Written by: Bart Prince
Photo of Bart Prince (left), Palmer Boggs and Bruce Goff (right).
In an age during which architecture has become defined essentially as 'that which falls off a building in an earthquake' as depicted by look-alike internet images and in the 'profession of architecture' by a series of meaningless awards and continuing 'education' courses which have more to do with money than design, filmmaker Britni Harris has chosen to focus the past four years researching and making a film about the life and work of architect Bruce Goff. Goff, my friend of many years, dedicated his life to creativity and the search for beauty in all things. At the age of 16, he corresponded with both Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, both of whose work he greatly admired, to ask their opinions about 'architectural education' and what they would suggest for a young man who wants to become an architect Sullivan replied in a letter that he had spent the better part of his life trying to live down the 'education' he had received and wouldn't recommend making the same mistake he had. Wright sent a short telegram which stated simply, "Go to school and lose Bruce Goff". Goff realized at an early age that as Victor Hugo had written, "ART can no restatement" and as the French composer Claude Debussy once said, "When imitation comes, beauty goes". Thus, tempting as it was to copy the beautiful work of others he admired, he began his search for himself in defining his life and work as it came from within and he created individual works of art unlike anyone before him. Harris' beautiful film reminds us of what the true ART of architecture can and should be when it grows from the imagination of one who dedicated his life to it as a true artist.
Bart Prince, Architect
The Japanese Pavilion of Art in LA designed by Bruce Goff and completed by Bart Prince