WHAT WOULD FAY DO?

STUDENTS WORK ON HOME OF SCHOOL’S NAMESAKE

Sean Paquin caulks nail heads while Matt Poe braces the ladder earlier this month. University of Arkansas architecture students were replacing a balustrade on the Fay Jones residence.
Sean Paquin caulks nail heads while Matt Poe braces the ladder earlier this month. University of Arkansas architecture students were replacing a balustrade on the Fay Jones residence.

— Averdant, leafy barrier blocks most of the house at 1330 N.

Hillcrest Ave. from view, but initially nothing distinguishes this house from all the others on the street. Up the driveway, however, is a structure that seems to meld into the treeline behind it, a unique house that makes the onlooker want a closer examination. It is the long time home of renowned Ozark architect Fay Jones, and it is being documented and repaired by the students of the Fay Jones School of Architecture. The Background

One of the great advantages of the Fay Jones School of Architecture is the relationship the school maintains with the Jones family, says Professor Greg Herman, who led the student project at the home. Although Fay Jones died in 2004, his family maintains relationships with the school, and when his wife, Gus Jones, moved out of the house on Hillcrest this year, the school saw an opportunity to help maintain Fay Jones’ legacy and give their studentsa rare opportunity.

This summer, the school offered a survey course for students in which they had the opportunity to interactively learn, getting into the mindset of Fay Jones and repairing aspects of the house, while preparing drawings for one of the largest architectural competitions in the nation.

Each year, the Historic American Buildings Survey, which comprises one of the largest and most-used collections in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, holds a competition to recognize the best in submissions. Being added to the collection will be yet another accolade for the house, which already is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Winning an award for their entry of drawings would be a great accomplishment both for the Fay Jones School of Architecture and the students who have dedicated their summer to the house.

The Students

This project was rare not only because it was in such a historic place, but also because of the group working on it. The groupis comprised of third-, fourthand fifth-year architecture students. Typically in this discipline, architecture studentsstay divided by year and have little overlapping course work.

The project provided an opportunity for students to learn from one another and to interact in a way that they seldom are able to do.

“I originally found out about it through a couple friends in studio they were talking about it and I was interested,” says Chloe Costello, a third-year architecture student. “I’ve been interested in Fay Jones’ work for a while, so I knew it would be interesting to study Fay’s house because that would be what was most revealing about his philosophy.”

By working with students who are further along in their architecture program, Costello says she has enjoyed seeing what she will learn in the near future.

“They (the more senior students) have a lot more experience in a lot of things that I haven’t learned about yet,” she says. “It was really interesting to see how they were developing the reconstruction of the balustrade, since I’m not in technical studio yet. Learning how things come together and the construction aspect of architecture was new. ... Seeing how we developed a detail for the railing and learning from fifth-year students was cool because I know that in the future that’s the knowledge I’ll start to gain.”

Each student had a task that was specifically his own, from forming a 3-D recreation of the house to leading the construction team as they slightly altered the design of the balustrade. Costello worked specifi cally on the group’s drawings,researching the rules and documentation guidelines to make sure the drawings would look like they were all done by the same person.

The House

The nature of the student project is uncommon, and so is the house being documented. Upon entering, visitors are greeted not by a statue or work of art, but by a giant boulder. This grotto-style room, Herman says, served as Jones’ first studio.

“Fay really loved two things - caves and treehouses - and you can really see that in the overall design of his house,” Herman says.

Continuing inside past the studio, a visitor encounters the Jones’ daughters bedroom, a very open but somewhat dark room with low-to-the-ground furniture, typical of Jones’ style. Upstairs, the feeling of the house changes completely. Instead of the cave feeling of being submerged in nature, large windows on all sides give the feeling of fl oating among the trees. The open floor plan means there are no almost no walls between the master bedroom, kitchen and living area, allowing one to see from one end of the floor to the other. Outside, a balcony wraps around two sides of the house, and the balustrade on this balcony is the location of the repairs the students are completing.

Overall, Herman says the house was built conventionally, although the details are far from conventional. This meant the house requires frequent upkeep.

“Houses like this do notlike to be uninhabited,” Herman says. “They don’t like deferred maintenance.”

Herman says the house was meant to melt into the earth, and that this is not the first time it has required maintenance on the balustrade or minor repairs inside. By allowing students to be a part of both the repairs and the drawing, Herman says they have been able to reach a new level of understanding of the nature of Jones’ work.

The students seemed to agree.

“Being able to see up close and personally his house is so interesting because it wasn’t for someone else, it was for him,” Costello says. “A lot of times in architecture school, we think about what it would be like to design for someone else, rather than for ourselves, so it was kind of like I was thinking how I would make the house for Fay. Thinking about Fay Jones’ ethos and what he thought about architecture became a big part of the course.” The Entry

The Historic American Buildings Survey is specifi c in exactly how and what must be drawn for each submission, and requires not only drawings, but also all notes taken by the team while they were in the fi eld.

All the measurements for the drawings were taken on site, both because the original drawings of the home are incomplete, and the drawings must reflect the house as it is now. Many pieces of the furniture, unique to the home, werebuilt in and also had to be included in the drawings. Herman says adding details, like the furniture and drawings of the house’s refl ective ceiling, help the drawings to read better and make them more reflective of the details that are specific to Jones’ style.

It’s also easy to size up the competition, Herman says, because all of the competitor’s files are online. Jones’ home differs from many other entries because it is not a building with a lot of romance or elaborate detail.

The judges did seem pleased with the drawing of the boulder in the entry way, though, Herman says. He and the students hope that the uniqueness of Jones’ house will make it stand out against the rest.

The Next Step

On July 7, the g roup displayed 27 preliminary drawings and a digital presentation at the school of architecture, receiving the support and praise of many members of the Fay Jones School of Architecture.

“To date, this is very good work, very thorough,” said Marlon Blackwell, department chairman. “This project has brought a new level of depth to what Fay has built.”

The group fi nished work on the house July 16, and submitted their entry package to the Historic American Buildings Survey. The group plans to display their complete entry this fall in the School of Architecture. Until then, they, and the house, will wait in anticipation.

Life, Pages 6 on 07/28/2010

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