Arizona Contractor & Community Fall 2015 V4 I3 | Page 81
S
tructural expressionism is an
approach to fully exploit, integrate,
and feature the various structural
systems and construction methods in
architecture. Over the centuries architects
have tested the limits of construction
materials and have delivered some
extraordinary and inspirational results. A
20th century interpretation of such
structural ambitions can be found in
southern Arizona with the architecture of
Edward ‘Ned’ H. Nelson, FAIA.
Nelson was born in Winchester,
Massachusetts in 1918 and grew up in
Boston. He then served, with distinction,
in the military during World War II. Nelson
tells the story that during the European
campaign, “he was on a convoy moving
toward the Russian border when he
spotted ‘a glassy building’ that resonated
with him.” It was the Bauhaus Building of
Dessau, Germany, a modern architectural
masterpiece by Walter Gropius, completed
in 1926.
The structure was revolutionary with
the exterior glass wrapping the corners,
thereby creating the impression of
lightness. After the war, Nelson entered
Architect’s Perspective:
Edward H. Nelson, FAIA:
Structural Expressionism
Doug Sydnor, FAIA
[email protected]
Yale’s School of Architecture and received
a Bachelor of Architecture in 1950. During
his schooling he visited Philip Johnson’s
1949 Glass House in New Canaan,
Connecticut, and it left a very strong
impression.
After getting married, Nelson moved
to Tucson to recover from rheumatic fever.
He “fell in love with it [the city],” and
started working for Gordon Luepke. Nelson
and his wife purchased a property in the
Tanque Verde area and, over the next
three years, built a modern home of adobe
walls and a wood-framed roof. The home
had north/south walls of shaded glass that
framed the distant mountain views. In
1953, Nelson started his own architecture
firm where he designed residential and
religious projects.
With new partners Gerald Cain and
James Ware, Nelson launched the firm of
Cain Nelson Ware in 1961. They became
one of the finest and most innovative
Tucson architectural firms. In the late
1960s a fourth partner, William Cook, FAIA,
joined the firm and it became Cain Nelson
Ware and Cook (CNWC).
The award-winning architecture of
CNWC was very expressive of the
structural systems, construction methods,
and building materials. Whether concrete,
masonry, brick, or steel was used
“everything is revealed including the
structure and mechanical systems.” Nelson
notes the firm’s design philosophy focused
on three priorities including that the work
is to be “20th century buildings and be of
its time, be comfortable in the
surroundings, and serve the people well in
the building.”
Nelson was active professionally and
civically with many leadership roles and, in
1981, was inducted into the AIA College of
Fellows for “significant contributions to the
profession and for community service.”
The following projects provide a
representative sampling of Nelson’s skills
as the lead designer, and have been
selected from the late 1950s through the
early 1970s.
A very early work is the awardwinning, circa 1958, Lutheran Church of
the King Sanctuary at 2450 South Kolb
Road in Tucson. It integrates the use of
brick and exposed concrete masonry units
with decorative screen walls. The highly
crafted screen filters the sun and creates
patterned shade at the east side entry
porch. This installation is believed to be
one of the first commercial uses of the
integrally-colored concrete masonry in
Tucson. Folded plate and wood-framed
roof construction was an innovative
approach and provided a saw-tooth roof
profile. Underneath the roof are recessed
triangular-shaped clerestory windows that
admit daylight into the sanctuary. These
innovative strategies deliver a structural
expressionist character to the architecture.
The circa 1968 Mathematics Building
at the University of Arizona is a structural
tour-de-force, as the upper classrooms
cantilever off of a shared common core.
The primary structure is cast in place
concrete and has the floor slabs fully
Two images of the Lutheran Church of the
King Sanctuary.
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