House du Rivage

Intro to documentary series

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Our Pace Setters is a new film series about architecture - how it inspires and how it endures from generation to generation. From the filmmakers unique perspective growing up in a home by Florida architect Alfred Browning Parker, the three part series looks back with affection as it introduces a larger audience to Parker's aesthetics and innovations, and looks forward with enthusiasm, following the creation from design through construction of the filmmakers new home/office by LA architect Vaughan Trammell. Combining traditional documentary techniques of interviews, archival footage and photographs with collage, pixilation and animation, Our Pace Setters will educate and entertain on the subjects of architecture, building, home and family.

Click on the image above for a one page treatment of Our Pace Setters.

Family Tree animation

The documentary-in-progress, "Our Pace Setters", tells the story of architecture developing from generation to generation. This animated family tree illustrates and connects the history and philosophy of architect Frank Lloyd Wright through the next generation of designers John Lautner and Alfred Browning Parker, and clients Art & Jane du Rivage, to the present work of architect Vaughan Trammell and filmmaker and client Holly du Rivage.

For Use & Beauty; The Architecture of Alfred Browning Parker

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Homage to Alfred Browning Parker, 1916-2011

1) Parker as owner, designer, & builder ("3-in-1"), 1953 Coconut Grove, FL. "I like nothing better than to build with my own hands", Parker told the Miami Herald.

2) Parker in front of his 1970 "Miamarina", Miami's downtown marina with restaurant, lounge & snack bar. "… renowned as one of Miami's most "socialite" architects, but still spends a quarter of his time working on actual construction", wrote the Miami Herald.

3) Relaxing at "Woodsong" (1972 Parker family home, photo of Parker approx. 1985). In 2006 "Woodsong" was choosen as one of Wallpaper magazine's 10 best houses in the world.

4) Parker discussing his "America's Bridge". A 2001 design to replace the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in NYC. A drawing of the red bridge is on the wall behind Parker.

From Parker's 1965 book: You & Architecture: A Practical Guide to the Best in Building, his five principles of building:

• Build strongly.
• Build as directly as possible with no complications.
• Use the materials at hand and keep these as few as you can.
• Let your building love its site and glorify its climate.
• Design for use, make it beautiful.

Alfred Browning Parker passed away Friday, March 11th near his home in Gainesville, Florida. He was 94.

Link to the Miami Herald's obituary:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/11/v-fullstory/2110958/browning-parker-legendary-architect.html

Link to architecture critic Beth Dunlop's article on Parker:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/20/2120138/alfred-browning-parker-and-his.html

Alfred Browning Parker is an "ideas" man. These ideas are manifested literally in concrete, and stone, and wood, and copper in the architecture for which he is best known. Alfred Browning Parker is a Renaissance man: a published author; a professor; an accomplished painter; an environmentalist and energy scientist and entrepreneur. He is a man of his time with ideas to inform and inspire through the ages.

"Good Morning" video. Click above to meet the architect.

Alfred Browning Parker is representative of the spirit and genius of America. His humanistic approach to architecture defines American modernism. His buildings illustrate its breadth and depth. The film, "For Use and Beauty; the Architecture of Alfred Browning Parker", explores the broad range of Parker's creative endeavors from architecture and design, to literature and academia, to environmentalism and alternative energy research. This documentary portrait presents Parker's practical and elegant solutions for restoring balance to the natural world and adding beauty to the built environment.

Read more. Click the plaque or portrait of Parker to read a one page treatment of
"For Use & Beauty" or scroll to the bottom of this page.

"The Architecture of Humanism" video.

This short clip shows examples of Parker's designs, and the architect himself at both drafting table and construction site. "I like nothing better than to build with my hands", Parker told the Miami Herald in 1964. Forty-five years later, his enthusiasm has not diminished. At age 93, Parker has recently broken ground on a new home for his family. The Gainesville, Florida residence is his tenth "3-in-1" effort - as owner, designer, and builder.

"America's Bridge" video.

Like many architects following September 11th, 2001, Alfred Browning Parker took up the task at hand. "America's Bridge" is his (unsolicited and ultimately rejected) proposal to re-design the World Trade Center site. The video is an imagined, composited sequence. Parker's plans and drawings, video and photographs of lower Manhattan, and original animation by du Rivage, illustrate what might be with enlightened civic leadership.

In the short clip above Parker's son, Los Angeles architect Quentin Parker, reads from his father's 1965 book: "You & Architecture: A Practical Guide to the Best in Building".

Click above to read the "For Use & Beauty" treatment.

Art & Jane's Home Movie

2007-06-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

Road Trip to the New Building Site, Long Island, NY 1959
video above

When my folks were living in Levittown, Long Island, New York in the early 1950s, my mom had a subscription to House Beautiful magazine. At that time the mag. was a cultural force promoting modernist architecture in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. Going back 100 years (from now), Mr. Wright called this style "organic architecture". The mag. featured one of Mr. Parker's homes as a "Pace Setter House" in Nov. 1953. When mother got that issue of the mag. in the mail she was thrilled. She fell in love with Parker's house and all the articles within about the architect and his family.

Mother held onto the mag. for many years. Eventually Mom & Dad had a big family in a small house. Their friends from Levittown had moved to Fiddler's Green, on the North Shore of Long Island. Art & Jane followed them. It was a new development with 2 acre lots for sale. Family lore has it that Dad was the only buyer to negotiate a discount on the price of the Fiddler's Green property. They toured the site in the pouring rain. Dad, who was in retail at the time, told the developer that retailers coaxed customers with "rainy-day specials". They bargained and Dad got a deal!

With the property in possession, Mom got Parker's address, presumably, from the mag. folks. She wrote to Parker in Miami asking if he would design a house for her and her family of eight. With the letter she sent a Reg. 8 mm home movie she made of the Fiddler's Green site and all us kids running around exploring. The 2 minute clip above is an edited version of that movie.

Parker's national reputation was made in the pages of House Beautiful mag., and Nov. 1953 was the start of it. One of our family jokes is about building the Fiddler's Green house, and mother writing to Mr. Parker. Dad was taking it all in stride - another of Jane's wild ideas. He asked Mom what she would do if Parker said "No". "Then I'll have to ask Frank Lloyd Wright", said Jane! But Alfred Browning Parker said "yes".

Flipbook of 1962 construction starring Art & Jane and the kids. The du Rivage's lived in their Alfred Browning Parker home for 42 years. The house was sold soon after Art passed away in 2004. It was demolished in 2005 to make way for a Mc Mansion.

The following text by Mark Twain tells of his families Victorian estate in terms both sensitive and dynamic. No matter the style or size, anyone with a strong attachment to a unique home can relate to Twain's words.

To us our house was not unsentient matter - it had a heart and a soul, and eyes to see with: and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies: it was of us and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benedictions. We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up and speak out in eloquent welcome - and we could not enter it unmoved.

Mark Twain

1962 Construction Video

Holliday House

2007-06-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

"800 Tiles on the Way to South Sandisfield"
Before any design for a house was created, Holly began making her own custom tiles for her dream kitchen and bath. After two years of cutting, cleaning and glazing in her off hours, she has over 800 tiles ready for installation.

Watch the movie to see two years edited down to two minutes of tile making.

Here architect Vaughan Trammell presents Holly with two design ideas quite different in style. Vaughan created schematics (drawings) and foam-core board models for both designs.
Click below to see the floor plan of Study "R".

Watch the video "Vaughan Presents" to see the architect pitch his ideas and discover which design client & filmmaker, Holly, likes best.

Builder Tony Pupo of Tony's Home Customizing meets with Vaughan and Holly and ...
Site work begins with rough clearing for drive, septic and well.

The Storyboard/page layout below shows still photos of the building site, number eight of more than a dozen which were visited. The site is seen in summer and fall. The woods, the lake across the street and the unusual pine architect Vaughan Trammell points to are some of the natural features he considered when creating his designs. Attention to landscape and climate is an important tenant of organic architecture and part of our heritage from Frank Lloyd Wright.

Before the trucks and backhoe came, family and friends pitched in clearing small trees and building steps leading into the site. Later in the season a birthday picnic with coconut cup cakes is enjoyed by all.

Looking for land and the site before construction.

Filmmaker's Bio

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Holly du Rivage was born in New York City in 1956, the fifth of six children born to Art & Jane du Rivage. Holly became interested in art at a young age, inspired by her mother Jane, and by the home architect Alfred Browning Parker designed for the du Rivage family. She has studied ceramics in Paris and Holland, worked in advertising and graphic design in New York and currently produces independent film and animation in Los Angeles.

Filmography

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Why Don't We Do It In The Freeway
Animation
2001

Out of this World
Animation
1996

Awards: 1st prize Animation: The Brooklyn Arts Council
Best Animation: Canyonlands Film Festival, Moab, Utah
Selected Screenings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY.
The Brooklyn Arts Council Film Festival, The Brooklyn Museum
The Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Mill Valley Film Festival
The Woods Hole Film Festival
The Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY.

TOMORROWLAND: CalArts in Moving Pictures
May 25–August 13, 2006
California Institute of the Arts was founded in 1961 by Walt Disney to bring the visual and performing arts together under one roof. This exhibition celebrates more than three decades of intimate, inventive, and technically sophisticated student filmmaking and videomaking from CalArts, featuring a breathtaking range of nonfiction, narrative, animation, and experimental styles and genres.

Order Out of this World here

Blue Holly
Animation
1992

The Dancer
Animation
1992

Meditation by the Sea
Animation
1991

Contact

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web www.hdurivage.com
email durivage@mac.com click here to email Holly
snail mail
Holly du Rivage, 2652 1/2 La Cienega Ave., LA, CA. 90034

The Pace Setting Cookie Club v. 2011 plus!

This promotion supports the production
of the documentary-in-progress, Our Pace Setters.

The Pace Setting Cookie Club v. 2011 plus! salutes the four architects of Our Pace Setters: Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, Alfred Browning Parker, and Vaughan Trammell with home-made cookies baked in their honor. Order yours today to support the film and enjoy the treats!

Pictured above are the selections from 2010.
Spring: the Frank Lloyd Wright Mocha House Cookie.
Summer: John Lautner's Orange Saucers.
Fall: Alfred Brownies Parker's Black & White
(Cream Cheese) Brownies.
Holiday: Vaughan Trammell's Coconut Snowballs.

Pictured below are the selections from 2009.
Spring: the Frank Lloyd Wright Butter Cookie.
Summer: John Lautner's Flying Saucers.
Fall: Alfred Brownies Parker's Brownies
(with optional toppings or mix-ins).
Holiday: Vaughan Trammell's Coconut Snowcups.

These eight choices are now available upon request. Make any choice in any season. Scroll down to the fact sheets for details, including recipes.

How to Order Cookies to Support the Film.

For a single donation to the film of $50.00 you will receive one box of 1 dozen, custom created, home-made cookies baked in honor of the Pace Setting architect of your choice. Order today to support the film, celebrate the architects, and share the treats with family and friends. You will also receive a bonus fact sheet on the architect and the recipe for the cookies. See samples below.

ORDERS WILL BE TAKEN VIA EMAIL click here to email Holly

AND ON LINE VIA PAY PAL USING THE "BUY NOW"
BUTTON BELOW OR TO THE RIGHT.

Click image below to read online about the Pace Setting Cookie Club v. 2010:

Click images below to read online about Frank Lloyd Wright & get the 2009 FL Wright Butter Cookie & the 2010 FL Wright Mocha House Cookie Recipes:

View a friend's photos of the 2009 Frank Lloyd Wright Butter Cookies on Flickr.

Click images below to read online about John Lautner & get the 2009 John Lautner's Flying Saucers & the 2010 John Lautner's Orange Saucers Recipes:

Click images below to read online about Alfred Browning Parker & get the 2009 & 2010 Alfred BROWNIES Parker Recipes:

Click image below to read online about Vaughan Trammell & get the 2009 Vaughan's Coconut Snowcups Recipe:

More info on architect Vaughan Trammell and the recipe for Vaughan's Coconut Snowballs available upon request.