RA. Revista de Arquitectura, n. 23 (English and Spanish)
A Pyramid of Paperwork: Labors of Imagination and Interpretation in Late Twentieth Century Architectural Practice ↗
Journal Article, 2021
A
fundamental shift in employment patterns among
architects in North America during the 1960s and 1970s impacted the ways
particular kinds of tasks were either monopolized or delegated within firms. This
article uses the archive of the US-based architectural firm Gunnar
Birkerts and Associates to show evidence of a growing
gulf between executive architects and employee architects (particularly women
assigned to interiors work), as well as the persistence of chauvinistic practice
ideals under changed circumstances. The Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis building design is shown to be illustrative of the gulf between
imaginative and interpretive labors.
Sketch by Gunnar Birkerts and others exploring variations for the catenary structural system of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis building, ca. 1968. BL000573, Gunnar Birkerts papers, Bentley Historical Library.
Sketch by Gunnar Birkerts and others exploring variations for the catenary structural system of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis building, ca. 1968. BL000573, Gunnar Birkerts papers, Bentley Historical Library.