warehouse. People were hanging from the rafters; it just looked like an artist’s studio, not an architecture school,” he says. “I thought this is where I’m going. And that was that.” Donaldson was soon tapped to work for cutting-edge architecture firm Morphosis Architects— whose principal, Thom Mayne, would ultimately become an internationally known “starchitect”—and was appointed project architect for the Crawford residence, a Morphosis-designed home in Santa Barbara. Thereafter, in 1991, Donaldson established his namesake architecture firm with Russell Shubin. Now in its third decade, ShubinDonaldson has offices in Los Angeles and Orange County in addition to Santa Barbara. The ethos of the Morphosis office and the teachings of Thom Mayne, notably the use of art to create imagery and forms to establish a unique language for architectural solutions, continue to inform Donaldson’s current practice. “[ShubinDonaldson's] buildings are the source of a lot of the forms and shapes that go into my artwork,” he notes. “There’s a cycle between what I call ‘artifact’—drawings, models, and so on—back to the next building, back to the next drawings, artifacts, back to the next building. It’s a virtuous loop to help push design ideas.” And the walls of his office and living space are filled with numerous examples. Recent pieces include large silk-screen prints that layer computer images of building details with splashes of eye-popping color, inspired in part by John Van Hamersveld’s iconic poster for The Endless Summer surfing documentary. Currently Donaldson is focused on what could be the most important commission of his career, designing a home for Lynda.com founders Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin. The hilltop residence, composed entirely of concrete, will be embedded into the earth and covered with landscaping, an idea suggested by Heavin, an artist in his own right. “It’s a great collaboration between creative minds,” Donaldson says of the innovative structure that only 21st-century technology could produce. In the meantime, Donaldson and his family are happily ensconced in their downtown compound, which he feels should be a model for the city’s future. “We’re pioneering a little bit,” he notes. “There aren’t a lot of residential projects that have been built within these few blocks. We need people living down here, a diverse population. We need the highly affordable. We need the ‘missing middle.’ We need all levels of diverse populations downtown. It’s perfect for it, it’s where the growth needs to occur.” ●
Feature - Donaldson
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