“In a traditional architecture, hierarchy is extraordinarily important.” – Gerald Cowart
Meet Gerry. He’s been a part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for 25 years. We recently interviewed him to get insights for architects who might want to learn from someone adept at his craft. Not only did we get some great advice, we had some great laughs! When he’s not at the drafting table, he likes to kayak with the Ogeechee Riverkeepers, a subsidy of a much larger organization that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started in 1984. Gerry also serves as a member of the National Committee on Environment, which focuses on alternative energy and conservation.
Gerry’s Hot Tip #1: Learn From History
What would you tell your 20-year-old self? Well, Gerry explained to us that one of the errors fledgling architects make most commonly is ignoring architectural history—the successes and failures of architects that have come before. One of the most common mistakes that young architects make is designing buildings that do not follow standard architectural hierarchy: pick a centerpiece and design around it. The problem is, some architects will design with everything as a centerpiece. Gerry explains that best practice states that there is one centerpiece with a higher level of detail and extravagance, while the other pieces surrounding it simply complement and direct attention to the centerpiece. He says:
“The biggest mistake is – an architect who isn’t fully schooled in a method or a technique or a style that he is trying to do and he’s trying to wing it. There’s one example in historical or in a traditional architecture, hierarchy is extraordinarily important. There’s a middle and front, and most important piece, and there’s other pieces that are subservient to that. And they form an entourage around that main piece like pawns around the knight.”
In other words, his advice is to study the architectural precedent and learn from it.
Gerry’s Hot Tip #2: Don’t Mistake Complexity for Beauty
There’s a saying that a recipe is complete not when there’s nothing left to add, but when there’s nothing left to take away, and the same goes for design. When designing a building, a simpler design can be more beautiful than a complex design. Gerry brings up the Mercer Williams House Museum, his favorite building in Savannah, as an example:
“Sometimes you look at a ‘McMansion’ and there’s six types of windows on the front elevation. There’s a round, there’s an oval, there’s a tale, there’s a triple window, there’s a double window, it’s like an over desire to try to make something complicated and equate that to beauty. It couldn’t be further from the truth. The Mercer House, it’s a box with five windows and a door. It couldn’t be more elegant. It couldn’t be more beautiful.”
Keeping a design simple is a best practice that Gerry suggests for budding architects in their pursuit of successful, beautiful building design.
Gerry’s Hot Tip #3: Educate the Owner, Even If It Means Disagreeing
Another common mistake that even professionals make is blindly following the instructions of the project commissioner, though the professional knows better. One example Gerry brought up is using one material excessively in a project, which can create a gaudy or tacky outcome. Unfortunately, this happened in a house he designed. He intended to have a beautiful mahogany moulding in the dining room to accent and emphasize an area of the house he thought to be central—to draw the eye and attention of visitors. Instead of having one beautiful centerpiece in the building the builders put it everywhere, making it a common, and therefore, less unique design flourish.
“When I went to see the house, and it was almost finished, it was like nothing. It was worse than nothing because those places didn’t deserve all the attention they were getting. So it weakened the whole value and diverted the attention from where it should value…What they need to do is step up. If that’s what the owner wants, and they know it’s wrong, they need to do the necessary research, educating the owner so the owner will know what’s the right thing to do. It’s not the review board’s job to design a building, but it is their duty to recheck your building when it’s not designed properly.”
For this house, the owner liked the mahogany moulding in the dining room so much that he asked a builder to put it everywhere, and though the builder knew it would be a poor design, he did it without asking Gerry, who designed the house. Gerry advises new architects to do their research and figure out the best way to give a client the best product without creating something that is simply too ornate for its purpose.
Gerry Hot Tip #4: Spend Time Exercising
No, we’re not telling you to go for a jog or hit up Jazzercize…we mean your creativity. Try spending time at the drawing board, unplugged from technology to let your creativity flourish. Putting pen to paper wakes up areas of the brain that you might not be exercising. Relying less on technology and more on your brain can allow new ideas to pop in at the most unexpected times. Gerry explains this more:
“Recently, I heard somebody speaking that the thing inside your skull is only one part of your brain. All the other pieces that are thinking and doing are part of that brain process. So your brain is split out all over your body and its form of nerve endings to your spinal cord. And you need to kind of understand that your fingertips are extraordinarily loaded with nerve endings. For you to coordinate what you see from your eyes to your brain down to your fingertips and mimic what you see with your fingertips. It trains you to see better and it also trains you to have sensitivity on your aesthetic.”
Gerry advises new architects to get back to their design school roots—exercise those brain cells, train your fingers to interpret what your eyes see and draw it. Return to your roots, and perhaps you’ll reawaken old passions, discover new techniques and ideas and push your craft to new limits.
It’s amazing what we can learn from veterans in our field, and young architects would benefit from taking their experiences into account when crafting their own designs. Stay tuned—we’ll be interviewing more pros in the industry to bring new insights, anecdotes and just plain good advice.
Gerald (Gerry) Cowart
Gerry has been in the GA/SC Architecture scene for over 30 years, specializing in high-end residential projects. He’s been inducted the College of Fellows as well as having served as the president of AIA Georgia. He’s active in environmental work, serving in a non-profit river cleaning charity. Along with his professional and service work, he finds time to participate in the arts as an avid painter.