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

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Kriken: Longshoreman’s Hall. Gordon would come to San Antonio and say," You [Tape 2: Side B] know, we had search lights that people could aim and turn all over the city. And we had trampolines and strobe lights, so people looked like they were suspended in the air.” And he was going through all these happenings in music and art. And I knew something exciting was going on in California, while I was in Texas. Riess: [The Gay Place is] a political novel? Kriken: Yeah, it is. It’s supposed to be a fictional portrait of Lyndon Johnson, but people who knew Lyndon say it’s the best portrait of Lyndon Johnson that anyone has ever put on paper. And there were movie rights for that book that had been in the offing, and the story goes that Lyndon basically not only bought the movie rights so that no movie could ever be made, but also, black- balled Billy in every conceivable way. And so Billy was struggling with that. Riess: Yeah. Well, interesting. San Antonio. Kriken: I still have very good, dear friends from that time that I’m in touch with. And San Antonio certainly opened me up to the idea that there are many wonderful places to live besides my beautiful California. And I also thought a lot about the impact on design <strong>by</strong> different cultures and climates; San Antonio was very much warmer than San Francisco, and so how does this reflect in its architecture? This was a time when electricity would overcome any difficulties 35
of temperature variation. But you really could see, particularly in the older buildings, how a hot climate was overcome <strong>by</strong> design. Many years later, I worked for Sim van der Ryn, who was state architect during Governor Jerry Brown’s time. Sim wanted to do a “green” new capitol area plan. I was convinced that many of the answers for a non-energy-based climate treatment were known. For hundreds, if not thousands of years, people have lived without electricity, and they found a way to overcome climate difficulties. They had porches, they had attics, and they let the wind blow through, and it worked. Sim and I would argue about this, and of course he won; he was my client. His idea was that the buildings had to be really thrilling, like a space ship, or a geodesic dome, or something that people would equate to the future. And I had all these images from San Antonio in my head--many answers can be found in architecture built before electricity. Riess: He wanted something totally new. Kriken: I don’t want to state with certainty that I knew what Sim was thinking, but my memory is that Sim thought we had to put forward very high technology, modern imagery, to match the goals of the program. I remember having these arguments. And I did sketches of buildings that were low-rise, and were mixed use, were transportation sensitive, used trees to shade, and overhangs and attics to absorb the heat from the sun. And he hated it. He felt that would defeat the program, from the point of view of getting public attention around what he wanted to do. He was probably right, in that way. Now I really don’t care. I mean I think you can do it both ways or in combination. 36
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 and 40: with Peery and his wife [Mimi], the
Page 41: interesting people were visiting Sa
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
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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
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Kriken: Right. The peculiarity ther
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And I’m just there to provide a w
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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
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Kriken: Yeah. And then we had assoc
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Riess: They are called to go there?
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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
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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
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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
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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
Page 231 and 232:
[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
Page 241 and 242:
Kriken: Let me see. Oh, TEDA, okay,
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They didn’t think about the real
Page 245 and 246:
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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