Bruce Goff designed expressive buildings from throw-away materials such as cake pans, steel pipe, rope, cellophane, and ash trays.
Born:
June 8, 1904 in Alton, Kansas
Died:
August 4, 1982 in Tyler, Texas
Education:
Bruce Goff did not receive a formal education in architecture. At age 12, he apprenticed to Rush, Endacott and Rush of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bruce Goff became a partner in the firm in 1930, and later became a professor of architecture at the University of Oklahoma.
During the early 1950s, Bruce Goff chaired the University of Oklahoma School of Architecture.
Famous Buildings:
Bruce Goff designed about 500 projects in his lifetime; 140 of them were built. Many were private homes in isolated regions of the mid-western United States.
Expressive and original, Goff's buildings were often constructed with unusual, throw-away materials. For example, the idiosyncratic Duncan/Etzkorn-Bruce Goff Castle Dwelling that Bruce Goff designed for sociology professor Hugh Duncan is a disorderly collection of rocks with a cave-like interiors.
Important Ideas:
Inspired By:
About Bruce Goff:
Bruce Goff was a friend of Frank Lloyd Wright's, and, like Wright, Goff based his works on the principles of
Organic Architecture. However, Goff developed his own approach to organic design, creating complex, idiosyncratic buildings that critics often found shocking.
Many fellow architects were suspicious and critical of the individualistic and unschooled Bruce Goff. In 1955, Goff left the ultra-conservative University of Oklahoma and withdrew from active practice amidst a sex scandal and charges of homosexuality.
Today, Bruce Goff is widely praised for his highly creative, original contributions to 20th century architecture.
