Design Legacy of John Marsh Davis: Early Career: Wood Expressionism 1961-1979

Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood. In his homes and on jobsites, designer John Marsh Davis, Jr. displayed a framed transcription of Daniel Burnham's directive. The epigraph describes what Davis' legacy impressively embodies in tactile sensuality and visionary formalist expressionism--indeed, architecture's power to elevate life, nourish the spirit, and enkindle the imagination. Spanning dramatic coastal residences and magisterial timber-framed Napa winery complexes, this biography of Davis'early career includes captivating anecdotes about his creative process and insightful architectural appreciations borne of author Hans R. Baldauf's sustained years-long engagement with Davis' oeuvre. When Joseph Phelphs Vineyards commissioned Baldauf's firm BCV Architecture + Interiors to re-imagine Davis' original winery building and enhance its connection with the surrounding landscape, Baldauf discovered that no scholarship on Davis as yet existed. Since then, BCV has worked on two additional Davis-designed projects. Lavishly illustrated with detailed plans and stunning photography, this is an inspiring, essential addition to the history of modern American architectural and design culture.

Author: Hans Baldauf
Publisher: Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers
Published: 03/28/2023
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 5.36lbs
Size: 13.29h x 11.27w x 1.25d
ISBN: 9781946226679

About the Author
Hans Baldauf, FAIA, LEED AP, is a Founding Principal of BCV Architecture + Interiors, San Francisco native, and graduate of the Yale School of Architecture. A longstanding interest in civic space has driven Hans and BCV to pursue a wide variety of project types which at their core enliven the public realm, from grand market halls and mixeduse developments to such interventions as flower stands and bus shelters. Each design problem is considered both on its own terms as well as how it fits into the larger context. Hans strongly advocates for a holistic vision of sustainability that draws inspiration from the Slow Food Movement's tenets: the celebratory aspects of Slow Food that constitutes "good" and its insistence upon "clean" and "fair." Hans has taught architecture at Yale University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Notre Dame University, where he served as visiting faculty at their Rome Studies program. In addition to his teaching, Hans is active in the San Francisco Bay Area arts and architecture community, serving as chairman of the Maybeck Foundation and on various boards including the Friends of the Bancroft Library and the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA).Bruce Damonte has been commissioned to photographically tell the stories of hundreds of design projects since BDP's inception over ten years ago. Based in San Francisco, Bruce travels extensively in his quest to provide peerless imagery and customer service to the world's best designers and architects.David Sheff is the best-selling author of Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction; Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy; Game Over; The Buddhist on Death Row; and All We Are Saying: The Last Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He also writes for magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Wired, Rolling Stone and other publications. David has lived in a house designed by John Marsh Davis for the past thirty years with his wife, artist Karen Barbour. Karen's parents were early patrons of John Marsh Davis and were his lifelong friends.R. Brad Knipstein has been creating images since he was very young. If you ask him, he will tell you, "I have been working on my portfolio since I was twelve, when my grandmother gave me my first portfolio case to display my prints." Of course that was back in the film days, when he crafted black-and-white fiber prints in a closet-turneddarkroom at his family's home. To this day he carries the same passion and enthusiasm for photography with him everywhere he happens to be. R. Brad Knipstein Studio is a full-service studio. From finding locations to retouching to pre-press and everything in between, photo production is his business.

Oscar Riera Ojeda is an editor and designer based in the US, China, and Argentina. Born in 1966, in Buenos Aires, he moved to the United States in 1990. Since then, he has published over three hundred books, assembling a remarkable body of work notable for its thoroughness of content, timeless character, and sophisticated and innovative craftsmanship. - Oscar Riera Ojeda's books have been published by many prestigious publishing houses across the world, including Birkhäuser, Byggförlaget, The Monacelli Press, Gustavo Gili, Thames & Hudson, Rizzoli, Damiani, Page One, ORO editions, Whitney Library of Design, and Taschen. - Oscar Riera Ojeda is also the creator of numerous architectural book series, including Ten Houses, Contemporary World Architects, The New American House and The New American Apartment, Architecture in Detail, and Single Building. - His work has received many international awards, in-depth reviews, and citations. He is a regular contributor and consultant for several publications in the field. - In 2001 Oscar Riera Ojeda founded ORO Editions, a company at which he was responsible for the completion of nearly one hundred titles. In 2008 he established his current publishing venture, Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, a firm with fifteen employees and locations across three continents.