JUNE 2009 » book review

Modern, Civil, Humane Urbanism

David M. Schwarz Architects, 2002-2007
by Robert L. Miller with a preface by David M. Schwarz
Grayson Publishing, Washington, DC; 2008
242 pp; hardcover; 223 illustrations; $75
ISBN 978-0-9679143-3-6

Reviewed by Clem Labine

This new, beautifully illustrated volume from Grayson Publishing makes you realize how few architects there are today whose work can truly be called modern, urban and civil – civil in the sense that buildings and spaces are designed to please the people who use them and not merely to cater to a small coterie of architecture critics. Although not normally thought of as a “New Urbanist,” most of David M. Schwarz’s projects are, in fact, truly new and truly urban in that they are on a large – yet human – scale and provide greater density than many of the greenfield developments that are widely touted as “New Urbanism.”

Schwarz’s body of work on civic and commercial projects shown in this monograph (projects from 2002 to 2007, with just a few residences included) demonstrates that one can be a fully “modern” architect without resorting to quotations from the picked-over bones of Modernism. Rather, Schwarz has absorbed the norms and forms of historic architecture so thoroughly that he can compose using the traditional design vocabulary in ways that are fresh and original. The completed buildings look quite contemporary, but echoes of the past are detectable enough so that the results are both stimulating for their design innovations and yet still comfortable and reassuring to the people who use them every day.

David M. Schwarz is not an architect of a particular style. Instead, Schwarz harnesses many styles – mostly traditionally inspired – in order to achieve his over-arching goal, which is, in the words of author Robert L. Miller, “. . . to devise ways in which modern architecture can return popular, urban civility to an American environment that, even within city limits, is pervasively suburbanized.” Miller terms Schwarz “a modern populist.”

A Post-Suburban Architect
From another perspective, Schwarz could also be called “Post-Suburban.” In his preface, Schwarz describes his formative childhood in a suburban Los Angeles neighborhood bordering Beverly Hills. Schwarz is quite specific in describing what he “. . . hated about my Los Angeles childhood: celebrating the automobile, lauding suburbanization, and glorifying the lack of traditional urban fabric via the breakup and isolation of disparate communities.” This helps explain why his work today has the feel of a man who loves real cities.

His training started him off as a conventional International School architect, but when he opened his own office in Washington, DC, client demand got his firm deeply involved with restoring historic buildings and working in historic districts. The District of Columbia became a teaching laboratory for his firm, and Schwarz and his associates began to learn how streetscapes and neighborhoods are knit together – things Schwarz had not been taught at the Yale School of Architecture.

Today, David M. Schwarz Architects has evolved a three-level approach to urban design: (1) The civic level, usually in a master plan, reviews how the project connects to the city as a whole; (2) The street level is concerned with where a building meets the sidewalk and what experience is created for pedestrians; (3) The individual level, which examines the effect on people – both visitors and daily inhabitants – who interact with the building, inside and out.

Truly Green Design
Schwarz’s outlook makes his work also “green” at the most basic level, because people living in compact, walkable urban environments consume less energy than populations spread out in suburban cul-de-sacs. In seeking to make city environments more attractive and livable, his work provides appealing alternatives to the land-consuming, automobile-based suburban sprawl that has dominated American development since WW II. Schwarz also makes use of sustainable design principles and materials, but not in self-conscious ways that make ostentatious displays of solar panels and windmills.

The monograph is laid out with great clarity, making it a pleasure to turn the pages. What makes the book highly useful for design inspiration are the large, clear, beautifully lit photographs (more than 200) of the 18 projects being showcased. The photographs combine large full-page general-elevation photos with smaller shots for close-up detail. The accompanying text and captions are likewise detailed and lucid, providing helpful background information on the projects and individual buildings.

This book should be on the desk of everyone who is called upon to create buildings for urban commercial and civic spaces. It shows that budget-aware buildings can be designed that are practical, humane, pleasing to the eye and context-sensitive – and still exhibit a lively sense of design innovation. Schwarz proves that a designer need not strain for the bizarre in order to be exciting and creative. TB

Clem Labine is the founder of Old House Journal, Traditional Building and Period Homes magazines. He has received numerous awards, including awards from The Preservation League of New York State, the Arthur Ross Award from Classical America and The Harley J. McKee Award from the Association for Preservation Technology (APT). Labine was a founding board member of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA). He served on the board until 2005 when he moved to Board Emeritus status. His blog can be seen at www.traditional-building.com.

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