Bruce Goff's Bavinger House

Introduction: Bruce Goff's working career spanned sixty-six years, from 1916, when he began working in an architect's office, until his death in 1982. During that time he received more than 450 commissions for buildings and related designs, resulting in more than 500 proposals of which at least 147 were realized. Bruce Goff occupied a unique place in American architecture. His buildings looked like those of no other architect. His idiosyncratic designs juxtaposed shapes in unexpected but delightful combinations. His reliance …

…work and his interactions fitted neatly within the round span of the twentieth century. The architecture of Goff might best summarize the many divergent influences of the century while simultaneously being least involved in the critical issues of the time. His creative intelligence had pushed certain architectural explorations well beyond those of any of his predecessors or contemporaries. Goff was perhaps more concerned with contributing to the evolutionary stream of architecture than the main stream.