An Architect Plans For Peaceful Plains
by Frederick B. Hudson
The poet Kahlil Gibran hoped that the sons and daughters of the universe
not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living. The native of Lebanon
encouraged them to hope that the valleys were your streets, and the green paths
your alleys, that you might seek one another through vineyards, and come with
the fragrance of the earth in your garments.
The lyrical dreams have come to fruition in the career of J. Max Bond,
Jr., an internationally known architect whose buildings ranging from libraries
to cultural centers in sites as diverse as Zimbabwe and Harlem, New York have
included the dreams and aspirations of those who inhabit them.
Mr. Bond, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Design School, has
for over forty years sought sustainable development for the citizens of the
world. Defined by urban planners as "development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to met their own
needs, this concept has found credibility within the United Nations and other
allied organizations within the last twenty years.
Max Bond started on his quest for this inclusive value system in Ghana in
1964 as an architect for the Ghana National Construction Company. He designed
the Bolgatanga Library. He took the needs of the culture in consideration in
the design of this project by organizing the space in consideration for the
needs of the users of the research facility to meet and share information
within the cultural context of African arts and culture.
These concerns have marked his work since he feels that the European Bauhaus
method of architecture which feels that architecture should be responsive to
the needs and influences of the modern industrial world.
Bond feels that some housing in Harlem reflects society's lack of concern
for the residents-it is very stark and similar and makes the people in it almost
anonymous. He notes that some cities have had to destroy this type of public
housing because the social disruption is so intense that it renders life
unbearable.
"Public housing in Harlem tends to dehumanize the residents It does not make
the residents feel that they own the housing. The firms that designed this
housing after World War II were not minority owned firms, they went along with
the standard concept of the time which was about warehousing people.
"In contrast some of the first public housing in Harlem which was the East
River housing was designed by a mixed race group of architects in the '30s was
very warm and welcoming to the residents. You enter the houses through
courtyards. There is a lot of sculpture in the courtyards which was done by the WPA.
It is very humane."
These concerns propelled Bond to establish and lead the Architects Renewal
Committee of Harlem(ARCH) in the late 1960s. He was inspired by the presence of
brownstones in Harlem which reflected a desire to provide good , stable
housing for the middle class in the early 20th century.
He and a staff of other architects and lawyers stove to provide poorer
community residents with options that they could present to city officials and
planning boards as alternatives to establishment plans for renovation and renewal.
He encouraged them to consider the effects of neighborhoods plans on the
development of neighborhoods.
Always the educator, he rose from assistant professor to Chairman of Colu
mbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning from 1970 to 1985.
Among his private commissions during this time was the design of the Arthur
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He feels that the construction
of this building was a prototype of how architects can best serve their
community. Jean Blackwell Hutson at first presided over a decaying Carnegie
library building where the collection was housed, but through a personal campaign
secured public money to construct a new facility after library officials had
ignored her pleas for support.
Bond intentionally designed the building in 1979 using masonry rather that
from glass and steel since more black laborers had skills in these areas. He got
very involved in the contracting out of labor to make sure that minority
workers got ample share of the work. His design plans specified that the wood used
for the paneling and the tables were to be made from a certain type of
African wood. When the contractors asks where the wood could be found, he led them
to an African company based in the World Trade Center who could supply the
wood. No excuses allowed!
He says he was able to do this fundamentally because he cared. His concern
coupled with a strong advisory board was able to wield influence in the
corridors of powers to bring diversity to this effort.
When he was asked to design the new university in Zimbabwe, he tried to
understand what materials could be supplied locally as well as what concerns were
appropriate for the climate there. He designed an environment which provided an
updraft which would cool the building during the day with materials that
would hold heat during the night for warmth. This is true planning for the future.
He also designed the roofs for rainwater collection and reuse.
Concerns for maximum use of local labor was incorporated in the design plans.
Laborers in the country had been exploited for years by colonial powers and
had skills, but they had been denied managerial responsibilities. Bond and his
team made every effort to specify use of materials that local natives had
worked with in the past, thus creating career paths for local residents.
Bond sees buildings as potential magnets for human activity and
interaction-his designs for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social
Change and the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum reflect his desire for people of
good will to meet on common ground for understanding.
He recently had significant concerns about the planning process used to
rebuild the destroyed twin World Trade Center Towers since he felt that all
types of people should have consulted about the use of the land. " There was an
immediate decision to rebuild the commercial use of the land. But all kinds of
people should have been consulted about the very use of the land. It could
have been a park or anything. Poets, dancers, artists as well as architects
should have been consulted about this space which was created by tragedy."
Bond contrasts this exclusive process of land use to the African Burial
Ground in Lower Manhattan where the minority community rose up when the bones
of their ancestors were discovered beneath public property. "People demanded
change."
A true visionary, Bond is committed to reminding residents of the world's
cities and villages of the admonition of Gibran:
In their fear your forefathers gathered you
too near together. And that fear shall endure a little longer.
A little longer shall your city walls separate your hearths from your fields.
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