Michael Graves was
a remarkable man and architect who taught at Princeton for decades, yet they rejected his gift.
I don't understand why. Was it partly due to academic politics and jealousy.....
even carried on posthumously?
Images of academic feuds in architecture
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ACADEMIC FEUDS
When a famous professor dies
do academic feuds die with him
or do they remain a separate enterprise
able to disrupt the tranquil rhythm
of campus quods
and eager young bods
with counterpoints of starkness
from Man's incessant darkness
to hint of what may fester
at the end of the semester?
HzL
6/28/16
Feuds? I've had a few | Art and design | The Guardian
He's a Jew who is a close friend of Albert Speer's son; he's had blazing rows with Frank Gehry and Daniel Libeskind; he's used to having bitter arguments with his ..
and
The book does succeed in conveying a vivid picture of how brutal the practice of architecture can be and the sheer nastiness of its leading figures. Libeskind recounts the day in Berlin when he had to present his scheme for the Jewish Museum to the building senator, Hans Stimman, only to be told to his face: 'This building is an architectural fart.'
from
Facades and feuds | Art and design | The Guardian
Facades and feuds Daniel Libeskind is ... In the manner of his zigzagging architecture, ... Libeskind has led a charmed life as an academic, ...
Kean University, home of the nascent Michael Graves College for architecture and design, has received permission from its board of trustees to purchase three of Graves’s properties in Princeton, N.J. — including his residence and studio, the Warehouse — for $20.
Graves, a prolific architect, standard-bearer of Post-Modernism in the 1980s, and popularizer of designer teakettles and everyday objects, died last year. Through his will, he donated the properties to Princeton University, his neighbor and longtime employer.
But Princeton rejected the gift.
“We were grateful to be able to consider the possibility of accepting Michael Graves’s properties, but concluded that we could not meet the terms and conditions associated with the gift,” the university said in a statement.
Among those “terms and conditions” were preserving the houses and making them fit for education — a cost that Kean said it was willing to take on. Dawood Farahi, the school’s president, said that annual maintenance was estimated at $30,000 to $40,000 per year, and retrofitting the buildings for student use would cost about $300,000. The three properties were appraised for a total value of nearly $3.2 million.
The architect’s firm first approached Kean, which is between Princeton and New York in Union, N.J., about purchasing the properties earlier this year. His will stated that if Princeton didn’t accept the gift, it would be offered to another nonprofit. Kean was a logical choice: Graves spent the last years of his life working with the school to create its new architecture program, which admitted its inaugural class last fall.
The Warehouse is a microcosm of Graves’s design ethos: a postmodern (with a nod toward classicism), holistic treatment of interior and exterior spaces. “It is a perfect expression of Michael’s humanistic design philosophy, with its thoughtful integration of architecture, interiors, furniture, artifacts, artwork and landscape,” Linda Kinsey, a principal at Michael Graves Architecture & Design, said in a statement.
Under Kean’s ownership, little is expected to change about the Warehouse’s use. Graves used the space as a residence and art studio, but he also treated the house as a museum and gathering place for seminars and salons. “We would use the house the way Michael did,” David Mohney, dean of the Michael Graves College, said, “and the scale of use would be consistent.”
For students, the house will be a resource center for learning about one of the most influential architects of the past half-century, as well as a space for lectures and studio work. Mr. Mohney said it would also be open to Princeton students. (The Warehouse is adjacent to Princeton’s campus, and about a half-mile from its School of Architecture.)
“This will be an opportunity for students to see firsthand what life was like for a major architect,” said Mr. Mohney. He added that the other properties — a two-story stone house and a small residence — would be used for a variety of functions, including a lodging for visiting lecturers.
Graves was paralyzed from the waist down in 2003 as a result of a spinal cord infection, and spent years relearning how to live and work, renovating the Warehouse for new usefulness. Its furnishings were not included in the will, which was not explicit about whether the house and its contents should be kept together. Purchasing the fixtures from the Graves estate to keep them from becoming separated is “under discussion,” Mr. Mohney said. “It was certainly Michael’s intention.”
gRA
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