard. "The 10 Best (New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels." ''TIME''. 13 December 2007]
/ref> and the 2009 Linked Hybrid
Linked Hybrid () is a building complex built in Beijing, China designed by Steven Holl Architects. It is recognized for its environmental design and uses geo-thermal wells for cooling and heating. Linked Hybrid has won several awards such as the B ...
mixed-use
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to som ...
complex in Beijing, China.[
]
Career
Family and education
Holl was born on December 9, 1947, and grew up in Bremerton and Manchester, Washington. Holl graduated from the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Recognition and awards
In 1998, Holl was awarded the prestigious Alvar Aalto Medal. In 2000, Holl was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
. In July 2001, ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' named Holl America's Best Architect, for "buildings that satisfy the spirit as well as the eye." Other awards and distinctions include the best architectural design in New York for The Pace Collection
The Pace Collection was a high-end contemporary furniture company in business from 1960 to 2001. The company was founded by Irving and Leon Rosen in New York City. The showroom was located in Manhattan on East 62nd Street to offer its fine furnitu ...
showroom in 1986 from the American Institute of Architects, the New York 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 ...
Medal of Honor (1997), the French Grande Médaille d’Or (2001), the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture (2002), Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...
(2003), the Arnold W. Brunner Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the 2008 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards () are an international award programme recognizing significant contributions in the areas of scientific research and cultural creation. The categories that make up the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards ...
in the Arts category. In 2007, Steven Holl Architects received the AIA Institute Honor Award and the AIA New York Chapter Architecture Merit Award for Art Building West for the School of Art and Art History (University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...
, Iowa City). The Higgins Hall Insertion at Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
) and the New Residence at the Swiss Embassy both received the AIA New York Chapter Architecture Honor Award in 2007. In 2010, Herning Museum of Contemporary Art
Heart: Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, formerly Herning Kunstmuseum, was founded in Herning, Denmark, in 1976. It opened in 1977 in Angligården, an old shirt factory designed by C. F. Møller. In 2009, it reopened in new premises designed by ...
, ( Herning, Denmark) was awarded the RIBA International Award. The Horizontal Skyscraper-Vanke Center received the 2011 AIA Institute National Honor Award, as well as the AIA NY Honor Award. In 2011, he was named a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council
The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members inclu ...
., and Holl was named the 2012 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 ...
winner. In 2014, Holl was awarded the Praemium Imperiale
Prince Takamatsu
The Praemium Imperiale ( ja, 高松宮殿下記念世界文化賞, Takamatsu-no-miya Denka Kinen Sekai Bunka-shō, World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu) is an international art prize inaugur ...
Prize for Architecture. In 2016, Holl
Teaching
Holl is a tenured professor at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he has taught since 1981 with Dimitra Tsachrelia. He frequently teaches on the relationship between music and architecture.
'T' Space
In 2010, Holl founded 'T' Space, a multidisciplinary arts organization in Rhinebeck, New York. The core aim of 'T' Space is to create educational fusions of art, architecture, music, and poetry of the 21st century. The organization operates a summer exhibition series and an emerging architects summer residency in pursuit of their mission.
The 'T' Space Synthesis of the Arts Series explores the intersection of hi, architecture, and ecology through 2 to 3 exhibitions of work by emerging and established artists and architects. As of its 2019 season, 'T' Space has exhibited architects José Oubrerie
José R. Oubrerie (born November 9, 1932) is a French architect, educator, and author. He was a protégé of Le Corbusier.
Education
Oubrerie studied painting at the Ecole des Beux-Arts (1946–51) in Nantes, and architecture at the
École Natio ...
, Tatiana Bilbao
Tatiana Bilbao Spamer (born 1972) is a Mexican architect whose works often merged geometry with nature. Her practice focuses on sustainable design and social housing.
She founded Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO in 2004 and has completed projects in China ...
, and Neil Denari
Neil Denari (b. Fort Worth, Texas September 3, 1957) is an American architect, professor, and author. Based since 1988 in Los Angeles, Denari emerged in New York during the 1980s with a series of theoretical projects and texts based on the collap ...
, as well as artists such as Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...
, Pat Steir
Pat Steir (born 1940) is an American painter and printmaker. Her early work was loosely associated with conceptual art and minimalism, however, she is best known for her abstract dripped, splashed and poured "Waterfall" paintings, which she s ...
, and Brice Marden
Brice Marden (born October 15, 1938) is an American artist generally described as Minimalist, although his work may be hard to categorize. He lives and works in New York City; Tivoli, New York; Hydra, Greece; and Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania.
Lif ...
.
In 2017, 'T' Space began offering a summertime residency program for young architects and artists. Program participants design purpose-built architecture for rural communities, with curriculum emphasizing the ecological outcomes of design. During project development, the residents participate in pin-ups, field trips, and a public lecture series, from architects including Christian Wassmann, Christoph Kumpusch, Tamas Nagy, and Holl himself.
In addition to its arts and educational programming, 'T' Space maintains a publication program and a 30-acre nature reserve with outdoor installations of art and architecture. In 2019, construction was completed on 'T' Space's architectural archive and research library, which will come to house Holl's work as a watercolorist, as well as models, drawings and other architectural materials developed in Holl's 40-plus years as principal of Steven Holl Architects.
Works
Early works
Holl won first prize in the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek
The Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (AGB; en, America Memorial Library) is one of the largest public libraries in Berlin, Germany. It was co-financed by a donation from the United States. The building was designed by American and German architects, inc ...
International Library Design Competition in 1988, an expansion and renovation of the
American Memorial Library in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. In February, 1989 Holl's work was exhibited in a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
(MoMA) in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. MoMA later purchased twenty-five works by Holl for the museum's permanent collection. In the 1992 competition for a new contemporary arts museum in Helsinki, Finland, Holl's entry, entitled "Chiasma," won first prize out of more than five hundred international entries. The museum opened to the public in 1998, having permanently adopted the name "Kiasma )
, established = (Museum of Contemporary Art)
(opening of Kiasma building)
, dissolved =
, location = Helsinki, Finland
, type = Art museum
, accreditation =
, key_holdings =
, co ...
," the Finnish transliteration of "chiasma."
In designing the Chapel of St. Ignatius (built 1994-1997), Jesuit chapel at Seattle University, Holl addressed the campus's need for green space by siting the chapel in the center of a former street and elongating the building plan. New green campus quadrangles were formed to the north, west, and south, and a future quadrangle is planned to the east.[Holl, Steven. The Chapel of St. Ignatius. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1999. Print.] The plan of the chapel won a design award in 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 ...
of New York. Holl designed the Chapel around St. Ignatius's vision of the inner spiritual life, "seven bottles of light in a stone box", by creating seven volumes of different light. Each volume represents a different part of Jesuit Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
worship, and has differently colored glass so that various parts of the building are marked out by colored light. Light sources are tinted both in this way and by indirect reflection from painted surfaces, and each is paired with its complementary color.
Significant works
Competition selections
* 'Sail Hybrid' casino development, Knokke-Heist
Knokke-Heist (; french: Knocke-Heist) is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heist-aan-Zee, Knokke, Duinbergen, Ramskapelle and Westkapelle. On January 1, 2006 Knokke-Heist had a total ...
, Belgium (2005)
* 'Horizontal Skyscraper', Vanke Center, Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
, China (2006)
* 'Meander', Taivallahti Residential Area, Helsinki, Finland (2006)
* LM Project, Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark (2008)
* Hangzhou Music Museum, Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...
, China (2009)
* 'Shan-Shui' masterplan, Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whic ...
, China (2010)
* Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...
's Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
, Virginia (2018)
* Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, Texas (2020) (in construction)
Selected publications
Along with Pallasmaa and Alberto Perez-Gomez
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...
, Holl wrote essays for a 1994 special issue of the Japanese architectural journal '' A+U'' under the title "Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture." The publication was reissued as a book in 2006.
*''Pamphlet Architecture 5: Alphabetical City'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1980.
*''Pamphlet Architecture 9: Rural and Urban House Types'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1983.
*''Anchoring'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1989.
* Steven Holl: ''Educating our Perception'', in “Magic Materials II”, ''Daidalos'', August 1995.
*''Intertwining'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1996.
*''Pamphlet Architecture 13: Edge of a City'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1996.
*''Pamphlet Architecture 1-10'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1998.
*''The Chapel of St. Ignatius'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1999.
*''Parallax'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2000
* Steven Holl: ''Architecture Spoken'', Rizzoli, 2007
*''House - Black Swan Theory'', Princeton Architectural Press, 2007
*''Urbanisms: Working with Doubt'', Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
*''Pamphlet Architecture 11-20'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2011.
*''Pamphlet Architecture 31: New Haiti Villages'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2011.
* Steven Holl: ''Horizontal Skyscraper'', William Stout Publishers, 2011
* Steven Holl: ''Scale'', Lars Mueller Publishers, 2012
* Steven Holl: ''Color, Light and Time'', with essays by Sanford Kwinter and Jordi Safont-Tria, Lars Mueller Publishers, 2012
*''Urban Hopes: Made in China by Steven Holl'', edited by Christoph Kumpusch, Lars Mueller Publishers, 2013
*''Steven Holl'', Robert McCarter, Phaidon, New York, 2015
*''Steven Holl Seven Houses'', Rizzoli, New York, 2018
*''Compression'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2019.
*''Steven Holl: Inspiration and Process in Architecture'', Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2020.
Notes
References
*Fred Rush, ''On Architecture,'' Routledge, London and New York, 2007.
*Scott Drake, “The Chiasm and the experience of space”, ''JAE'', Nov. 2005, vol.59, iss. 2, 53–59.
*Alberto Perez-Gomez, Juhani Pallasmaa, Steven Holl, ''Questions of Perception. Phenomenology of Architecture'', William K. Stout Pub., San Francisco, 2006 (2nd edition).
*Alberto Perez-Gomez, “The architecture of Steven Holl: In search of a poetry of specifics”, ''El Croquis'' 93, 1999.
*Philip Jodidio, ''Architecture Now!'', Icons, Taschen, New York, 2002.
Gareth Griffiths, "Steven Holl and His Critics", ''Ptah'', Helsinki, 2006.
*Nancy Marmer, "Holl's Kiasma Debuts in Helsinki," ''Art in America,'' October 1998, p. 35.
External links
Steven Holl Architects website
The Stretto House by Steven Holl
(with drawings)
The Chapel of St. Ignatius
Photographs of Architect Steven Holl Designed Modern Home in Dallas, Texas
The Kennedy Center Expansion Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holl, Steven
1947 births
Living people
20th-century American architects
Postmodern architects
Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
University of Washington alumni
Columbia University faculty
Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation faculty
People from Bremerton, Washington
Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
21st-century American architects
Architects from Washington (state)
Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal