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Title: Indiana Lofts - West View
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1980-12
Description: Full color architectural sketch of the Indiana Lofts project, showing a west view of the building. Dated December 1980, 5"x7".
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Indiana Lofts - East View
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1981
Description: Full color architectural sketch of the Indiana Lofts project, showing an east view of the building. Dated 1981, 7"x5".
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Tahiti Hotel: Rooms overlooking the Pacifc
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1990-11
Description: Color conceptual drawing of terraces overlooking the Pacific Ocean for the Sheraton Hotel project on the island of Moorea, northwest of Tahiti.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Tahiti Hotel: Full moon dance
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1990-11
Description: Color conceptual drawing for the Sheraton Hotel project on the island of Moorea, northwest of Tahiti.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Mermel House
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1976
Description: Full color architectural sketch of the Mermel House, in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Mermel House
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1976
Description: Full color architectural sketch of the Mermel House, in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: San Bar house - East elevation
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1979-04-13
Description: Color sketch of the east elevation of a home designed for the San Bar Beach community of South Haven, Michigan.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: San Bar house - Plan
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1979-04-13
Description: Floor plan of a home designed for the San Bar Beach community of South Haven, Michigan.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: San Bar house - East elevation
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1979-04-16
Description: Color sketch of the east elevation of a home designed for the San Bar Beach community of South Haven, Michigan.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Walton Carpets Exterior, ca. 1976
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1976
Description: Photograph of the exterior of Walton Carpets designed by Robert Gordon. Date of photograph is unknown. Date listed is approximate.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Uptown Theater District painting, 1997
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1997-03
Description: Watercolor painting completed as part of a proposal for the renovation of the Uptown Theatre and development of the Uptown theater district in...
Show moreWatercolor painting completed as part of a proposal for the renovation of the Uptown Theatre and development of the Uptown theater district in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.
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Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Uptown Theater District painting, 1997
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1997-03
Description: Watercolor painting completed as part of a proposal for the renovation of the Uptown Theatre and development of the Uptown theater district in...
Show moreWatercolor painting completed as part of a proposal for the renovation of the Uptown Theatre and development of the Uptown theater district in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.
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Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: San Bar Beach - Cottage
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1980
Description: Watercolor painting of a cottage in the San Bar Beach community of South Haven, Michigan. Date listed is approximate.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Drawing on Darwinism: Rewriting the Origin of Louis Sullivan's Idea
Creator: Frey, Syan
Date: 2021
Description: To observe that the unique architectural ornaments that make up the body of work of Louis Henri Sullivan (1856-1924) emulate nature is to...
Show moreTo observe that the unique architectural ornaments that make up the body of work of Louis Henri Sullivan (1856-1924) emulate nature is to state a reality so obvious that it is both pedantic and droll. To use the double entendre that those natural forms drew on Darwinism, however, is to make several more specific claims. First, it can be credibly established that the system of architectural ornament that was the primary contribution of Louis Sullivan to the discipline of architecture was directly inspired by Sullivan’s synthesis of the thesis of natural selection contained within the pages of Asa Gray’s botanical manual. Second, the circumstances of that moment of synthesis reveal that the reason for Sullivan’s Darwinism was not merely the desire to emulate nature, but rather to signify the end of faith. Finally, Sullivan’s synthesis of various Darwinisms drew not only on the thesis for his own artistic inspiration, he drew on the substance of Darwin’s arguments to formulate a secular theory of the nature of inspiration and the technique of design. In the years following, this theory has become the primary technique by which design is taught.Louis’ unique education, which was tied to Darwinism from the very beginning, gave him an unusual perspective on the challenges of architectural design in the industrial age. The economic circumstances of his life as a first-generation immigrant exposed him to just the right education to lead him to explore evolutionary science as the inspiration for design. To be clear, the content of the thesis of natural selection was entirely irrelevant to the theory and practice of architecture in the nineteenth century. Yet by the end of the century the broad consensus among architects, historians, and theorists alike was that there was a, “close and causal relationship,” between Darwinism and modern architecture. Sullivan’s theory drew on Darwinian ideas to dismiss theological styles as empty formalisms, reveal the racism of ethnographic accounts for architectural forms, and argue for the evolution of an American Architecture, liberated from its colonialist origins. The context within which that shift occurred is significant. The justification for nearly every work of architecture in human history prior to the middle of the nineteenth century was some form of god. Mid-nineteenth century architecture in the United States was composed of a variety of regional ethnic styles intended to represent the ethnic origins, religious affiliations, moral inclinations, and nationalist allegiances of an array of displaced immigrant communities. The Civil War laid bare the reality that such ethnic styles represented a segregationist and racialized idea of the modern world. Over the course of the late nineteenth century, the profession of architecture was forced to abandon theological justifications for the practice of architecture as scientifically invalid, morally corrupt, and motivated by racism. This was Sullivan’s full idea: Put instinct before reason in priority, and engage in the iterative analysis of various instincts about the situation. Observe the patterns that emerge. Explore those instincts, until you find that your patterns merge with universal patterns. Do not fear error, as it makes the work alive. The capacity to capture that living essence is in all of us, individually and collectively, not some external force. The most-right instincts are ones in which the resulting form is a demonstration of its function. To understand what Sullivan meant with this we must see it as a Darwinian idea. Instinct is an animal property, a capacity which we share with other species. For Darwin, this sharing of instinct is essential for interspecies empathy. The antithesis of instinct is reason, which Sullivan describes as secondary. Reason is cold and lifeless, but also correct. True reason, Sullivan claims, is learned by experiment, and example. The greatest art speaks not just to our reason, but to our instinct. This, then is the task of the designer – to temper instinct with reasoned evaluation. Sullivan argues that it begins with an intuition, an idea he drew from Darwin’s Descent of Man.
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Title: Walton Carpet Store - Floor Plan
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1976
Description: Floor plan of the semicircular Walton Carpets store.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: 'Chinatown'...The Gateway...
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1984-10
Description: Sketch of a public space and entry gate in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood for Robert Gordon's City Facade Project (1984-1985).
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Regents Park
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1981
Description: Sketch of the interior of an apartment at Regents Park, a luxury apartment complex in Kenwood, on the south side of Chicago.
Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Icosahedron Guest House on Indiana Dunes, Exterior detail, ca. 1970s
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1970-1979
Description: Exterior detail photograph of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date...
Show moreExterior detail photograph of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date of photograph unknown. Date range listed is approximate.
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Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Icosahedron Guest House on Indiana Dunes, Interior, ca. 1970s
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1970-1979
Description: Photograph of the interior of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date...
Show morePhotograph of the interior of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date of photograph unknown. Date range listed is approximate.
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Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

Title: Icosahedron Guest House on Indiana Dunes, Exterior, ca. 1970s
Creator: Gordon, Robert Philip
Date: 1970-1979
Description: Photograph of the exterior of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date...
Show morePhotograph of the exterior of an Indiana Dunes guest house in the form of an icosahedron, comprised of prefabricated triangular panels. Date of photograph unknown. Date range listed is approximate.
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Collection: Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010

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