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The Halprin Workshops 1966 – 1971

The Halprin Workshops, 1966 – 1971 In the late 1960s, American landscape architect Lawrence Halprin (b. Brooklyn, 1916 – 2009) and avant-garde dance pioneer Anna Halprin (b. Winnetka, 1920 –) organized a series of experimental, crossdisciplinary workshops in Northern California that brought dancers, architects, environmental designers, and artists together in a process designed to facilitate collaboration and group creativity through new approaches to environmental awareness. The workshops were staged between the urban context of San Francisco; the dance deck, studio, and surrounding wooded areas of the Halprins’ Kentfield home (Lawrence Halprin and William Wurster, 1951 – 54) in Marin County; and the Halprins’ cabin (Charles Moore, Lawrence Halprin, and William Turnbull, 1965 – 66) at Sea Ranch — a coastal community for which Lawrence Halprin designed the master plan (1962 – 67). From movement sessions on the dance deck, blindfolded awareness walks through the landscape, collective building projects using driftwood, and choreographed journeys diagramming everyday use and experience of the city, participants engaged in multi-sensory activities in alternating environments using loosely-structured, written guidelines in the form of open ‘scores.’ These early workshops served as a testing ground for the development of RSVP Cycles — a multi-disciplinary method of visualizing and guiding creative group work. The four main components of RSVP Cycles: Resources, Scores, Valuaction, and Performance, could be used interchangeably to create an iterative process driven by awareness and assessment of existing resources, planning, participation, and critical feedback. While both Halprins employed process-based workshops in their separate professional practices, their collaborative workshops from the late 1960s were unique, open-ended experiments that emphasized personal and inferred enrichment over specific application. The exhibition presents original photographs, films, drawings, scores, and other archival documentation of three workshops: Experiments in Environment, 1966; Community, 1968; and Leadership Training, 1971. The exhibition includes plans, drawings, and original photographs of the architectural sites where the workshops took place and features slide shows of the 1966 and 1968 workshops, as well as a pair of experimental films from the 1971 workshop by filmmaker Connie Beeson.

The RSVP Cycles

The Halprins’ Kentfield Home

The Halprins conceived of the RSVP Cycles as a way to represent processes of creativity. They based their model of collaborative practice on four elements — (R) Resources; (S) Scores; (V) Valuaction; (P) Performance — which helped to conceptualize, visualize, and systematize modes of collective creativity. The RSVP Cycles emphasize a “situational” pedagogic approach — that is, the participants learn by experiencing a situation and then evaluating what has occurred. The sessions were process–oriented rather than result–oriented, in order to foster flexibility and spontaneity and allow the participants’ experience to be the catalysts of the activity. Distinct yet mutable characteristics were divided amongst the four parts: “Resources” consists of an assessment of existing material and human assets, as well as project objectives; “Scores” describes the planning process and usually results in a graphic representation; “Valuaction”, a word coined to designate an “evaluation in active terms,” is meant to encourage communication within the group and dissemination to the outside community; “Performance” consists of an active manifestation of the score. This method was put into practice during the 1966, 1968, and 1971 workshops. The cumulative research and theory surrounding RSVP Cycles was subsequently published as a book under the same title in 1969.

The Halprins purchased a four-acre site on the wooded slopes of Mount Tamalpais in Marin County during the summer of 1950. The property was rich in native vegetation including a large stand of redwood trees, distant view of the San Francisco Bay, and a secluded quality that would allow them the opportunity to experiment with the natural environment. Completed in 1952, the house and landscape was a collaboration between Lawrence Halprin and architect William Wurster, and would remain the Halprins’ shared home for over half a century. The most significant addition to the site was an outdoor dance deck and studio specially designed as a space for Anna to continue her dance practice after leaving New York. In keeping with his other projects, the “Dance Deck” as it became known, reflects Lawrence’s deference to the natural landscape: trees surround and intersect the dance space, creating an inventively irregular arena for the exploration of physical movement. The Dance Deck became the founding place of Anna Halprin’s groundbreaking performance studio, the San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop in 1955, as well as the Tamalpa Institute, a non-profit organization that offers training in movement-based art education and therapy, in 1978. Dancers, choreographers, and performers from around the world came to work with Anna, including Merce Cunningham, Simone Forti, and Yvonne Rainier. Additionally, the deck became instrumental as a site in the Halprins’ collaborative workshop exercises. To this day, Anna Halprin continues to teach and conduct workshops on the Dance Deck of her Kentfield home.

1 Summer Workshop Poster, 1966 Anna Halprin Printed material 81/8 x 10 in. 2 Summer Workshop Poster, 1966 Lawrence Halprin Printed material 81/8 x 10 in.

4 Dance Deck, Site Plan Lawrence Halprin, Landscape Architect Pencil on vellum 351/4 x 72 in.

Announcement for Workshop II, 1968 Printed material 261/8 x 81/2 in.

Halprin House and Garden, Bird’s-eye Perspective, 1951 Lawrence Halprin, Landscape Architect, with Wurster, Bernardi, and Emmons, Architects Colored pencil on photographic print, mounted 73/4 x 95/8 in.

Dance Deck, 1954 Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted (2) 15 x 12 in. each

Merce Cunningham Performing on the Halprin Dance Deck, 1954 Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted (2) 15 x 12 in. each

Halprin House and Garden, Halprin – KW, Six Views of Kentfield Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted 15 x 20 in.

Halprin House and Garden, Halprin – DD, Ten Views of Dance Deck Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted 15 x 20 in.

Halprin House and Garden, Halprin – KW, Nine Views of Exterior Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted 15 x 20 in.

Halprin House and Garden, Halprin – KW, Nine Views of Kentfield Interior and Garden Ernest Braun, Photographer Photographic prints, mounted 15 x 20 in.

Dance Deck Perspective Lawrence Halprin, Landscape Architect Pencil on tracing paper 24 x 353/4 in.

Plan Study for Dance Deck, 1954 Lawrence Halprin, Landscape Architect Colored pencil and ink on diazo-type print 231/2 x 221/2 in.

Halprin Cabin at The Sea Ranch Completed just in time for the 1966 workshop, the Halprin cabin is sited on a spectacular five-acre plot overlooking the Pacific Ocean; a central touchstone of Anna and Lawrence Halprin’s artistic careers. Responding to the contours of the natural landscape, featuring slanted roofs and cypress tree hedgerows to shield the structure from the wind, and boasting large windows strategically placed to preserve and absorb solar energy, the cabin exemplifies many of the design principles of Sea Ranch’s master plan. Lawrence Halprin collaborated with architects Charles Moore, William Turnbull, and Matthew Sylvia on the cabin’s design, as well as the studio. Halprin developed the cabin’s surrounding landscape as an extension of the home itself and created functional indoor/outdoor living spaces, such as an amphitheater, a meditation deck, a dance deck, and a studio. The site often served as a natural counterpoint to the urban environment of San Francisco in many of the Halprins’ workshops, most notably in the “Sensory Walk” events. In January of 2001, a devastating fire destroyed the Halprin cabin and its belongings. The architectural firm of Moore Ruble Yudell was hired for the reconstruction, and the new house was built within the original footprint on the same site. 1 Halprin Cabin, Site Plan Lawrence Halprin Watercolor and pencil on photocopy 191/4 x 25 3/8 in. 2 Halprin Cabin, Plan of Cove Lawrence Halprin Watercolor and pencil on photocopy 191/4 x 25 3/8 in. 3 The Halprin Cabin and Surrounding Area at Sea Ranch Photographic prints (8) 81/8 x 10 in. each

The Sea Ranch “I realized then that it was this character that I hoped we might achieve at Sea Ranch, a feeling of overall place, a feeling of a community, in which the whole was more important and more dominant than its parts. If we could achieve that — if the whole could link buildings and nature into an organized whole rather than just a group of pretty houses — then we could feel we had created something worthwhile which did not destroy, but rather enhances the natural beauty we had been given.” — Lawrence Halprin, “The Sea Ranch — Diary of an Idea”

Ecoscore, 1962 Lawrence Halprin and Associates, Landscape Architects Tom Curtis, Delineator Marker, ink, and pencil on paper 34 x 55 in.

Notes on the Sea Ranch Idea Lawrence Halprin Watercolor and pencil on photocopies (4) 11 x 81/2 in. each

Located along a ten-mile stretch of northern California coastline, three hours drive from San Francisco, the Sea Ranch is one of Lawrence Halprin’ most influential works. The master plan for the community, begun in 1963, introduced an environmentally sensitive alternative to the prevailing attitudes of the day, a concept Halprin called “dynamic conservation.” Halprin developed a set of design guidelines that conceptualized the site as an eco-conscious, democratic community, which promoted a collective sense of responsibility towards both the inhabitants and the environment. He favored a minimalist approach that offered uninterrupted views of the landscape and the beachfront, while maintaining privacy by clustering housing among the hedgerows and hills rather than along the shoreline, in order to retain natural areas for communal use. Buildings and amenities incorporated indigenous materials such as redwood and local stone. These considerations effectively preserved the character of the landscape while still facilitating the density of development required by the client. Although the original plan for Sea Ranch followed the design principles Halprin had carefully devised, the actual construction did not always yield results consistent with his concept of “living lightly on the land.” Despite these lapses, Sea Ranch still appeals to visitors, new owners, and longtime residents, committed to the shared vision of a careful cohabitation with nature, and fifty-years later the coastal community is still growing. 1

Locational Score, 1962 Lawrence Halprin and Associates, Landscape Architects Marker, ink, and pencil on diazo-type print 241/4 x 56 in.

Photographers and Filmmakers Along with scoring, drawing, and note taking, photographic, film, and video documentation became an essential method of recording the Halprin workshops. From the very start, the Halprins were thinking conceptually about the importance of documentation, and were concerned with how to prevent the act of recording from altering or limiting the performance of the workshops. Photographers Joe Ehreth and Paul Ryan actively participated in the 1966 workshop, enabling them to capture the insider’s perspective. Ryan was also embedded in the 1968 workshop, a role that Gerard Albanese played in the 1971 community workshop. Experimental filmmaker Connie Beeson was brought in to document the 1971 workshop using hand-held video and film cameras. She had worked with Anna Halprin and the San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop, and her participation was a natural progression from the use of still photography, allowing for a more vivid depiction of workshop happenings. Two of Beeson’s films reveal footage from Sea Ranch and downtown San Francisco, exposing the polarities between the natural and built environments. In addition to the pair of 16mm films, Beeson also recorded many of the workshop sessions on video with sound, as in the case of the ‘Neighborhood score’ that took place on April 22, in which participants were invited to talk about and perform their neighborhoods; the majority of the video is dedicated to presentations by dancers Clint Shelby and John Hopkins, along with photographer Gerard Albanese, employed in the LH&A New York office. 1

Community Workshop, 1968 Slideshow, digital transfer of 35mm slide transparencies

My Neighborhood, 1971 Connie Beeson, Filmmaker Digital transfer of 1/2 inch video tape

Workshop, 1971 Connie Beeson, Filmmaker Digital transfer of 16mm print

Sea Ranch, 1971 Connie Beeson, Filmmaker Digital transfer of 16mm print

Experiments in Environment Workshop, 1966 Slideshow, digital transfer of 35mm slide transparencies

1966 Experiments in Environment Workshop In the summer of 1966, the Halprins held the first of their ‘Experiments in Environments’ workshops, three of which are considered in this exhibition. This workshop was the first occasion that brought together dancers and architects for two parallel events focused either on performance or design. Led by the Halprins and guest faculty, such as light artist Patrick Hickey, architect Charles Moore, and graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher, the participants were involved in a series of events exploring the relationship between communities and their urban or natural environments. The group took part in city walks through San Francisco, movement sessions on the Halprins’ Dance Deck at Kentfield, and the construction of a “Driftwood Village” on the Sea Ranch beachfront. These and other initial workshop activities allowed the Halprins to test their notions of cross-disciplinary cooperation and experiential investigation, while laying the foundation for their subsequent experimental workshops. Jim Burns, then senior editor at Progressive Architecture, covered the 1966 workshop in an article for the magazine. Burns was struck by the innovative learning process of the Halprins’ experiments, and when he was invited to attend the following workshop session in 1968, he joined the participants. The Halprins had asked him to consider writing a book about the workshops, but it soon became clear to Burns that he wanted to engage fully as a participant, rather than as a writer/ observer. From that point on, Burns became an invaluable collaborator for the Halprins, leading his own workshops and co-authoring the 1974 book Taking Part. 1966a 1

Sea Ranch Workshop, 1966 Paul Ryan and Joe Ehreth, Photographers Photographic prints (15) 8 x 10 in. each

The RSVP Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human Environment, 1969 Lawrence Halprin Book, cover 9 x 9 in.

“Experiments in Environment,” Progressive Architecture, 1967 Jim Burns Printed materials, spreads 115/8 x 171/4 inches each

1966 Driftwood Village Perhaps the best-known and most successful event score created during the Halprins’ workshops, “Driftwood Village” successfully merged individual and group experiences within the collective creative process. Progressively making their way from working alone to working in small groups, participants were asked to build installations made of driftwood along the Gualala beachfront, just north of Sea Ranch. Taking only a few hours to build, the structures served individual needs while also contributing to a cohesive sense of community. Without following any premeditated plan, participants used driftwood, rocks, rope, and other organic materials found along the coast to create an archetypal community. The structures fulfilled fundamental needs of human shelter and expression; some suggesting ritual uses, while others a sense of home. 1966b 1

Driftwood City Graphics, 1966 Diazo-type prints (6) 10 x 8 in. each

Driftwood City, 1966 Paul Ryan, Photographer Photographic contact sheets (2) 8 x 10 in. each

Sea Ranch Workshop, 1966 Paul Ryan, Photographer Photographic print 8 x 10 in.

Union Square Event, 1966 Paul Ryan, Photographer Photographic print 8 x 10 in.

Summer School, Tentative Program, 1966 Ink and pencil on photocopy 11 x 81/2 in.

Summer Workshop, Schedule of Arrangements, 1966 Ink on photocopy 13 x 81/2 in.

Notebook No. 15, 1966 Lawrence Halprin Ink and marker on paper, bound in notebook 11 x 171/4 in.

Draft Syllabus for “Experiments in Environment: June 27 – July 22,” 1966 Typescript and pencil on bond paper (3) 11 x 81/2 in. each

1968 Community Workshop This large sepia-colored timeline is a graphic representation — what the Halprins called a score — for their second summer workshop, which took place from July 1– 24, 1968. Depicting the entire duration of the workshop and detailing the diverse activities and environments, this scroll offers a comprehensive look at the process of a typical Halprin workshop. The twenty-four-day event was held in three different Bay Area locations: the cityscape of San Francisco, the Halprins’ home in Kentfield, Marin County, and the rugged Sonoma coastal community at the Sea Ranch. Participants performed the introductory score on the first day even before meeting one another. Twenty dancers, fourteen architects, and eight faculty members (including the Halprins themselves) took part in all the activities, which were centered on an exploration of the concept of community. For the Halprins, the score is a means of describing a process. Often taking the shape of sketches or timelines, with written and drawn directives, the scores acted as a guide for the various components of the workshop activities. Stemming from their interest in scoring, the Halprins developed the RSVP Cycles as a framework for kinetic learning and collaboration. The four components — (R) Resources; (S) Scores; (V) Valuaction; (P) Performance — were meant to evolve cyclically and be adaptable to any number of environments. 1968 (North Wall) X Score for a 24-Day Workshop: July 1 – 24, 1968 Sepia print 36 x 160 in. 1968a

“Before” Group Photograph, Kentfield, 1968 Paul Ryan, Photographer Photographic print 8 x 10 in.

“After” Group Photograph, Kentfield, 1968 Paul Ryan, Photographer Photographic print 8 x 10 in.

City Map Score, 1968 Photographic print 11 x 83/4 in.

City Map Score, 1968 Ink and transfer letters on collage 11 x 81/2 in.

City Map Score, 1968 Ink, pencil, colored plastic film, and transfer letters on paper (2) 13 x 81/2 in. each

Draft of City Map Score, 1968 Marker and ink on paper (2) 11 x 81/2 in. each

7 Event Scores, 1968 Typescript 11 x 8½ inches (9)

Notebook Material, 1968 Anna Halprin Original photocopy of transcript with ink diagrams (1 to 10 of 23) 11 x 8½ inches each

1968b 1 Self-Portrait, 1968 Evelyn Roth Collage 24 x 18 in. 2 Self-Portrait, 1968 Chip Lord Collage 311/2 x 201/2 in. 3

Score for a Five Minute Dance, 1968 Marker and colored pencil on paper 12 x 18 in.

Score for a Five Minute Dance, 1968 Rita Watson, Norma Lusk, and Cynthia Brown Marker on paper 173/4 x 21 in.

10 Blindfold Walk, Kentfield, 1968 Paul Ryan, Photographer 63/8 x 9½ Inches

Score for a Five Minute Dance with Michael Doyle, Anna Halprin, Nancy Tops, Marilyn Wood, Jim Burns, and Larry Halprin, 1968 David Gast Marker and colored pencil on paper 12 x 18 in.

Notebooks: 1959-71, 1972 Lawrence Halprin Book, spread 10¼ x 16¾ inches Gift of Sir Peter Shepheard

Score for a Five Minute Dance with Anna Halprin, Norma Lusk, Cynthia Brown, Betty Weismehl, and Alain Weismehl, 1968 Signed Paul [Ryan or Baum] Marker and tape on paper 18 x 24 in.

Driftwood Village, Sea Ranch, 1968 Paul Ryan, Photographer 8 x 10 inches

9 Sensory Walk, Sea Ranch, 1968 Paul Ryan, Photographer 63/8 x 63/8 inches

7 Letter to Colleagues Regarding Summer Workshop, 1968 Anna Halprin Photocopy 11 x 81/2 in.

Roster, Halprin Summer Workshop, 1968 Typescript, pencil, and marker on bond paper 11 x 81/2 in.

8 Testimonial, 1970 Lawrence Halprin Photocopy 11 x 81/2 in. 9

Letter to James T. Burns, 1968 Mimeograph 11 x 81/2 in.

Letter, Douglas Campbell to Halprins, 1968 Typescript and ink on bond paper, four photographic prints 11 x 81/2 in.

Resume for Cindy (Cynthia) Brown, 1968 Typescript on bond paper, photographic print 11 x 81/2 in.

Letter, Doug Michaels to Lawrence Halprin, 1968 Marker and ink stamp on bond paper with attached postcard 11 x 81/2 in.

Letter, Charles L. (Chip) Lord, Jr. to Lawrence Halprin, 1968 Typescript and ink on bond paper, photographic print 9 3/4 x 6 3/4 in.

Letter, Reiner Keller to Halprins, 1968 Ink on bond paper 11 x 81/2 in.

Letter, Joan Jonas to Anna Halprin, 1968 Ink on paper 11 x 81/2 in.

Letter, Nancy Topf to Ann Halprin, 1968 Typescript and ink on bond paper 11 x 81/2 in.

1971 Leadership Training Workshop

1971b

The 1971 workshop was organized by and for Lawrence Halprin & Associates (LH&A) and the San Francisco Dancer’s Workshop, and took place from April 12 – 25, 1971. The purpose of this workshop was to coach potential leaders on how to facilitate their own sessions, but it was also a reflection on the workshop process itself. The two-week intensive course focused on the creation of temporary communities, how to best foster creativity, and the importance of clear communication. Another ambition of the leadership program was to incite people to get involved in the process of change in their own environments. Facilitated by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the program culminated in a community leadership-training workshop in Indianapolis, Indiana, in mid-May. With trainees from city organizations, this segment of the workshop tackled potential and actual design and planning problems. The workshops’ experimental format evolved over the years, and the Halprins began to consider ways of translating their model for collaborative practice to their professional ventures. Consequently, seeking to make their workshopping method more widely accessible, the Halprins, along with longtime collaborators Jim Burns and Dr. Paul Baum, collaboratively wrote and published the book Taking Part in 1974.

Leadership Training Workshop, 1971 Gerard Albanese and Connie Beeson, Photographers Photographic prints (15) 8 x 10 in. each

“Dancers and Architects Build Kinetic Environments,” Dance Magazine, 1966 Printed material, cover and spreads 11 x 81/2 in. each

1971a 1

Leadership Training Workshop: General Statement of Objectives, 1971 Transcripts (1 to 7 of 8) 11 x 81/2 in. each

Taking Part: A Workshop Approach to Collective Creativity, 1974 Lawrence Halprin and Jim Burns Book, spread 111/4 x 181/8 in.

Notebook No. 34, 1971 Lawrence Halprin Marker on paper in notebook, with collage 11 x 171/4 in.

Curators Ellen Hartwell Alderman Sarah Herda William Whitaker Director of Exhibitions Mark Wasiuta Exhibitions Coordinator Adam Bandler M.Arch Assistants Megan Murdock Sareeta Patel Brittany Roy CCCP Assistant Florencia Alvarez Pacheco M.Arch Crew Dasylva Bolton Rebecca Book Jorge Cornet Grete Grubelich Yujing Mandy Han Andrew Hite Dong Joo Kim Emily Mohr Huynh Ngoc Ho Julie Pedtke Ilijana Soldan Yitao Wang CCCP Crew Alissa Anderson Virginia Black Maite Borjabad Rosana Elkhatib Liyana Hasnan Pedro CeĂąal Murga Tania Tovar Torres Rayna Razmilic Triantafilo Exhibition Design Adam Bandler Mark Wasiuta

Graphic Design MTWTF Organized by the Graham Foundation in conjunction with the Architectural Archives at the University of Pennsylvania.

Feb 23–April, 2015 Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery, Buell Hall Columbia University Tue–Sat:12–6pm arthurrossarchitecturegallery.org