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Architecture must take measure of all that it is to be human in a world that is whole.

 

 

 

 

 

Architectural Drawings

It is my belief that we are passing through a gate from one age to another perhaps more profound than the changes medieval man faced with the rising of Humanism and the age we call the Renaissance. We have spent the last five hundred years trying to understand the world by dividing it into parts. We are now at the task of putting our world back together. We are seeking a vision of a whole world, with ourselves as part of the whole.

Have you ever watched the millions of stars in the sky on a moonless night, or seen the wind waver over a field of grass, or noticed the dust at play in a shaft of light, or felt the warmth of another's hand..someone you cared for? This is where architecture must come from. Architecture must take measure of all that it is to be human in a world that is whole. It must take count of our galaxy and of a smile and somehow learn to interpret and express our new world in walls, doors and roofs.

It is not that economics and function are not important but that they no longer express the whole man. They no longer express who we believe ourselves to be. We must add our love, our history, our metaphysics. We must add the wind, the sun and the call of the hills. Our buildings must learn to express all that we contain, for now we are a whole world.

I have heard astronomers talk about the music of the spheres. I have heard this music described as a song of jubilation. Perhaps this is a word for our coming age, a time of coming together, of coming back to the whole.

We need an Architecture of Jubilation to sing of it!

(Excerpt from “The Architecture of Jubilation”)

 

 


We are seeking a vision of the whole world,
with ourselves as part of the whole.

 

 

Temenos Gardens

Not a Cathedral for Consumption but a Garden for Celebration

To celebrate the new century, the San Diego Union-Tribune asked Hubbell & Hubbell to create a design that expresses our hopes for San Diego's future. Temenos Gardens is our vision of what that future could be, if we have enough imagination and foresight to abandon the destructive building patterns of our present.

We believe the 21st century will see a return to smaller homes that are extensions of the garden, a meeting place between the world of man and the world of nature. Temenos = Greek for "sacred space around." Temenos Gardens would consist of small developments, one block in size. Our design is geared toward smaller family units, such as a single parent with children, the elderly, couples, or individuals. The blocks would fit within the large tract-home developments of San Diego's east county or as in-fill into existing neighborhoods.

We envision 1,000 sq. ft. homes on lots that are 100 ft. by 100 ft. The lot corners would host shared activities such as a swimming pool, garden, barbecue/party space, guest house, sports facilities, and butterfly or bird gardens. Community paths would interconnect these common spaces, with lot edges defined by two rows of fruit trees. A small water reclaiming plant and underground cisterns for storing rainwater would provide water for the plants.

 

Key environmental features to be incorporated into the homes would include

Wiring for high-speed Internet access, creating a telecommuter's paradise

Shared windmill, solar collectors, fuel-cell automobiles selling excess energy back to the power companies

Low-flow or composting toilets

Building with sustainable materials: straw bale, bamboo, rammed earth, and recycled lumber and steel.

 


Deep Dream is dedicated to all those who care deeply for butterflies,
the sea and the creative flame within the heart.


 


 

Deep Dream

In 1987, Drew Hubbell proposed designing an underwater structure for his architectural thesis at the University of Arizona. Liz Marshall knew of this interest, so she commissioned Drew and James Hubbell to execute a design for an underwater house near Wind'n'Sea Beach off the coast of La Jolla. The structure is meant to celebrate the sea we live next to and all the life within it. It serves as a metaphor of return to where we all came from, where life began, as well as providing a quiet retreat for its owner. Its circular design includes a dining room, kitchen, living room, library, bath, garden, elevator, and mermaid and dolphin visiting room.

 

Structural Process: Accretion: Growing Architecture in the Ocean

Mineral accretion is formed by placing an electrically conductive material like mesh, expanded metal or rebar in the sea water and connecting it to the negative pole of a direct current power supply, making it a cathode. A piece of graphite or carbon is connected to the positive terminal, the anodes, and is placed in the vicinity. Now we have a galvanic cell in the electrolyte sea water, accreting or precipitating positively charge calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide ions at the cathode, growing architecture on a framework conforming to our building plans.

 


Radosti Wedding Park

 

 

Radosti Wedding Park Moscow, Russia 1999

Like Gaudi’s Parque Guell in Barcelona, this garden of joy will be a place where native trees, flowers and a stream embrace flowing buildings, benches, gates of love, and a chapel gemmed with stained glass and mosaics overlooking a lake or pond, which in the winter may be dotted with ice-skaters. A bridge of kisses will lead married couples through the chapel’s sculpted portals into another garden, studded with sculpture and mosaics, to a banqueting hall covered by a jewel-like stained glass dome. Reception areas will spiral out from that dome, each aesthetically unique; with mosaic floors, sculpted niches for flowers, thrones for the bridal couples, tables for food and gifts.

Gazebos for meditation and celebration will be scattered throughout this magical garden. Some may house cafes or champagne bars. Others may be perfect for intimate poetry readings or contemplative prayer. Elevators and stairs will connect the garden to an underground parking garage. Sculpture and art, celebrating the inner mysteries of love and marriage, will mingle with creatures and characters from Russian mythology throughout the woods and garden paths. This public park, live a medieval cathedral, can be a meeting place for people of all walks of life to visit, pray and celebrate the joy of life. Russia has suffered enough. Without a vision of joy and love cultures can fall into despair.

The marriage of a man and a woman in love is a courageous act of faith in the future. The park will step with them and their courage into a world where resurrection is possible.

Like newly wedded couples, those who build this park are cultivating a world based on the infinite possibility of resurrection.

 


Davis Art Center



Davis Art Center Davis, California 1979

The proposed Davis Art Center was never built but I believe it was a good attempt to integrate exciting environmental elements into an interesting structure. It was also an attempt to create a center for the arts that also served as a community center.


Copyright 2002 Hubbell And Hubbell