>> Mari Nakahara: Welcome 
to today's program.
My name is
 Mari Nakahara
and I am curator 
of architecture design
and engineering
 at the library's
Prints and
 Photographs Division.
Today we have a guest
 speaker, Donna Kacmar.
Donna will introduce 
works by Victor Lundy
who would celebrate his 
100th birthday on February 1st.
He's still alive.
Before we get started, 
I want to mention that
we will be answering questions
 at the end of the presentation.
If you have any questions,
please put them in Q&A, 
not in the chat.
My colleague, Sara Duke, 
will be tracking your questions
in Q&A so that we can 
be sure to address them.
If you are interested in 
receiving a PDF of the slides
from today's presentation, 
you can contact us
through our Ask
 a Librarian service.
You will see
 the link in the chat.
This program will also 
be recorded and available
in the future on 
the library's website.
Here we are showing a picture
 of the Library of Congress,
Capitol Hill campus, where we
 have three main buildings.
And the red arrow points to
where the Prints and photographs
 division is located
in the Madison building.
You can see a picture of our
 reading room on the right.
To begin, I would like to
 briefly introduce
the print and photographs
division collections as a whole.
Prints and Photographs Division
holds over 17 million items,
visual materials most likely
 such as photographs,
graphic cards and
 architecture design
and engineering collections.
This slide showed
 some examples
after I searched keyword
 US Capital in the
Print and Photographs
 division Online Catalog,
we call ppoc, PPOC.
As you see, the search
 results show
various types of the materials
 such as posters, lithographs,
gear type photos, and
 architectural drawings.
Most items from the
 collections were made
in the United States
 and reflects
the experiences 
of Americans,
but the collections are
 also international scope.
Here are some Lundy’s
 example and work,
and I put out some slides,
but Donna is going to go
 further and explain
what kind of works
 Victor worked on.
It's amazing, for instance,
 in sketches of the Parthenon
and in the middle, 
you see the Brains book.
He called some
 construction drawings,
great pictures and sketches.
Donna Kacmar, the editor 
of this book shown here,
is a fellow of the American 
Institute of Architects,
as well as professor at the
 University of Houston.
Donna spent about two
 years going through
the Victor Lundy archive
 to publish this book.
Please finally join me
 in welcoming Donna.
>> Donna Kacmar:
 Thank you, Mari.
I'm thrilled to talk to all 
of you about the work
of Victor Lundy on this
 celebration of his centennial.
Lundy's work, both his 
drawings and his built work
are inspiring to me
 as an architect.
It is truly an honor to
 have had the privilege
to get to know Victor,
a treasure,
 the numerous afternoons
I have spent with him
 talking about architecture
and even visiting his
 architectural archives with him
and Mari at 
the Library of Congress.
I was first introduced
 to Victor Lundy
and his lovely and talented
 wife Anstis Lundy
at a dinner party
 about 20 years ago.
These photos are from
 Victor and Anstis
on a train to
 Venice from 1964.
Victor Lundy was born
 on February 1st, 1923,
in New York City, the
 only son of Russian immigrants.
He was known as
 the school's artist
at his 6,000 boy
 public high school.
This drawing of a bull's
 head was done by Victor
when he was just
 17 years old.
He soon went to 
New York University
on a full scholarship and began
 to learn about architecture
in the Beaux Arts tradition.
These sketches are from one
 of his college courses
where there was an emphasis
 on both drawing
and the history of architecture.
You might notice
 he received A's.
In December of 1941, 
Victor enlisted in the Army.
He earned advanced
 acceptance in
the Army Specialized
 Training program ASTP
established to produce
 officers for
the reconstruction of
 war-torn Europe.
He was sent to the 
University of Miami
and trained for 18 months.
The ASTP was eventually 
abandoned and all the soldiers
in the program suddenly
 became infantry
and were sent to Europe.
Victor carried sketchbooks 
with him and documented
the villages and fellow
 soldiers he saw.
Of the 27 sketchbooks he filled,
 only eight have survived.
They are now at the Library
 of Congress,
along with his 
architectural archive.
This sketch was 
made just 11 days
before Victor himself
 was wounded.
On November 12th, 1944, 
Victor was hit by fire
from a German tiger tank.
Victor then spent several months
 at an Army medical center
in England, where
 Dr. Hamburg [inaudible],
an orthopedic 
surgeon from Chicago,
noticed his war sketchbooks
 and managed to keep
Victor there, making detailed
 drawings of surgeries.
Victor later spent 
eight months at
Walter Reed Army Medical
 Center in Washington, D.C.,
before World War Two 
ended in September.
This sketch of his
 bandaged left hand
is from several months earlier, 
June 12, 1945.
Victor continued his 
architectural education
at Harvard, this time
 learning from
Bauhaus masters Walter
 Gropius and Marcel Breuer.
He learned to draw in the
 modernist style with black ink.
Victor graduated from
 Harvard with both
a bachelor's and a master's
 degree in architecture.
Victor applied for 
and was awarded
the Roach Traveling 
Scholarship by
the Boston Society 
of Architects in 1948.
You can see by this letter 
he beat out Paul Rudolph,
who was second place
 or the first alternate.
We know where Victor 
traveled on the road
during those years, 
those months,
because of the detailed letters
 he wrote back home
to his friends and colleagues.
So from 1948 July 
until January 1950,
he toured through the
 towns and countryside,
visiting many countries
 in 18 months of travel
that, Victor says, 
changed his life.
This watercolor is from 
Stockholm in August of 1948.
He did many watercolor
 paintings such as this.
Along his travels,
 this might be his first
watercolor that he did.
He documented ports or 
sometimes even small villages
at train stops during travel.
In fact, Lundy 
continued to travel
and sketch the world around
 him throughout his life.
He later did some
 oil pastel sketches
from his large travel
 sketchbooks
that are also at the
 Library of Congress
and sometimes drawing
 faces and people.
I asked him about this image
 of the Trevi Fountain in Rome
that reappear several times
 in his sketchbooks.
He told me that there was a flat
 area at just the right height
for a sketching pad, and 
nearby was another flat place
to set his oil pastels.
Those two things
 determine the view
he would re-examine
 on many visits.
Upon returning
 from the roach,
Lundy became 
a licensed architect
in the state of 
New York in 1950,
and then a project took
 him to Sarasota, Florida.
Christopher Wilson, 
who's on this call,
wrote the chapter in the
 book about Sarasota.
Lundy read the Sarasota 
Herald Tribune in an article
about a church that accommodated
 mostly elderly people
on a wonderful tree filled site.
Yet the service was
 held while everyone
was sitting in their cars.
Victor soon introduced 
himself to Pastor Whyte
and suggested
 designing a platform
to lift the pastor up in the air
so he could be seen
 by the congregation.
Victor designed
 an inexpensive structure
using two by fours
 and plywood
and donated his
 design services.
This pro bono project, the drive
in church in Venice, Florida,
of 1954 really made
 Victor's name.
The building was featured in 
Life magazine in April 18, 1955.
And in this photo,
 it is Victor sitting behind
the steering wheel
 of the car.
Lundy's drawing skills
 also brought him
his first paid independent
 Architectural Commission.
He entered and won a watercolor
 competition in Sarasota.
When Carl Bickel, one of 
the jurors of that competition,
found out that Victor was
 also an architect,
he asked Victor to do
 a few sketches
for a new Chamber 
of Commerce building.
Victor went to the site
 with a giant easel
and produced
 four paintings.
He was hired.
He designed a pavilion
 with a big sheltering roof
for the Sarasota County Chamber
 of Commerce Building 1956.
He also designed the desks 
and millworks on the interior.
Lundy's work has often 
been described
as more roof than walls,
 and this is certainly true
in his first paid commission.
Here's a drawing from one
 of the construction documents
showing the wood roof structure
 extending outward.
And this drawing shows
 his exploration
of wood as a building material.
At a talk about ten years later,
Lundy shared his
 thoughts on wood.
Lundy wrote, “Wood is a
 living, resilient material.
It is totally unlike steel 
or concrete.
It has air in it.
It comes mainly from
 above the earth,
not beneath the earth.
Wood, by its very
, nature, suggest
exciting, alive 
directions in buildings.
Just south of Sarasota,
 he designed a house
with an inward focus
 with private spaces
that radiate from the central
 circular living space.
This is the Heron House
 of Venice, Florida, 1957.
And it was actually the curved
 roof form that came before
the plan organization.
Lundy kicked up
 the roof edges,
extending the roof overhang,
 and that sweeping
wing shape of laminated beams
 supports the curving roof
that is made of solid
 wood decking.
Ursula Cole and Peter Bartos 
are the sole shareholders
of the real estate development
 company that now owns
the Heron House and
 renovated the house in 2014.
I'm so glad the
 house continues
to be cared for 
and appreciated.
For that same client, 
Samuel Herron,
Victor later designed the
 Warm Mineral Springs Motel,
another structurally
 innovative building.
This building has 75 thin shell
 mushroom-like concrete forms
that were made by a 
young local contractor.
Victor produced the detailed
 drawings of the formwork
required to make those
 concrete forms.
Looking from above, you can
 see that there's a drainpipe
in the middle of the column
and that they
 alternate in height.
Lundy called these columns 
a forest of architectural palms.
The checkerboard pattern created
by those two alternating 
column heights allows light
to enter the interior 
of the guestrooms.
Lundy designed many churches
 in the Sarasota area,
and an early church is the
St Paul's Lutheran Church
 Fellowship Hall of 1959.
Here's an early sketch
 drawn by Lundy,
where the clear 
articulation of structure
is allowed to become expressive
and make this dramatic
 sheltering roof.
The building served as
 a congregation sanctuary
when it was first built.
In the book, 
Christopher Damon writes,
in Lundy's Fellowship Hall,
the wood structural
 elements rise effortlessly
from the masonry peers.
The interior space is 
reminiscent of the inverted hole
of a wooden ship graciously 
sheltering the fellowship.
Uninterrupted glazing 
connects the interior
to the north and
 south porticos.
This is one of my 
favorite images.
When looking up
 at the ceiling,
the laminated wood beams
 appear to weave together,
kind of directly connecting
 the interior to the exterior.
And here is the side portico
 that Damon was referring to.
Ten years later, St Paul's
 Lutheran Church Sanctuary
was built 1969.
This structure has a more
 articulated roof structure
with this highly engineered
 cable system.
This hybrid trust is composed
 of a continuous
and relatively slender
 triangular steel ridge beam
with eight triangular
 frames that are spaced
at about 18 feet apart.
This is not a photograph.
This is a drawing produced by
 Victor in the book for Petrus,
the founding director
 of the Center
for Architecture design
 and Engineering
at the Library of Congress, 
writes, and I quote,
“For an exhibition of his 
and his wife's work
shown in Marfa, Texas, 
in 2006,
Lundy produced a remarkable
 retrospective series
of large-scale
 perspective renderings
of selected examples
 of his earlier work.
To represent the sanctuary that 
he had originally designed
in 1969 for St Paul's
 Lutheran Church,
He produced a stunning
 four-foot by eight-foot
carbon pencil and charcoal 
rendering on heavy paper.
In a vision both calm and
 luminous, even ethereal,
Lundy, the artist, poetically
conveyed the original intentions
that Lundy, the 
architect, conceived
for this structure and space.
And yes, you heard right.
Four-foot by eight-foot drawing.
And this original drawing
 and several others
that were in this 
exhibition from 2006
are at the Library of Congress.
And as you can imagine,
it took several scans to
 get this image.
Lundy is certainly known 
for his religious structures.
He also designed community
 centers and office buildings.
And here's an early sketch of
the Galloway Furniture
 showroom from 1959.
These early sketches 
show how
Lundy is able to readily convey 
his ideas to clients.
It also shows that he 
understands his client's needs.
I know you can't read it, 
but the notation
that's scribbled up on
 the upper right reads
dull, dark wood, monotone.
let furniture sparkle as
 against black.
The Galloway Furniture showroom
was a modern
 furniture showroom,
and it was where all the
 local architects would go
to get modern furniture 
for their photoshoots.
The building is currently owned
by the Sarasota
 Museum of Art.
Victor Lundy describes this kind
 of morning glory shape
of the laminated 
redwood arches
that are in the center
 of the building.
Here we see those arches 
under construction.
And zooming in, just seeing
 how the floor meets
that central structural form
and the mezzanine level 
appears to kind of be suspended.
So Lundy's Sarasota 
practice was growing
and he felt he needed 
to leave Florida
to get the important projects
and projects outside 
of the state.
So in 1960, Lundy established
 an office in New York,
but continued working 
on projects in Sarasota.
And we can see by this 
 map that in 1955,
all of his buildings were 
near Sarasota.
And just ten years later,
 he's doing work
in the Northeast and
 in Central US.
And not to get too far ahead
 of us, but in 1975,
his work expands again.
And then in 1985, down 
at the bottom left,
that's Sri Lanka. 
That's not its real location.
But he did the US 
embassy in Sri Lanka,
so his work did expand 
over vast geography.
So he moves to New York
 and one of the first projects
in the New York City
 area was
the West Point Unitarian
 Church, 1961.
Seen here is one of his 
really beautiful drawings
as colored pencil on brown
 craft paper.
Here, this section shows this 
long wood laminated beams
that support this curved roof 
that rises upward dramatically,
65 feet above the floor
 of the sanctuary.
There's a continuous glass
 skylight that really holds
the tension between the
 two halves of the roof.
And here, this is not a --
I mean, this is kind of 
a construction photo,
but the congregation was 
faced with a limited budget
and somehow Victor 
convinced his clients
to build the roof first.
So worship services 
were held open air
on this earth and floor under
 this dramatic roof
until funds could be raised by
this brave congregation
 four years later,
when they could afford 
to enclose the building.
Here, you see it from
 above with snow.
So we know it got
 cold in the area.
Also in New York is the
 I Miller Shoe Store
and this drawing of 
a sleeping Buddha
from southern India from 
one of his travel sketches.
And it served as the inspiration
 for that shoe store.
We can also look at one of 
his many brain’s books.
These 8.5 by 11 black 
hardbound sketchbooks
in which he notes various
 things and here is noting
his intention to cut through
 the structural baize
on the second floor to make
 this 35-foot entry space.
This dramatic entry
 is only hinted at
through the large glass windows
 on this facade on Fifth Avenue.
And here is the underside
 of what we'll see later
the wooden screens that
 will sweep down.
Here's a section of 
a construction document
that shows how he sweeps
 down this kind of curtain.
And I'm not sure if you
 can see my cursor,
but if you can, it's following
 down here and you enter
and then that would
 screen sweeps up
and becomes the balustrade
 of the mezzanine.
So Victor writes, 
“He created a wood curtain,
and in one stroke, starting 
at the top of the exterior,
swept it down past the
 limited perimeter beam,
then down under, 
lowering the scale
of the street level selling 
space at the perimeter
and sweeping it 
upward to culminate
in a railing for
 the mezzanine.”
It was Victor's intention
 to create beauty
in an abundant, 
luxurious atmosphere.
Lundy wrote that the 
owner leased two stories
on a major shopping corner
 in New York City.
The street area
 was too small
for the selling 
area required
by the owner for
 a high-priced shoe salon.
I solved the problem
 by thinking
of the available volume
 as an entity
that was part of the original
 restrictions and discipline,
but the only fixed
 elements being
the existing columns 
and beams that support
the multi storey New York
 office building above.
Here you see that curving
 wood that becomes
the balustrade, 
meeting the columns.
And this is one of --
it's one of my favorite
 projects and why
it's on the cover of the book.
This is looking up
 at the ceiling.
And here you see how Lundy 
could use wood to create beauty.
Another interior renovation
 project completed
just a few years later
 is this singer
company showroom of 1965.
It began with early drawings
 investigating the design
and then looking 
at how that form
would be deployed in the space.
Looking at how 
different column sizes
might meet the ceiling.
And he worked out the geometry
before computer aided drawing.
And often working with
 timber structures
for the fabrication
 of the wood elements
in all of his buildings.
He was very interested in how
 things were made
and would visit their
 fabrication space
and sometimes would draw on
 the floor of the factory
at full scale to get the 
geometry just right.
Here, clear Hemlock
 strips are used
to create these
 wooden pedals.
And here you see
 them up against
the curved plaster ceiling.
This is a section drawing of
the Hartford Unitarian
 Church of 1964.
He first developed this
 in a clay model
and in plan and section.
And almost complete
 image shows
how that tent like ceiling
 of cedar slats
hangs from the concrete 
structural walls.
And here we see how
 the wooden slats
of the ceiling intertwine with
the vertical pipes of the organ.
Christopher Damon again 
writes in the book,
“The 16 churches designed
 by Lundy
are technologically 
 precise and defined
by measurable forces
 in the world,
but the resultant spaces
 are certainly more
than a sum of their constituent
 material parts.
It is in these places that 
material and space
oscillate to form an original
 vision of the world.”
Lundy also used small linear
 wood elements
to design the shade
 structures at
the Smithsonian Museum
 of Natural History
in Washington, DC.
Here, he designed three
 suspended squares,
each comprised of a series 
of three 4-inch square
western red cedar
 vertical strips.
They're hung on cables
 in concentric circles.
And they create shade
 below while also
being transparent to breezes.
Lundy's interested in other 
materials other than wood.
I can't show you all
 his work tonight,
and it's not all in the book,
 but here at
the IBM Garden State Office
 Building in Cranford,
New Jersey of 1964, Lundy 
shows his interest in masonry.
And here this exterior
 masonry wall
appears to really rise
 from the ground.
And here we see the individual
 unit’s kind of undulating.
And the interior 
looks like wood,
but this is a 
concrete structure,
and fiberglass formwork was
 used to cast this shape.
Lundy wanted the interior hall,
 which was
the space where the traveling
 sales force
would reside temporary to be 
really an inspiring space.
Lundy has always had a deep
 interest in structures,
and I'll let you 
read this yourself.
Lundy was also interested 
in pneumatic structures.
This is an early sketch from 
one of his brains books.
In 1960, the Atomic
 Energy Commission
asked Lundy to design 
an exhibition building
that could be moved to various
 cities in South America
as part of the US Atoms 
for Peace Program.
Lundy designed the 22,000 square
 foot exhibition building,
knowing it needed to be
 shipped, erected,
dismantled and shipped again.
The notes in his archive
 show how he explored
wood and steel frame before
 deciding on pneumatics.
Victor writes, 
“I wanted it to be a sassy,
unafraid example
 of US ingenuity.”
The building traveled to Buenos
 Aires, Rio de Janeiro,
Lima, Mexico City, Santiago
 and Bogota.
It was then refurbished and
 went on to travel
to Dublin, Tehran, Baghdad
 and other cities.
Victor says the form inspiration
 was his wife, Anstis,
laying on the beach on her side.
Victor also designed
 the space flowers,
so called space flowers.
After first starting with
 another clay model
to develop his original concept,
he worked again 
with Walter Byrd,
a Byrd heir to develop
 these restroom
and hot dog stands 
for the World's Fair.
He revised the design often
 to kind of reduce
the number of curved sections
and to gain efficiency
 in the fabric size.
Segmented fabric forms 
were used to make
this globe shape that floats
 to a height of 75 feet,
soaring above the crowds
and providing shelter
 to those below.
Here, you can see it from above 
and they were easy to find.
And the fabric allowed the
 forms to glow at night.
Looking up from above they
 appear as flowers
suspended in space with the
 stitches and fabric joinery,
throwing patterns onto 
the surfaces underneath.
Here you see Victor laying on
one of those fabric flowers,
 enjoying them.
One of Victor's longest lasting
 projects was the US Embassy
in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 
from 1961 to 1984.
Victor jokes that he was
 able to fast track
a 60,000 square foot office 
building in a mere 23 years.
And this project was truly
 a study in patience.
It was on January of 1961, 
Lundy, along with Ichiro Mori,
an architect who worked in
 the Foreign Buildings office,
traveled to Colombo, then
 Ceylon, for the first time.
This project was a study
 of patients interrupted
by the Vietnam War with
 alternating ambassadors changes
to the building 
program and size.
Many schemes were 
explored for the embassy.
Here a circular scheme that
 was quickly abandoned.
The site was relatively flat,
 sandwiched between
an urban area and
 the railroad
and the Indian Ocean
 on the west.
An early scheme was a large 
rectangular block.
He had been encouraged to 
make a simple flat roof
yet both Lundy and the
 current ambassador
wanted something 
that really spoke
more of the local culture.
And after a design review, 
we see this sketch
in one of his brain’s books 
showing a sloped roof.
And really, Lundy studied
 the lattice work
and traditional woodwork
 in India and Ceylon.
He completed numerous
 paintings and sketches,
including this painting
 that shows
the kind of play of light
 and shadow.
This charcoal sketch really
 describes the roofs
that he found to be kind 
of beautifully framed.
And he wrote a great steep
 shelter and shade roofs
that sweep down to the low eaves
in one of his brain's books.
This early section sketch show
how Lundy studied the views
 enjoyed by both standing
and sitting occupants as 
they looked out windows
and the balconies that 
he later developed.
After the initial trip in 1961, 
the project was put on hold
and a new contract was
 signed in 1977.
By that time, the British colony
had had gone from
a British colony in 1948 to an 
independent country of Ceylon
and then it became known 
as Sri Lanka in 1972.
Here we see the wood 
screening that he studied
kind of evident on 
this model image.
The construction
 document drawings
were drawn in Houston 
while Lundy was teaching
at the University of Houston, 
where I currently teach.
Lundy put together 
a first-rate team in Houston,
including colossal engineers for
the Structural Engineering
 and I.A. Naman
and Associates for the 
Civil Mechanical Engineering.
And the design work
 began in earnest.
This final basket model shows
 a sloping sheltering roof
and teak detailing on
 the long elevation.
In 2014, Lundy donated 
this model to
the National Building Museum
 in Washington, DC.
Teak was used extensively
 in Sri Lanka
and Lundy really appreciate
 how weather
to a beautiful seaside
 grey finish.
He worked to detail 
his teak screens
incorporating the elements
 that he documented
in his brain's books and other
 numerous sketches
and working out the various
 elements of his details.
Lundy even made a prototype
 connection detail
that pulled apart to show
 the Sri Lankans
how to build the screens.
His understanding of those local
 details were transformed
into the modern word screens
that were built and 
the embassy building.
Those wood screens contrast to
the four-inch-thick bush
 hammered stone
that covers the concrete frame.
In his contract, he was
 not permitted or paid
to supervise construction, 
but he was allowed
one last inspection trip when 
the building was finished,
he wrote on May 13, 1984, 
in a note to his wife.
When the taxi turned
 the corner
and I knew I would 
finally see it.
I really and truly did not 
know what to expect.
It was either cardiac arrest
 or a shout of joy.
It was a shout of joy.
The completed project
 was published
in Architecture magazine
 in July 1984,
and in 1988 the US Embassy
 in Colombo
was selected from more
 than 500 submissions
and received the Federal 
Design Achievement Award,
the National Endowment for
the Art’s Highest honor
 in Design.
In the book, the chapter 
on the US Tax Court building
was co-authored by Joan Brereton
 and Sarah Gardner.
They are both preservation
 specialists
and also were both instrumental
 in the building
being placed on the National
 Register of Historic Places
and the GSA film 
Sculpture Space.
If you haven't seen it, 
it's available on YouTube.
here in this early massing
 sketch from a brains book.
You can see
 the separate volumes
for each of the
 three courtrooms.
Another sketch shows
 the central plaza.
This project was also impacted
 by the Vietnam War,
put on hold until 1971, 
and then the site
was moved one block west.
The groundbreaking was in 
1972 and it was completed
in 1974, and the
 project received
a GSA Honor Award before
 it was built in 1972
and the first biennial design
 awards program.
The exterior is clad in flame,
treated royal purple granite
 from Georgia.
The 252-foot-wide courtroom
 cantilevers 26 feet
and is appropriately
 intimidating as you walk up
the steps to the tax court.
The Interior Hall of Justice is
 an elegant entry space.
With pedestrian bridges that 
are in the background
that contain 145 post tension
 steel cables
that connect to the columns
 at the rear building
that help hold up the 
cantilevered courtrooms.
An elegant solution that
 Lundy worked through
with Severin Perrone, 
Stern and Vandal
Structural Engineering
 now Severed Associates.
Those vertical teak fins bring 
a warmth to the space
that's more easily shown in
 this contemporary snapshot
I took a couple of years ago.
It's a beautiful building and 
beautifully maintained by GSA.
And when looking out through
those slender, bronze, anodized,
aluminum framed window 
wall towards the plaza.
That was completed in 1981 
and recently renovated,
You can see that connection 
to the exterior.
Lundy said, this building is
 a culminating work
in my career as an architect.
It is a building of its time 
and it is timeless.
Lundy moved his practice
 to Texas in the 1970s.
He also designed much
 larger institutional
commercial buildings
 and later served
as vice president and design
 principal at HKS Inc
in the 1980s and 1990s.
He designed several smaller
 independent projects
in Houston, including 
a studio for his wife.
A later addition to that studio
that was their home and
 his current home.
Here you see the interior
 of that home
from the living room looking
 at the studio space.
That was the original building.
And then from the garden, 
looking back into the house.
He designed the Joan
 Miller house.
Here you see the house from
 its garden and then inside,
looking back out at the garden.
And the studio space
 for himself.
This is that interior, 
and this is where
all of his drawings 
and the brains books
were all located 
before they moved
to the Library of Congress.
And all of that work 
has been replaced
with the new owner's
 car collection.
And I know Mari mentioned
 briefly a little bit
about the archives, but 
I wanted to impress
on all of you the vastness
 of the collection.
So 56,000 items, some of 
them are rolls of drawings.
Some of them are sketches 
on tracing paper.
These are just snapshots 
that I took
while looking at some 
of the collection.
An early sketch of the 
US Tax Court Building.
These are not scanned but
 they're available to look at.
Here is a construction document.
And what's so great is they
 have the tidal block
so you can see who all of 
the team members were.
You see dates, you get some 
really particular information.
And then there are the boxes
 of the 221 brains books.
These boxes contain these 8.5 by
 11 hardbound sketchbooks,
and inside there are 
notes to himself
with sketches or details.
There's phone memos, slips
 of paper slipped in
and inserted into the pages.
And you can see him 
working out details
and the exact dimensions
 of building elements.
As I mentioned, I traveled 
with Victor in 2016
to see Mari and his archives 
at the Library of Congress.
It was a bit odd to have Victor
 wear these white gloves
to touch the drawings that he 
himself had drawn years ago.
But it was a sincere delight
 to have him share
the stories of the building
 designs with us
in a room surrounded
 by his work.
Thank you, Victor, for allowing
 us all to have access
to this large collection of 
beautiful drawings
and the information about 
the incredible buildings
that you have designed.
Happy birthday.
Mari, I'll turn it over to you.
>> Mari Nakahara: Well, thank
 you very much.
Our wonderful guest
 speaker, Donna.
I confess that I probably served
 1,000 of the drawings
and the item to not
 only the Donna,
but also other researchers.
But my observation 
and then during
the service is always quick.
Oh, can they show everything
 in a timely manner,
and then I could barely 
see the drawings closely.
But this show was a wonderful
 opportunity for me
to re-run about Lundy’s work.
And then the more and the
 more I see those materials,
the more I develop my 
enthusiasm to learn about
and love Lundy's work 
and love to him.
Well, before we answer
 the questions,
I have two important
 announcements.
First, as you see here.
Donna, can you
 go back, please?
Victor Lundy Agile case
 display is on view
at the Library's Thomas
 Jefferson Building
until April 3rd, 2023, 
this year.
If you are local or you have a
 chance to come to DC,
please stop by and look 
at the display.
Remember March and --
late March and April, 
 the cherry blossom
at the tidal base in DC 
are very beautiful,
so you may just combine
 this opportunity
to come to the library.
Second announcement
is the tour of the US tax Court.
Thanks to John and Sarah GSA.
And of course, this 
is designed by Victor,
and the tour will be held 
on February 14
this year, 2 to 3 p.m.
Unfortunately, this is for the 
people who are in Washington DC
or happen to have a chance to
 come to DC on the 14th.
And registration is required via
 the link shown in the chat.
So hope you can join it.
We also have some 
quick housekeeping.
Although we will be answering
 to your questions
as much as possible, you may
 also send your questions
any time after the presentation
 to Ask a Librarian.
If you wish to explore
 our collections more,
you can, of course, visit the 
Prints and Photographs division
to look at it but appointment 
recommended,
of course, it's our process
 or you can visit
the Prints and photographs
 Division Online Catalogue
whose link is also
 in the chat.
We also appreciate it if 
you take a minute
to fill out the survey, 
which will pop up
when you click on
 the red button.
Don't do that now, please,
when you exit from 
the presentation.
Your input will help us develop
 our future programs.
That being shown 
in the link -- I'm sorry.
In the chat for our tour 
and orientation page,
which is regularly updated.
Our next webinar 
will be held at 3 p.m.
on February 15 next month.
The topic is Japanese
 Evacuation order.
So now finally, we can
 move to the questions.
Sara, do you see any 
questions in Q&A?
>> Sara Duke: Yes, I do. 
Thank you, Mari
and thank you, Donna, 
for your very interesting
and thorough presentation 
about Victor Lundy's work.
The first question is, 
unfortunately,
I always find myself 
asking how much of
the belt work survives today.
>> Donna Kacmar: Well, I can
 answer that quite a bit.
I mean, certainly the
 US Tax Court Building
is in beautiful shape and there 
are many buildings in Sarasota.
The drive-in church was 
a quickly built project
and it was demolished in 1965, 
 There's actual
in the book and I've just opened
 it up to that page
because it lists all of the 
projects that were completed.
There's the Sarasota 
County Chamber
of Commerce Building
 is still existing.
The Bridge Presbyterian Church.
I didn't talk about the South-
gate community centers there.
There's a couple of residences.
The Heron House is beautifully 
maintained, so quite a bit.
I wish the I Miller shoe store
 was still around,
I would like to go there myself.
So there's still quite a variety
 of Lundy buildings
that are surviving;
the Sierra Blanca
 Ski Center complex
and Ruidoso, New Mexico,
 is still there.
I would say a lot 
of these buildings
need our love and support.
His congregations and his 
clients were young themselves,
and so the ability
 to maintain them
and care for these buildings
 because they're now,
you know, 50, 70 years old, 
they need love and attention.
So any support you can provide
is probably very much
 appreciated.
>> Sara Duke: The next 
question is his parents
were Russian immigrants
 likely Jewish.
Did he identify as Jewish?
Did he design any synagogues?
>> Donna Kacmar: You know, 
I don't think he designed
any synagogues and his religion
people have asked because he
 designed so many churches,
was he a very religious man?
And I don't think he
 was particularly religious.
I think he was really inspired
 by the clients,
by the sites and the kind 
of forms and spaces
he could make for
 that building type.
>> Sara Duke: The third question
 in the Q&A is, hello, Mari.
Joan Brereton here.
Thank you so much to you
 and the library
and to Donna for organizing
 this presentation.
My question is, how rare is
 it to have an architect
visit their work at the library 
for an architect to donate
and oversee the donation 
while still living?
Thank you, Joan.
>> Mari Nakahara: Sorry
 to laugh because --
well, I have to confess, 
I took this position
about 80 years ago, 
and my predecessor
called Petrus, one of 
the authors of this
Victor Lundy’s book collected
 about four million items
during his career,
about over 40 years.
So I barely actually
 acquire the things,
especially from the architects
or designers artist who
 are still alive.
But in my time at the Prints 
and the Photographs Division,
the architect was probably
 Lundy Victor,
but a few photographers
 and illustrators I have met
as a creator for 
the archive exists.
And then I also used to work
at the different 
architecture archives.
So those times that 
I have met the creators
whose archives concluded to 
be at the Library of Congress,
such as both of our club
 who passed away.
I met him at the different
 office I used to work,
so I would say quite a few.
But as you know, that 
I do say majority of the time,
it's kind of usual that
 we may collect --
we may have an agreement,
we may indeed collect 
after the deceased or but again,
that not that rare to meet
 with the creators
coming to the library
 or the depository.
That's my answer.
But I may have to add
 a little episode.
When Victor came over,
 Victor told me first day
looking at me and said,
 Mari, I don't know
why I gave these materials
 to the Library of Congress.
And as a new curator, that was
 only probably half year later,
after I took a job, I step back
and what am I supposed to say?
What am I supposed 
to respond to this person?
And then I was quiet 
 and I said, Well, Victor,
but we are very happy.
I see we have been receiving
 many researchers
and your
 collections are safe.
He came back next day.
He apologized and said, 
Mari, I am very happy.
My corrections are here, 
that I am very happy to --
my materials are saved 
and used for many people.
So I feel like this is my effort
 and then I have to make
such an effort and enthusiasm
 to preserve well
and make this collection 
accessible to many people.
>> Sara Duke: We have 
a little bit of a conversation
going on in the chat.
Christopher asks, 
can I give a plug to the
architecture Sarasota 
mod weekend in November?
And I assume that's 
November of 2023.
And all I can say is, 
Christopher, if you put it
into the Q&A link, I can put
 it into the chat for you.
>> Mari Nakahara: 
He has already put it
into the chat right now.
>> Sara Duke: Okay. 
All right.
Oh, and that way 
everybody can see it.
>> Mari Nakahara: Any other
 questions coming in?
>> Donna Kacmar: May
 I ask a question?
I'm curious to know if Lundy's
 wood designs in particular
Spurred any kind 
of engineering innovations.
They seem very innovative.
I wonder if new techniques
 had to be developed
to build any of his structures.
Well, he certainly 
worked with engineers
and others who were very
 interested in being innovative.
And it was also a different --
when he first started, 
he was a young architect
in Sarasota, Florida, 
after World War Two.
He's very optimistic
 and he's also working
in an area largely 
second homes,
kind of young congregations,
people who are very accepting
 of kind of new ideas
and taking a few risks.
I mean, I mention maybe
 this isn't in Sarasota,
but up in Connecticut,
 the church that build
a sweeping curved roof, 
they couldn't afford to build
the whole building, 
but they chose to build
this beautiful roof instead 
of enclosing the whole building.
I don't know many building 
groups that would choose
to do that today, right.
It was just a different, 
more experimental time,
I think, in architecture
 in general, in the country
in general, not as much
 litigation, that kind of thing.
It certainly -- 
he was at the beginning
of what people do now 
with laminated wood structures
that can do all kinds of things.
But he was doing this before
 AutoCAD, before BIM,
before the tools were there to
 do this kind of easily, right?
He was doing it the hard way.
And I think that people I see
 buildings that are done now
and I go, hmm, did that
 person look at Lundy?
He wasn't as well-known 
maybe as some of
his contemporaries, but his
 work is so beautiful.
And I think it's certainly
 inspiring to me today.
So it must have been inspiring
 in the 50s and 60s.
And his work was really
 well published
in an architectural forum
 and architecture magazine.
So he was well known
 by his contemporaries.
But that's a great book topic.
Somebody else could go to
 the Library of Congress
and unearth it and make the
 argument for the connectivity
of some of his design work
whom has built work 
to newer building forms
and contemporary buildings.
>> Sara Duke: There's 
another question
that's come into the chat.
I am curious what kind of
 art his wife created.
>> Donna Kacmar: 
Beautiful watercolors.
I imagine she did other media,
but she certainly did these
 really beautiful watercolors.
I remember seeing one 
of her paintings.
It was of a light bulb,
 if you can imagine
the kind of clarity of an 
incandescent light bulb.
Beautiful, beautiful drawings.
So she did beautiful 
watercolors for years.
She was also very gracious
 and a lot of fun.
>> Sara Duke: Another question
 has appeared in the Q&A.
Donna, how do your 
students in Houston
respond to Lundy's work 
or to the amount
of hand drawing and the artistry
 in the renderings?
>> Donna Kacmar: I would say
 they're blown away.
In the book, I talk -- 
so he taught here.
I didn't know that he 
was actually a --
I wasn't here when 
he was teaching here,
but my husband was and 
my husband is an architect.
And he actually had 
Lundy as a professor.
And one of my quotes, 
it's in the book,
it's in one of the notations.
But he told students, 
you know, for God's sake,
design something 
worth building.
And I think that 
straightforwardness of Victor
about what is beauty 
and about building
kind of still resonates 
with students
and they're certainly blown
 away by the drawings.
We had an exhibition here 
of some of his drawings
that he had at his house
 that didn't quite make it
in the first shipment to the
 Library of Congress.
And we had an exhibit here at
 the University Houston.
There were big drawings, 
and the students
were really impressed 
by his control.
He always had this kind 
of amazing hand
and could convey ideas
 just so quickly
and so beautifully to his 
clients and to others.
>> Sara Duke: There's a question
 that's come into the chat.
Has anyone taken advantage
 of his modular designs
to, say, make 
prefabricated homes?
>> Donna Kacmar: I don't know
 that they have.
They haven't and let 
Victor know about it.
They might have been 
inspired by something,
but not a clear relationship
 between them.
But some of his ideas could 
certainly be contemporary today.
I have a friend who saw the
 renovation of the Plaza,
which had some kind 
of construction
at the US Tax Court Building,
and he really thought that 
the US Tax Court Building
was just finishing construction.
It's that contemporary, 
it's that current.
And I think a lot of his 
work remains that way.
>> Mari Nakahara: Sara, do 
you see more questions?
>> Sara Duke: Yes, there is. 
I'm going to --
there's two more.
First one is in the chat.
Hello, how do you conserve
disposable materials 
like manila envelopes?
>> Mari Nakahara: It may
 be a question to us.
We have great conservators
 who are familiar
with the materials and we
 also have our research
and the testing sections
 which you see
the envelope on the display
 page and markers
and the pencils or pens and
 the different media on that.
So we always consult with
 the conservators
and then find out the best
 way to preserve
100 to 100 years from now to 
make these things available
in the future generation.
So I can't tell exactly how, 
but that's the way
that I can tell 
what the people--
and you know, if you are
 interested in learning more
that I can actually
 ask the conservator,
as a matter of fact, that this
 item is on the display
at the library right now
 and the treated
by the conservator
 after the testing.
So I can get more
 information by that.
But please send that question
 by Ask a Librarian.
>> Donna Kacmar: And that 
question really speaks
to the kind of delicate-ness
 of some of the pieces.
I mean, there were 
some drawings that
I wanted scanned that needed
 to be fixed or not fixed,
but made stable before 
they could scan them
for inclusion in the book.
And I love this image 
that Mari selected
of Lundy drawing on the back
 of an envelope, right?
He's like, you can imagine
 him just like thinking
these ideas through and just 
really wanting to document
it is like, what do I have? 
 I've got an envelope.
I'll draw this idea out because
 it was so in his head
and he wanted to get it down.
And he writes to that
 to the importance
of drawing as a way of
 figuring out the ideas.
And it's through the drawing
that the architecture 
kind of form comes.
And Mari maybe you
 can speak to this.
It's kind of tangential 
to that question,
but I think you 
remember saying that
some items are
 in cold storage
and that is truly
 cold storage, right?
A lower temperature.
>> Mari Nakahara: Yes, 
we have different types
of cold storage 
depending on the media.
But for instance, we have 
Prints and Photographs Division
collects like tons of 75% 
of our collections
are photography 
related and nitrate.
These films are very
 low temperature,
cold storage and slides 
are kind of a little bit
of the medium type 
of the cold storage.
So we have a different
 cold storage.
So making the effort to preserve
many things for the long term.
But you know, as you
 see manila envelope
architects specifically, 
I would say I have seen
many, many sketches, 
wonderful sketches,
for instance, on the napkins, 
as you know,
as a famous story, just, 
you know, scrap papers.
And they don't think
 that their sketches
are what will be preserved for
the next 100 years
 or 200 years.
So it's been a challenge,
but we have been 
making the effort.
>> Donna Kacmar: Well,
 it's so amazing that
there is somebody caring
 and taking care of all of this.
And it's an amazing collection.
And it's not just Victor
 Lundy's collection, right,
there's so much there. 
 It's kind of overwhelming.
>> Sara Duke: There's one
 last question in the Q&A,
and that is did Lundy
 teach or lecture
at Catholic University 
at some point?
>> Donna Kacmar: I don't know
 the answer to that.
I know he taught in California,
and he used it to kind of
 bridge when he was in
the East Coast and his
 projects were put on hold
because of the Vietnam War.
He used teaching as 
a little bit of a bridge
for his young practice.
But I don't know every
 place he went
and every place he lectured.
He was very you know, 
he was invited a lot of places.
I don't know all of the notes,
and I certainly haven't gone
 through all of his brains books
and all of it to
 find that answer.
But it seems like he might, 
if it was doing something
for the US Tax Court Building
 in Washington, DC.
It seems likely that he could.
Maybe somebody 
at the university,
the Catholic 
University of America,
has those archives of 
who's lectured there.
>> Mari Nakahara: Well,
 thanks, Donna.
And then time is exceeded 
after eight
but I'd like to throw a 
big question to you.
I personally feel that 
Victor Lundy deserves
to be recognized and
 more well known
by many range of the people.
But how do you kind of position
 him in the architectural field?
Don't you think, like don't
 you agree with me
that he should be
 more appreciated?
Why he didn't become
 like as well known
like Eames or like Paul 
Rudolph or those people?
>> Donna Kacmar: Well, he was
 competing with Paul Rudolph.
They were classmates and had 
a kind of a healthy competition.
I think Victor was very
 focused on the work
and not necessarily on getting 
work and getting recognition.
He wanted to be published.
He wanted to win
 design awards
because he submitted for 
design awards.
But that wasn't the driver.
The making of the building 
was the driver for him.
And in order to become --
well, and I also think he was 
from a slightly different era
before marketing and
 this kind of publishing
and self-promotion kind of
 happening at a small office
and was just focused
 on the work.
I can't imagine going 
back and forth
between New York and Sarasota
 in the early 1960s so much.
I mean, that's a lot to keep 
two offices going
and doing all these projects.
I also think that his as he
 shifted from these smaller
projects to the larger
 US Tax Court Building
and the embassy in Sri Lanka,
those took up kind of his work
and so he put all of his efforts
 in those boxes.
And I think there were 
some lean years in there.
So having a consistent 
workload is hard
for a small architecture firm, 
and then it's hard
to also have a mechanism
 for promotion.
So but I also think his
 personality was such that
he was really 
focused on the work
and thought people 
would recognize
good work when they saw it.
And they often did.
And it's a shame he's
 not better recognized.
I think he needs another book.
I think somebody here in 
the audience should write
another book about Victor Lundy.
There's plenty of materials
in the Library of Congress
 to help you do so.
>> Mari Nakahara: Thanks
 for the advice.
So are more questions
 coming or not?
>> Sara Duke: I have two
 more questions.
Do you feel like you have
 time to answer them
or would you want me
 to encourage people
to send them to the
 Ask a Librarian?
>> Donna Kacmar: Well, 
I'm happy that [inaudible]
>> Mari Nakahara: 
-- positive person.
>> Sara Duke: So the
 first question is,
thank you for this amazing
 event, Donna and Mari.
I had a question about 
Victor's pneumatic work.
Did he ever express interest
 in pursuing inflatables
after the New York
 World's Fair?
His contributions with Byrd
 were so extraordinary.
Whitney Moon.
>> Donna Kacmar: Hi, Whitney. 
 I don't know.
I'm just trying to think of the
 exact dates he wrote --
He participated in a symposium
 on pneumatics
in 1967 in Stuttgart, and 
he wrote an essay
with a lot of 
structural engineers.
I don't know if it was
 the project type
that was appropriate 
for pneumatics
didn't come
 together again,  I think.
I don't think he did any
 other projects,
but he wrote about pneumatics.
And so he you'll see in his
 work there's the project
that he's kind of --
I mean, he's a thoughtful man
and he writes about the
 things that he does
afterwards, trying to 
understand them
and kind of move them forward,
kind of always working,
 not necessarily
for the next project just to 
increase his own understanding.
So thank you for that and
 for what you've written
about Lundy and his
 nomadic architecture.
>> Mari Nakahara: Well, let me
 chip in then, Whitney,
he was one of the
 researchers whom I served,
and her writing is
 linked to the guide
that Sarah just posted the link.
This is the wide ADE
 architecture, design
and engineering collection
 we call the Search Guide.
But if you go to the 
collection section
and the Select Archive 
section and Victor Lundy,
you will see many articles
 on Lundy or Lundy's work
and the Witney’s writing is
 linked to that section FYI.
>> Donna Kacmar: Yeah.
And so Whitney Moon,
 who teaches
at the University of
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
has written about Victor 
Lundy's pneumatic architecture,
as has Susanna Baber,
who's a faculty member 
at Texas A&M.
And so it's interesting that 
people are writing about
his pneumatics and in 
such an interesting way.
>> Sara Duke: Is there 
a book or books
you would recommend to
 read about Lundy
I guess, besides
 Donna's book,
which we discussed 
this evening?
>> Donna Kacmar: "Victor 
Lundy Artist, Architect."
And there are a lot of articles
 written about him
Architecture Forum, architecture
 publications about his work.
Some blogs, but certainly 
the book
"Victor Lundy Artist Architect"
 is the place to start,
but also Google Whitney Moon's 
writing about his pneumatics.
>> Mari Nakahara: Again, 
those resources
are also available through 
this research guide.
So please take a look.
>> Sara Duke: Thank you all.
What a wonder
 and a contribution.
If you are interested in helping
to support or restore
 a Lundy project,
St PaulSarasota.org could
 use your help.
There are three Lundy buildings
on the site and part 
of historic preservation.
>> Donna Kacmar: Yeah.
And that's the St Paul's 
Fellowship hall,
and then ten years later, 
he designed the sanctuary.
But he also designed
 an education building
on that same campus
 in Sarasota.
And they're kicking 
off their funding
for their renovation efforts
 to make sure
the building can last another
 generation or two, right?
>> Sara Duke: Forgive me.
And aside from the collection,
 are you aware of
surviving films showing
 Lundy's interiors
that no longer survive
 as they were experienced
by visitors like the Amazing
 Pneumatics and Shoe Store?
>> Donna Kacmar: I don't 
know of any, but gosh,
wouldn't that be fantastic to--
and I don't know and 
maybe Mari knows
if there are any videos in 
the Lundy archive collection.
There's a lot of slides and
 a lot of still photos
and negatives, but I don't know
if there's any like
 reel to reels.
And you've got to imagine
 somebody was at
the World's Fair with
 an early version
of some kind of video 
camera and somebody
was at the US atomic energy
that somebody went to the shoe
 store you know, in New York.
I mean it's in somebody's
 home collection
right in their attic 
or something.
Well, I don't know of that, but
it would be amazing to see that.
>> Mari Nakahara: I am not
 aware of the video
besides that GSA video that 
talking about the US Tax Court.
But, Donna, you may
 recall that recently,
that recording of the podcast 
USModernist Radio.
This is also listed under Victor
Lundy in a research guide
and the USModernist Radio has 
been doing the interview series
and Donna and Victor was on
that, so that is the recording.
And not really related to 
the architecture that much
but Lundy’s life
 in the military days
Libraries Witness History 
Project have an interview
with the Victor Lundy, 
which is also
script available and
 voice available.
So you learn about Victor
 as a nature, his nature,
especially in the military time,
 which is also the state.
Books are listed, 
so I will search more.
But when I was creating
 this research guide,
I probably served around 
many collections then,
at least in the library that
 we may not have
any videos showing Victor in it 
or talking about his project,
but I can search more.
And then if I find any, I 
will just add it to this guide.
So please keep looking.
>> Donna Kacmar: Yeah. 
And my hope is
that like something like this. 
Victor Lundy,
turning 100 years old, 
allows people the time to like
they search through some things.
I'm still hoping that 
somebody somewhere
has more of his World 
War Two sketchbooks.
And you know, when 
a family member passes,
they might look through it 
and they might say,
oh, and then that might go 
to the Library of Congress.
So maybe somebody out
 there will go through
some home videos of the 
World's Fair and find some
video of his Space flowers
 or something.
That would be a great birthday
 present for Victor.
>> Mari Nakahara: It would 
be your project, Donna.
>> Donna Kacmar: Well, 
thank you, Mari.
This has been great 
to visit with you
and with many contributors
 and Lundy lovers
and help celebrate 
his 100 years
and the kind of 
beautiful images
and beautiful buildings 
he's given us all.
>> Mari Nakahara: Well, 
thank you again.
And our wonderful guest, 
you Donna,
and very much thankful
 to everybody
for joining today's
 presentation.
And last but not least,
 we had hoped
that Lundy could even speak a 
little bit but it didn't happen.
But I would like to Lundy 
to know Happy birthday.
And we all wish you a long 
and healthy life.