NewSchool of Architecture & Design
1249 F Street, Downtown San Diego
November 16, 2019, 9:30 AM
Dr. Diane Kane specializes in 19th- and 20th-Century architectural history and urban planning. Dr. Kane holds an MA in Art History from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Architectural History from UC Santa Barbara. She has taught these subjects at several colleges and universities, including the NewSchool of Architecture & Design, the Design Institute, SDSU, UCLA, University of Redlands, and Cal Poly, Pomona. She currently teaches courses at UCSD.
Join Dr. Kane for a richly illustrated lecture celebrating the 150th birthday of the great Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Dr. Kane will recount how Scottish baronial castles, Jungian mysticism, Japanese design, and emerging Modernist ideas influenced his highly creative work. The result was a deeply personal and instantly recognizable style, known today as the “Glasgow School” of the International Arts and Crafts Movement.
Surprising commonalities between Mackintosh and San Diego’s Irving Gill will also be discussed. Although situated well outside the hotbeds of architectural innovation, both architects used similar sources and approaches to their work, which generated revolutionary breakthroughs into Modernism — well in advance of the Bauhaus. Both gained insight from regional vernacular traditions, explored the possibilities of modern materials (especially concrete), and drew inspiration from the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Glasgow’s embrace of its favorite son has led to a recent rehabilitation of Mackintosh sites. The resulting spike in cultural tourism provides a model for how San Diego could highlight Gill’s work to an international visitor audience, and prove that “America’s Finest City” is much more than beaches, good weather, and a world-famous zoo.