The philosophy of Wallace Cunningham is “open up a structure to sky, landscape, and view, and the building becomes alive. Create unconfined space and your soul will have a place to go.”
It is a spiritual experience just to view the website of Wallace Cunningham and be immersed in light and shadow and curves and planes that live within the surrounding landscape; and voluminous spaces that lead to grand views culminating in the never-ending freedom of the sky and the ocean. www.wallacecunningham.com
Since 1979, Wallace Cunningham has been capturing the essence of California landscape through his architecture that integrates land, sea, and sky. His is a unique vision, which encapsulates dynamic movement with peaceful calm, and spontaneous life that make his buildings organic and life-affirming structures.
In his lecture, “Reality < an Idea”, Wallace Cunningham will speak about transcending the practical limitations of architecture to capture the spirit of the creative process, and absolute architecture unrestrained by reality. He states, “The act of building does not portray what we do. One can never achieve the true idea or reach its essence. Reality is always less than an idea”.
Wallace was born in Western Pennsylvania and spent his youth in Buffalo, New York, where he attended Hutchinson Central Technical High School for Architecture. He then attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and went on to study at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. He was named one of the Top 100 Designers by Architectural Digest multiple times, was named a Star of Design by the Pacific Design Center, and was named one of the Top 30 Designers by Robb Report. He received a design award in 2003 from the International Academy of Architecture and in 2009 was awarded a full professorship. Wallace has had major exhibitions at UCSD, the Mingei Museum, the Schindler House in Los Angeles, The Kaneko in Omaha, in addition to multiple exhibitions at the Global Architecture Gallery in Tokyo and other international projects.
Author: Christa Vragel