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John Hejduk | |
|---|---|
 Hejduk in 1991 | |
| Born | John Quentin Hejduk (1929-07-19)July 19, 1929 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 8, 2000(2000-07-08) (aged 70) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations | Architect, artist, educator |
John Quentin Hejduk (July 19, 1929 – July 8, 2000) was an American architect, artist and educator from New York City. Hejduk studied at theCooper Union School of Art and Architecture, theUniversity of Cincinnati, and theHarvard Graduate School of Design. He worked in several offices in New York including that ofI. M. Pei and the office of A.M. Kinney. He established his own practice in New York City in 1965.[1]
Hejduk was hired at theUniversity of Texas at Austin School of Architecture by DeanHarwell Hamilton Harris. During his time at the School, he was a member of the so-called "Texas Rangers", a group of influential professors which also includedColin Rowe,Robert Slutzky,Werner Seligmann, and Herbert Hirsche.[2]
Following his time at UT Austin, Hejduk was a Professor of Architecture atThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, School of Architecture from 1964 to 2000 and Dean of the School of Architecture from 1975 to 2000. His arrival, including the cooperation of many other influential professors (includingRaimund Abraham,Ricardo Scofidio,Peter Eisenman,Charles Gwathmey,Diana Agrest,Diane Lewis,Elizabeth Diller,David Shapiro, and many others), transformed the practice and critical thought of architecture.
His early work and curriculum grew from a set of exercises exploring cubes, grids, and frames, through an examination of square grids placed within diagonal containers set against an occasional curving wall, towards a series of experiments with flat planes and curved masses in various combinations and colors.[1] He was awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation in 1967. Eventually, John Hejduk's "hard-line" modernist space-making exercises, heavily influenced byFrank Lloyd Wright andLudwig Mies van der Rohe, moved away from his interests in favor of free-hand "figure/objects" influenced by mythology and spirituality, clearly expressing the nature of his poetry.[citation needed]
The architectural historian K. Michael Hays has described Hejduk's architecture as one of "Encounter", describing Hejduk's objects as seeming "impossibly, to be aware of us, to address us. And yet we see not the gratifying reflection of ourselves we had hoped for but another thing, looking back at us, watching us, placing us", articulating Hejduk's work from a post-modern Lacanian perspective as more "literary" than that of his peers.[3]
Hejduk is associated with several schools, including theNew York Five (with architectsPeter Eisenman,Richard Meier,Michael Graves, andCharles Gwathmey) whose early works are described inFive Architects (1973),[4][5] and theTexas Rangers, a group of innovative architects and professors at the University of Texas School of Architecture,Austin, whose other well-known participants includeColin Rowe andWerner Seligmann.
Contemporary theorists, researchers, and academics publishing work and research by and about John Hejduk includeK. Michael Hays,[6] Mark Linder,[7]R.E. Somol,[8]Anthony Vidler,[9] Renata Hejduk,[10] andCatherine Ingraham[11]
A large portion of his work is archived at theCanadian Centre for Architecture inMontreal, Canada.[12]
In 2019, students of the Faculty of Architecture of theCzech Technical University in Prague led by Hana Seho built the objectThe Rolling House according to drawings by John Hejduk. The project was created in the studio during the Summer School of Building on the topic of minimal mobile building. The realization took place in October and November 2019. The building was unveiled on November 11, 2019, as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of theVelvet Revolution and as a gift toAlena Šrámková for her 90th birthday.[13]
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