Janis Blumentals

University of Minnesota - B.Arch '59

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

How to design a complete building.

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

Professor Robert Bliss. Bob was my adviser and helped this C student get through school.

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

Frank Lloyd Wright.

Herbert B. Polachek

University of Minnesota - B.Arch '56

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

Learning how to think for myself, taking charge in team situations when leadership is needed, and working as a team member in joint situations.

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

Robert Poliss was patient, understanding, and inspirational when needed. Walter Virett had a spirit of panache and vitality. Fred Koepper's vast knowledge of architecture history inspired me to travel and see the world. As a result I have visited 67 countries on 6 continents observing life, history, and architecture, as well as taking thousands of photographs. Rob Ceray inspired me to improve and work harder at design.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

Working long days and nights to meet project deadlines, advice and criticism by fellow classmates in the absence of instructors, and several visiting lecturers such as Siefred Gideon, Oscar Storonov, Bucky Fuller, and others. A Grade 5 design sketch problem in '66 to design a reviewing stand for the city of Brooklyn, New York, after winning the 1955 World Series against the Yankees. We were a group of 12 students that came up with a platform suspended by colorful helium-filled balloons on twelve 24x30" illustration boards connected with a large 4' high, 18' wide mural. We all got A's.

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

During Grade 2, a union resort on Pelican Lake with a group of 4 students working together for a month. We had great cooperation and spirit, and there was travel involved to the site and research. Also, thesis project in 1955-1956 while recently married and I worked in a cramped apartment, as well as school. A real project I worked on was a funeral home in Winona for my friends parents funeral home.

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

I was in awe with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Groupius, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Eames, and Alexander Girard. Hugh Ferris for his black charcoal rendered and Lou Angelivis for his tempera color renderings. I was impressed by firms that contributed to school with literature, magazines, and samples. Our library was a valuable resource for background history and inspiration. 

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.

Over the years I have served on the planning commission and board of zoning appeals in Golden Valley, served on an advisory committee for a northeastern Wisconsin Methodist Church, been a member of AIA and president of NE Wisconsin District AIA, lectured students at AIA meetings in said meetings and various technical schools, and was a member of the board of trustees for Caloreftes in Green Bay and Golden Valley. I also lectured students at the University of Minnesota department of Interior Design from 1974 to 1985.

John L. Weidt

University of Minnesota - B.A. Arch '67

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

Teamwork.

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

Really impossible to single out one individual, especially with the benefit of years of hindsight. Ralph Rapson, of course. Dewey Thorbeck for his team approach, integrity, design skills. David Bennett, Dennis Holloway, Tom Bender, Hosni Iskander for encouraging me to look to non-traditional environmental approaches to architecture. Last but not least, Lance Lavine, the first written thesis at the school, a tireless educator of environmental ethics and action.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

Working with fellow students and APX brothers to complete projects. 

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

Working with Mark Beckman on our thesis, with Tom Martinson's invaluable assistance in the darkroom, on Archiecoframe.

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

Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Malcolm Wells, and Charles Gwathmey.

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.

Founded a firm that has provided assistance on millions of square feet of building construction to significantly reduce their negative energy and environmental impact.

Eric D. Sahnow

University of Minnesota - B.S. Arch '05

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

The friends I made in studio. Going through those long nights, deadlines, and stress together makes for lasting friendships, including a future firm partner!

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

The buzz of, hopefully, controlled chaos before a review.

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

Mark Wentzell's 4th year studio, the Bakery Project on Franklin Avenue. It focused on interaction and conflict between public and private, business and consumer, and void and mass. It was the start of my interest in community based projects.

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

Mark Wentzell had a big focus on the qualities of light and the emotions that can be derived from it, how to shape light and manipulate it if needed, and how that would impact a space. Tadao Ando, Steven Holl, and Frank Lloyd Wright influenced me as well. 

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.

While working on a mission trip in Mexico I used theories taught in our Landscape Architecture classes to create a rain garden for a group of homes we were building.

Scott J. Newland

University of Minnesota - B.Arch '83

What was the most important thing/skill/concept you learned at the School of Architecture?
Lateral thinking, which is the process of looking at problems from different points of view and at different scales (as opposed to linear thinking) in order to approach a solution with as little carryover of initial preconceptions and prejudices as possible. As someone who tends to go toward the linear and logical, this concept of lateral thinking has proven helpful over and over since school.

Who made the most lasting impression (most influenced you) and why?
Two fellow students immediately come to mind: Elizabeth O'Donnell and John Rode. From each of them, in my first and second years of being in the design studio, I was fundamentally impressed with their designs and how beautifully they were drawn. I consider the experiences gained from interactions with peers more lasting than lessons learned from the staff.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?
Simply being in the studio with others, working on designs, and being able to share ideas and see different ways of approaching any given problem.

Please identify one (or more) memorable design project that you worked on while a student at the School of Architecture.
In 2nd year studio with Stanley Fishman, we had the assignment to design a replacement for the movie theater in Dinkytown; a new double-screen facility. It was memorable to me because I started feeling like I had a unique design solution I liked that received much encouragement and support from fellow students, and that I presented with what I considered innovative presentation board formatting. It was also a project that still shows the strong influence of Frank Lloyd Wright, a clear hero of mine at the time. Another project that was memorable was an early, abstract problem in 1st year studio with Ray Geiger. The problem, as I recall, was to develop a model that conveyed the essence of a wall, a door, and a window using architectonically-developed geometry. It wasn't like anything I'd done before and it was a good experience, with a solution that I still like.

What major forces (such as individual architects, design philosophies, rendering styles, research methods, etc.) do you remember influencing you significantly as a student?
Influential architects at that time, for me, included Rapson, Wright, Aalto, Kahn and engineers such as Nervi and Morandi. High tech design approaches were the most compelling to me, and it was hard not to be influenced to some degree by Post-Modernism. There were many drawing styles that had a profound influence on me in school, from Ralph Rapson and Frank Nemeth's renderings to some of the loose, colorful pen and colored pencil work of some students, to my professional mentor at the time, Michael Plautz.

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.
The Foreign Study program was formative for me in that the 2 1/2 month experience in China allowed me to experience a radically different culture and meet peers from the culture. From that experience, and from a return trip I made 5 years later on my own to follow up with 2 Chinese students, I have shared lessons both ways - publishing an article on Chinese architectural developments in Architecture Minnesota, sharing with my Chinese colleagues parallels and difference between our respective professional contexts, etc. Through all of this, I have been able to more effectively work with my own clients to whom the U.S. is not their birthplace, and to see our own community in a more global perspective, something that is increasingly important today.

Dennis L. Johnson

University of Minnesota - B.A. Arch '54, B.Arch '58

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

Thorough math, physics, and structures education since architecture was then in the Institute of Technology with engineers. Basic design and public presentation skills as well.

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

George Jones, Ralph Rapson, Professor Walter Vivrett, Oskar Stonorov who was a visiting critic, and Professor Kessler who taught History of Architecture.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

Meeting my wife of 58 years, LaVonne (Macalester, '55), studio friends and fellow students, and the team project senior year (see below).

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

My most memorable project was a proposed plan for Central Minneapolis in Fall '57 that was an all-studio team project with 6 sub-groups, and presentation to faculty and Civic Leaders on completion. The thesis was "A Proposed Civic Affairs Center."

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

Frank Lloyd Wright visiting lecture, Oskar Stonorov, a visiting critic from Philadelphia, Louis Kahn at Penn, and Walter Vivrett.

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.

I have almost constant participation in community and non-profit institutions as a Board Member, Chair, and/or pro-bono services to help them grow and better serve their constituencies.

Amit K. Maitra

University of Minnesota - M.Arch '70, MPA '76

University of Calcutta, India - B.Arch '69 

Case Western Reserve University - Doctorate '06

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

Analysis and planning, including systems research and analysis as well.

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

Ralph Rapson, because of his freedom of expression in planning and architecture.

What is your favorite memory from your studio days?

Planning the future of Minneapolis.

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

Planning the City of Dreams.

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 introduced me to the interdisciplinary approach to architecture, city planning, and to all disciplines that I would study and practice throughout my career in Enterprise Architecture. He was a profound impact on my overall growth.

I am married to Julie from St Louis, MO, where the famous Gateway Arch designed by Eero Saarinen stands as a monument to his expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells. I also live close to Washington Dulles International Airport, another famous Eero Saarinen design known for its use of catenary curves in the structural designs. My life's general philosophy was shaped, molded, and influenced by Saarinen's simple, sweeping, and arching structural curves.

John Lautner's dramatic, bold geometry and exciting use of materials serve as inspiration for my personal residence. His walls of glass place no barrier between the shelter within and the outside world.

Philip Johnson showed me how to appreciate aesthetic embrace of structural elements of a building.

I totally embrace Frank Lloyd Wright's philosophy of organic architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. His design approaches are so sympathetic and well integrated with its site that building, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition. When I visit Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings, I always feel I am in the embrace of the whole environment.

Richard Neutra designed the house for a well known oncologist whom I was visiting in LA in the mid '90s. The house was surrounded and embraced by a pool that flowed through the house and then flowed out to and over the edge of the structure to reflect the serene and unobstructed beauty of the blue sky and water. Sitting inside that living room, I felt the serenity and peace.

Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer inspired me with the undulating concrete curves of their projects.

Cite an example (be specific) that illustrates how you used the education you received at the School of Architecture to positively impact (or better) your community, city, nation or the world.

I used my interdisciplinary approach to review and analyze plans for national plans and programs. See my blogs here.