{"id":155356,"date":"2022-03-04T10:36:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T20:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=155356"},"modified":"2022-03-07T16:47:22","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T02:47:22","slug":"uss-arizona-memorial-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/03\/04\/uss-arizona-memorial-architect\/","title":{"rendered":"Online exhibition honors USS<\/abbr> Arizona Memorial architect Alfred Preis"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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USS<\/abbr> Arizona Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alfred Preis, one of the most important modernist architects in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> in the mid-century and known for his design of the famed USS<\/abbr> Arizona Memorial, was honored via an online exhibition<\/a> co-curated by a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa assistant professor in the School of Architecture<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

Laura McGuire<\/strong>, assistant professor of architectural history, theory and criticism, co-curated the exhibition with Axel Schmitzberger, a professor of architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, through the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Arts Alliance. At the exhibition opening, she gave a talk on Alfred Preis\u2019 life, his community involvements, and his important relationships with progressive social causes such as the labor movement, with his design for the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union headquarters in Honolulu.<\/p>\n

“I also discussed his interest in combining architectural ideas of the multi-ethnic population on the islands, including Native Hawaiian and Japanese architectural forms to better reflect Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> many cultures,” McGuire said.<\/p>\n

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Laura McGuire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Preis\u2019 work had largely not been known until McGuire received a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to research his life and work.<\/p>\n

“This work is important to the UH<\/abbr> community and state because it sheds light both on the history of Â鶹´«Ã½,<\/span> along with the work of one of its greatest mid-century architects,” said McGuire. “Preis\u2019 life and work cannot be separated from the social, economic and cultural history of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> because his commissions and designs were shaped by those influences.”<\/p>\n

More on Preis\u2019 life<\/h2>\n

As an Austrian refugee from the Nazis, Preis was arrested as a potential enemy alien after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This experience—and being a Jewish person whose entire family left in Austria was murdered in concentration camps by the Nazis—caused him to become committed to progressive racial and social causes in the islands\u2019 political and social spheres.<\/p>\n

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Laupāhoehoe School on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other examples of his work include how the islands coped with material shortages after the war and how Preis articulated the value of locally-sourced materials. He also constructed hundreds of homes for low-to-middle-income state residents, defining himself as an architect not for the elite, but as a designer for the people of Â鶹´«Ã½.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The project thus sheds light not only on Alfred Preis\u2019 influential work but on Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> own history during a period of rapid architectural development, its political revolutions towards progressive liberalism, and the design of humane accommodations for the population at large, especially in his work to construct developments for the growing population amid housing crises,” said McGuire. “It also articulates how Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> was on the cutting edge of public arts promotion in the U.S.”<\/p>\n

View the online exhibition on Alfred Preis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This event is an example of UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alfred Preis, one of the most important modernist architects in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> in the mid-century, was honored via an exhibition in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[240,1363,239,9],"class_list":["post-155356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-architecture","tag-manoa-research","tag-school-of-architecture","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t