ORAL HISTORY OF JOHN LUND KRIKEN Interviewed by Suzanne ...

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Riess: San Antonio… You said people from the psychedelic world came through? Kriken: Yes. Riess: It was Carlos Castaneda, and… Kriken: Well, I don’t know that this should be in my oral history, but we did… Riess: Oh, please. Kriken: We did explore Castaneda’s use of peyote--which you could buy, by the way, in any nursery in town. Riess: In any nursery? Kriken: The cactus, yeah, botanical nursery. I mean the cactus you could buy. Riess: And who was doing it? Kriken: Oh, college professors and artist friends. Riess: It was this crowd that you’re talking about. Kriken: Not all of them, but some of them would try it. And then later, when we were working on the World’s Fair, and toward the end of my time there, a lot of 33
interesting people were visiting San Antonio. And a good friend was a writer named Billy Lee Brammer. He wrote The Gay Place. He had been Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary for many years. And he wrote a very famous first book and was trying to do the next great book, and he had a very difficult time trying to find the subject, or what his next effort would be. And it was kind of natural, particularly at the time, that he would explore his creativity through hallucinogenic drugs; and of course, we all found out later that drugs were totally recreational, and that few people could create anything meaningful in that state of mind. He knew Larry McMurtry in Houston; and Ken Kesey would go to see Larry McMurtry and then would stop off and see Billy Lee on his way back to California. So we would regularly be visited by the Merry Pranksters. And that bus scene, and Neal Cassady, and the whole damn thing. And then I had another set of friends, Gordon Ashby, a prominent designer who used to be with the Charles Eames office, and was working on the Texas exhibit for the fair. Gordon was very close to the Trips Festival happening in San Francisco. Riess: What’s the Trips Festival? Kriken: The Trips Festival was one of the first acid trip parties. They had it down in the Union Hall--the domed building at Fisherman’s Wharf. Riess: Yeah. The Longshoreman’s Hall, or whatever it is. 34
Page 1 and 2: ORAL HISTORY OF JOHN LUND KRIKEN In
Page 3 and 4: TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface iv Outlin
Page 5 and 6: When I met Kriken he was finishing
Page 7 and 8: Diversification of projects and sta
Page 9 and 10: Kriken: But, my father told us that
Page 11 and 12: and my artwork. I got to be the cla
Page 13 and 14: gathering. I guess by the time I go
Page 15 and 16: knowledge was pretty much the Berke
Page 17 and 18: and urban design career. But rememb
Page 19 and 20: [Tape 1: Side B] notable that a lot
Page 21 and 22: Kriken: Yeah. It is. Riess: Who rep
Page 23 and 24: Riess: So you’re thrown right int
Page 25 and 26: Kriken: Yeah, we were seeing it in
Page 27 and 28: Riess: Telesis. interested in the p
Page 29 and 30: Riess: Interesting. Kriken: I can
Page 31 and 32: Riess: Do you have a feeling about
Page 33 and 34: Kriken: And it never did get simple
Page 35 and 36: and how there was just enough Europ
Page 37 and 38: Kriken: Yeah. They would make the d
Page 39: with Peery and his wife [Mimi], the
Page 43 and 44: of temperature variation. But you r
Page 45 and 46: lock units of office buildings. So
Page 47 and 48: Riess: And did that happen among th
Page 49 and 50: Kriken: I actually got together wit
Page 51 and 52: of information you had to put toget
Page 53 and 54: one positive place versus another d
Page 55 and 56: Kriken: We had three publications.
Page 57 and 58: Kriken: Well, I guess it depends. Y
Page 59 and 60: Riess: I guess it was more a time w
Page 61 and 62: Kriken: There were certainly things
Page 63 and 64: Kriken: Oh, yeah. Because everythin
Page 65 and 66: projects with repetitive building t
Page 67 and 68: Kriken: Yes, they were. Just a coup
Page 69 and 70: show. It’s so wonderful. They mad
Page 71 and 72: neighborhood, whatever scale you’
Page 73 and 74: necessarily worse. Is that true? Or
Page 75 and 76: Riess: Roger Montgomery was an urba
Page 77 and 78: Kriken: I don’t know. He doesn’
Page 79 and 80: Kriken: …consulting but very spec
Page 81 and 82: Kriken: About part of this project,
Page 83 and 84: the science and engineering labs, a
Page 85 and 86: conceptually. They all came one aft
Page 87 and 88: to pin up policy or ideas in this m
Page 89 and 90: Riess: Okay, changing the subject b
Page 91 and 92:
Kriken: Probably. That’s true. Al
Page 93 and 94:
Kriken: Seriously? I think, for me,
Page 95 and 96:
our presentations always had to hav
Page 97 and 98:
Kriken: Clear Lake, yeah. And one o
Page 99 and 100:
Kriken: I guess. Or his partners ma
Page 101 and 102:
Kriken: You mean just in doing the
Page 103 and 104:
Kriken: That’s a very Skidmore th
Page 105 and 106:
Riess: Once you could see your spec
Page 107 and 108:
architectural firms--had tried to n
Page 109 and 110:
Kriken: Well, every ten years, the
Page 111 and 112:
kind of reminiscing and talking abo
Page 113 and 114:
Riess: So the first firm award was
Page 115 and 116:
Riess: How about Hispanic? Kriken:
Page 117 and 118:
Riess: But did you feel at some poi
Page 119 and 120:
Riess: What does Class A office bui
Page 121 and 122:
Kriken: And I remember we talked ab
Page 123 and 124:
Riess: You are an urban design part
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there--but it was so interesting as
Page 127 and 128:
Kriken: Right. The peculiarity ther
Page 129 and 130:
And I’m just there to provide a w
Page 131 and 132:
Riess: Yeah. minimized. This makes
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seen so much building in this city
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Kriken: No. It’s proprietary, and
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so it is a connecting on a social b
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good team players. I can think of a
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maybe the social aspects are not--t
Page 143 and 144:
Kriken: Yeah. And then we had assoc
Page 145 and 146:
Riess: They are called to go there?
Page 147 and 148:
Kriken: I don’t know that. Riess:
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Kriken: Yeah. It’s terrible when
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Riess: Ouroussoff doesn’t deal wi
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Riess: Really. There may be landmar
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seems like such a great investment
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Riess: Oh yes. Where are they based
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[Tape 9: Side A] Kriken: Frequently
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center of downtown, stepping down t
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Bay Area region. Hong Kong is so de
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Riess: It sounds like you really be
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void. It was just a complete flip-f
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Kriken: The North of Market Plannin
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Riess: Yes. In that case your exper
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Kriken: You could have all of your
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instead of being just some kind of
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Riess: When you meet people, do you
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architecture begins. But it seems t
Page 181 and 182:
Riess: So where is the credit seen?
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when I get some notice in one of th
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walking. It was after the first Ira
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problems is that it begins to narro
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linear single street. It didn’t r
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hadn’t made a lake in Shanghai in
Page 193 and 194:
Riess: That’s what I wondered. Kr
Page 195 and 196:
Kriken: Yeah, well, just say there
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away to some place where it is prop
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why we hear stories that in India e
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in Shanghai is an example of trying
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Riess: Yeah. Okay. Kriken: I’m no
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part of the identity of the place t
Page 207 and 208:
Kriken: Well, yes. In that instance
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Riess: I don’t understand how LEE
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Kriken: Well, a little bit what I
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Kriken: …protective. It’s almos
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could imagine putting this campus i
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there was a time when I said, “We
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think of an example, somebody could
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separating uses, and so they lost a
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document your thinking in such a wa
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wiggle this path just to get the ex
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elsewhere in the world is the state
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production should compete with hous
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[End of Tape 12; Tape 12: Side B is
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Riess: Of the city. as a joke, beca
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the beautiful French silhouetted bu
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have this impression, and in actual
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Riess: Yes, yes. him when we were p
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Kriken: Let me see. Oh, TEDA, okay,
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They didn’t think about the real
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Riess: That’s interesting. What y
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Kriken: It is; it looks like one of
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the Sunday Afternoon Watercolor Soc
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Riess: That part of the job many pe
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Kriken: And then I would spend a we
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Kriken: I think it is gaining the r
Page 257 and 258:
Kriken: These could be design partn
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Kriken: Well, it’s probably a lit
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Riess: That’s good. Kriken: Or ad
Page 263 and 264:
256
Page 265 and 266:
Urban Design: Process, Products and
Page 267 and 268:
JOHN LUND KRIKEN Born: July 5, 1938
Page 269 and 270:
Adams, Chris 80, 82 Alexander, Chri
Page 271:
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ORAL HISTORY OF JOHN LUND KRIKEN Interviewed by Suzanne ...

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