It has been more than twenty years since I returned to my native Chicago, recently out of graduate school, to join the practice of Perkins & Will. In the 1970s Chicago's architectural culture was still dominated by the followers of Mies van der Rohe, and "Build,Don't talk" was the motto followed by most architects. Perkins & Will was a well established corporate architectural practice known not only for its practical ability to efficiently deliver a building to a client, but also for the underlying belief of its principals that the architect has a social responsibility.

In the current proliferation of architectonic idioms the heritage of Modernism - the architectural work of the studio Perkins & Will and of Ralph Johnson is distinguished by its conception of the building as a "kit of parts" - that is, a series of truly architectonic components making a whole that lends itself to interpretation. In the works constructed and designed by this studio in the USA and in many other parts of the world the structural aspects are linked to the formal, creating constructions which are impressive as much for their functionality as for their ability to express,by their very presence, cultural values that go well beyond architecture.

Introduction by Ralph Johnson

The Normative Modernist by Thomas Fisher

Works

Temple Hoyne Buell Hall

Vernal G. Rifle, Jr. Building

Chemical and Life Sciences Building

North Fort Myers High School

Chelsea High School

Dongbu Central Research Institute

Katherine and William Mayer Residences

Chicago Academy of Sciences Nature Museum

Beirut Marina Hotel

International School of Manila

Palo Alto Middle School

Nagoya International School

Pediatric Biomedical Research Building

AMA Tower

Espirito Santo Bank

One North Halsted

Credits

Biography and Awards

Exhibitions

Photography Credits

Bibliography