DCA Information and Inspiration – “From Farmhouse to High Rise” with architect James von Klemperer

DCA Information and Inspiration presentations are virtual gatherings open to all to elevate your knowledge and broaden your intelligence, while also providing an opportunity to connect with others. The Darien Community Association has partnered with authors, business entrepreneurs, and specialists on travel, culture, and the arts.

“From Farmhouse to High Rise” with architect James von Klemperer

Tuesday, February 23
10:00am
DCA members $15
Public $20

Register online for this virtual event by Sunday, February 21, or through the DCA office: 203-655-9050 extension 10. If another person in your household will be viewing with you, please purchase an additional ticket(s).

Registrants will receive an email with Zoom meeting access information the day before the presentation.

Not a DCA Member? Members receive discounted admission for our activities, and find that their membership pays for itself simply by participating in several events each year.

James von Klemperer will talk about his experiences as an architect, examining structures small and large. Living in a 1720 house in Darien, to which his family moved in the 1920s, he learned about the mortise and tenon woodwork of John Bell’s shipwright craftsmanship. There, the central masonry cluster of three fireplaces and Dutch oven served as the structural and functional “core” of the dwelling.

Jamie will go on to describe the lessons applied from this local Darien setting to his work designing skyscrapers in Shanghai, Seoul, London, Paris, and New York. In particular, he will focus on his design for the recently completed One Vanderbilt, now midtown Manhattan’s tallest office building, and the first thing encountered by many Darien commuters as they emerge from Grand Central Terminal. There, a steel frame and concrete core support a much larger structure, which rises to 1,401 feet. The silhouette of the tower is visible from Darien harbor, reminding local sailors of the connection of our Connecticut town to the metropolis beyond.

James von Klemperer FAIA RIBA is the President and Design Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, where he is responsible for leading a staff of over 700 architects in nine offices across the globe.

Since joining KPF in 1983, Jamie has planned and designed projects of all scales, from small residential projects to master plans for entire cities. A major focus of his work has been to heighten the role that large developments play in making urban space.

Jamie graduated from Harvard, Cambridge University, and Princeton, and has lectured at Harvard, Columbia, Tsinghua, Tongji, Seoul National, and Yonsei Universities, the ESA in Paris, AMO in Lyon, and at Yale, where he has taught as Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor in 2010 and 2016. In 2018, he received the American Prize for Architecture from The Chicago Athenaeum. He and his wife Alison split their time between New York and Darien.

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