Michael F. Gebhart

University of Minnesota - B.Arch '79  (Class of 1965)

What was the most important thing/skill/concept you learned at the School of Architecture?

To listen, respond, and evolve a design approach which evolves through the understanding of program requirements, site context, and user and personal convictions and messages. To draw without fear - Ralph Rapson used to say, "DRAW IT!" Minnesota grads are known for drawing skills influenced by Ralph Rapson. People assume that it means the so-called "Minnesota Style" renderings. But in my experiences, the drawing talent of Ralph's was more quick, loose, and imaginative sketches and diagrams. Richard Koshalek (now the Director of the Hirshorn Museum) would come in the office on Saturday mornings and unravel Ralph's rough sketches that were tossed into trash cans and save them. These drawings as well as the renders have a great influence on my works.

Who made the most lasting impression (most influenced you) and why?

Ralph Rapson was my neighbor on Prospect Hill, my employer for 5 years on Oak and Washington, my mentor at the U, a lifelong friend, and the most influential person in my professional life. He set a very high level of excellence for all the people he engaged with. His teaching approach, having faculty who actually practice in the real world like John Rauma, Bruce Abrahamson, Leonard Parker, James Stageberg, and so many others interacting with a few theorists like Walter Vivrett, John Meyers, and uniting academia and professional practice, has proven to produce graduates who have immediate impact in their first office employments. Former students like Kay Lockhart, Dick Morrill, Tom Larson, Peter Woytuk, Joe Blair, Jim McBurney, Milo Thompson, Dennis Grebner, and Herb Ketcham set such an enormously high standard of excellence for me and future students to emulate or learn from.

Also, being in and around studios with fellow students like Bill Pedersen, Austris Vitols, John Sheehy, and so many others added great motivation to me as well.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

One stunning recollection is still vivid in my mind of the Urban Design Project I where John Sheehy ('65) and I were teamed up on a Master Planning project for Professor Peterson's Urban Design Class. We were creating and documenting pedestrian travel with the visual experiences through sketches, done at 10-minute intervals along our planned continuous Greenway Belt (aping the Ohmstead-style Greenways) connecting Lake of the Isles, Lakes Calhoun/Harriet/Nikomis and Hiawatha to the Mississippi River from the east and north, along the river up to the U of M via Oak Street, all the way to East Hennepin Avenue, extending the tree-lined road edges across the railroad tracks and finally emerging with Stinson Boulevard. Along this path, we created public venue nodes, green and built, one being the former U of M Memorial Stadium Piazza. We lowered the playing surface, added thousands of seats under grade level, leaving the existing seats above (schemes had been proposed to expand above the existing heights) so that pedestrians could access the stadium at mid-level to reduce the overall height to fit better with Stub and Herb's and the great shopping context at Oak and Washington streets.

In front of an audience of many students and faculty, Professor Walter Vivrett approached the 16+ 30x40 Site Diagrams/Plans Sections/Elevation boards (beautifully drawn by John next to my sequence sketches) and placed an overlay transparency of Rome's St. Peters Square over the top of our Memorial Stadium Piazza Node, and declared, "This Piazza is 4 times the scale of St. Peters Square. Mr. Sheehy, how could you be so mislead by Mr. Gebhart? Please take these boards down off the wall." We wound up with back-to-back C+'s . . . after expecting back-to-back A++++++'s. We were in total shock, but it was a learning experience of the first magnitude!

Please identify one (or more) memorable design project that you worked on while a student at the School of Architecture.

I was an almost full-time employee at Ralph Rapson's office over the period from 1960-1965, having only a few classes after transferring from the University of Colorado-Boulder. So a lot of my memories are intertwined with his office and the classrooms concurrently. We were working on projects such as the Guthrie Theater, Rarig Center, St. Paul Arts and Science Center, Cedar Riverside Housing Towers, AIA Headquarters Competition, Lakewood Mausoleum, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Addition, Salvation Army Headquarters, Pillsbury Residence, Cincinnati Redevelopment Housing, Teamster's Housing, Tueting apartments, Strong House, and Wilder Residences. The three most interesting projects as a real student were the North American Conservation Hall of Fame Project, Michael F. Gebhart Thesis Design Project, Mastic Tile Competition, Urban Design Project II.

What major forces (such as individual architects, design philosophies, rendering styles, research methods, etc.) do you remember influencing you significantly as a student?

Ralph Rapson, staff, and students. (Please refer to the second question above.)