Houses Made of Wood and Light: The Life and Architecture of Hank Schubart

209 Pages·2012·96.167 MB·English

by  Michele Dunkerley

H o u s e s
M a d e
o f
W o o d
a n d
L i g H t
RogeR Fullington SeRieS in ARchitectuRe
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H o u s e s
M a d e
o f
W o o d
a n d
L i g H t
the liFe And by Michele dunkeRley
ARchitectuRe oF with JAne hickie
hAnk SchubARt PhotogRAPhS by JiM AlindeR
univeRSity oF texAS PReSS, AuStin
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Publication of this book was made possible in part by
support from Roger Fullington and a challenge grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Text copyright © 2012 by Michele Dunkerley
Photographs copyright © 2012 by Jim Alinder
All rights reserved | Printed in China | First edition, 2012
Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to:
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University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements
of AnSi/niSo Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

Designed by Lindsay Starr
libRARy oF congReSS cAtAloging-in-PublicAtion dAtA
Dunkerley, Michele, 1958–
Houses made of wood and light : the life and architecture of Hank Schubart /
by Michele Dunkerley with Jane Hickie ; photos by Jim Alinder. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Roger Fullington series in architecture)
Includes bibliographical references.
iSbn 978-0-292-72942-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — iSbn 978-0-292-73714-3 (e-book)
1. Schubart, Hank, 1916–1998. 2. Architects—United States—Biography.
3. Architecture, Domestic—British Columbia—Saltspring Island—History—
20th century. I. Schubart, Hank, 1916–1998. II. Hickie, Jane. III. Alinder, James.
IV. Title. V. Title: Life and architecture of Hank Schubart.
nA737.S3555d86 2012
720.92—dc23 [b] 2011038592
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For Jane, for helping me find my way to
Salt Spring Island and other open horizons
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C o n t e n t s
FoRewoRd by Christopher Macdonald ix
PReFAce xix
AcknowledgMentS xxiii
chAPteR 1: First Glimpse 3
chAPteR 2: Wright’s Taliesin: “The Most Informing Experience of My Life” 11
chAPteR 3: The Making of a West Coast Modernist 23
chAPteR 4: An Emerging Sensibility: The Pirkle Jones House 37
chAPteR 5: Salt Spring Island 47
chAPteR 6: The Practice Flourishes 59
houSe touR: Early Homes 65
chAPteR 7: Village Architect 79
houSe touR: Houses from the 1980s 91
chAPteR 8: Mastery at Work 123
houSe touR: Houses from the 1990s 133
AFteRwoRd by Heather McKinney 159
liSt oF illuStRAtionS 163
noteS 167
bibliogRAPhy 179
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f o R e W o R d
o obSeRve the collected woRk of Hank Schubart is
in no small part to witness the thoughtful expression of
locale. The topography of Salt Spring Island itself pro-
vides an insistent theme and provides measure to the
houses and their sitings. Insofar as each of Schubart’s
houses responds directly to its conditions of locale, the
collective identity of the work offers compelling testimony to architecture’s
ability to be infused by a broad sense of place. In this respect, we might think
of the designs as qualifying the inherited experience of landscape as it is made
habitable and rendered for us as home.
In a place such as Salt Spring Island, homes declare their preoccupation
with issues of terrain and orientation, yet this urge often presents curious
contradictions. The direction of the most extravagant ocean views may also
be the source of the most extravagant winter storms—the desire for view
might well be at odds with the need for the light and warmth of the sun, and
the desire for proximity to the ocean may result in the need for precipitous
structural foundations. It is precisely in the reconciliation of such contradicto-
ry facts that Schubart’s most demonstrable design strength lies, and it is in the
houses’ common sense of ease that his success is so clearly demonstrated.
deSign tActicS
In their special regard for the attributes of Salt Spring settings, Schubart’s
houses exhibit a number of specific architectural tactics.
First, there is the consistent development of a skewed and room-deep
plan-form, most generally lodged in parallel with the natural contours of
the site and acknowledging specific visual attributes of both local and dis-
tant landscapes. These sometimes extremely narrow configurations promote
cross-ventilation, establish that most fundamental necessity of creating level
Gold house, entrance.
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