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. www.arizcc.com Arizona contractor & community