Guest post by Duane Elverum
Early this month a dear friend and long-time mentor passed away. Sandy Hirshen was New York architect who moved to Berkeley in the mid-1960′s to open a design office and eventually direct the school of architecture at the University of California.
He moved to Vancouver in 1990, retiring in 2000 after 9 years as the Director of UBC-SALA. I met him in 1990 when he was in Vancouver interviewing for the directorship and I was a confused design student preparing for my graduation thesis.
I had just failed my 4th term and was floundering. Amid a sea of black turtle necks and pointy black shoes, his straight-forward and humble presence was a force. He presented his work to the school in a green cotton shirt, tan cotton chinos and brown loafers. He rolled up his sleeves. He smiled. I connected immediately with his message of a social mission for education and architecture.
That winter, as he was preparing for the move to Vancouver, I drove with a friend from Vancouver to Berkeley to ask him in person if he’d supervise my thesis on co-housing. It took 17 hours and I arrived just after an earthquake had collapsed their chimney, covering the interior of their house in ash.
He was calm and thoughtful and smoking a cigar as we walked around the neighbourhood to talk about ideas for a thesis. Would he be interested in supervising? He said no, he’d probably be too busy in the new job and suggested that it might be more interesting if we just talked once and a while after he’d he settled in. We talked for 23 years.
During this time he was a teacher, a mentor, a colleague and a dear friend who created some of the key opportunities of my life: He helped me regain my architectural sanity amid the theoretical gold rush hitting design schools in the late 1980′s. He hired me to teach at the School of Architecture in the 1990′s. He sent me to Eastern Europe with a group of students. He introduced me to Hornby Island and Michael McNamara where we designed and built houses for the Elder, offering Home Care Assistance services.
He hired me to design and build furniture for his house. He asked me to co-write his monograph and curate the exhibition of his life in architecture. He got me on the sailboat of retired friend heading south, which was the start of my ongoing offshore sailing adventure. And he guided me through the risky and potentially soul-stealing world of academia, which cleared the path for me to create CityStudio with Janet Moore.
He taught me how to smoke cigars. We would offer each other tooth picks. He had a deep sense of integrity and fairness and patience. His advice and concern for the direction and quality of my path as an adult is one of the most precious experiences of my life.
His obituary describes an incredible life:
Bay Area architect and professor, died October 2, 2013 in Oakland, California of congestive heart failure. He was 78 years old. He is survived by his life partner and beloved wife of 56 years, Vivian. They were high-school sweet-hearts. Sandy is also survived by his children, Richard and Julie, his brother Alvin, and his extended family. Sandy attended New York City’s P.S. 35, The High School of Music and Art, and Columbia University where he graduated with a degree in Architecture.
He was a reservist in the National Guard’s Harlem Hell Fighters. After graduating, he was awarded a William Kinne Fellowship which allowed him the opportunity to work in Milan, Italy. He returned to New York to work, and subsequently he and his family moved to California in 1964. In the late 60’s Sandy began teaching in the UC Berkeley School of Architecture, eventually becoming Chair of the Department of Architecture in the College of Environmental Design.
Sandy was a founding partner of an award winning architectural practice, partnering for many years with Sim Van Der Ryn, Ron Gammill, Jack Trumbo and Dennison Cook. The firm attracted many talented professionals and focused on socially responsible architecture including schools, community and health facilities, sheltering migrant workers, housing the elderly and low income families, and designing environments for infants and children.
He became an AIA and Guggenheim Fellow for his design work on behalf of undeserved populations. Sandy and Vivian moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 1990 where he was Director of the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture, a school with a strong focus on teaching, one of his passions. During his tenure he received a Canadian Royal Architectural Institute Fellowship.
Sandy retired in 2000 and returned to the Bay Area in 2009 to be close to family, friends and to enjoy one of his favourite places, Inverness in West Marin.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Sandy’s honour can be made to U.C. Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, the Sandy Hirshen Prize, supporting socially responsible design. A memorial for Sandy will take place in late Fall.
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