The broader effort to devote more attention to female architects has also focused attention on Lilly Reich, who worked in Germany with Mies; Aino Aalto, who worked in Finland with her husband, Alvar; and more recently, Denise Scott Brown, the Philadelphia architect who many say was cheated when her husband and partner, Robert Venturi, was awarded the Pritzker Prize on his own in 1991. Among Mahony’s champions is Elizabeth Birmingham, an assistant professor of English at North Dakota State University in Fargo. “The specifics of Marion’s life fell victim to the primary scholarly effort to establish and fix the canon of ‘great men’ whose genius-personalities, buildings and texts would become central to the story of architecture,” she wrote in a dissertation.

The recognition is overdue, and deserved, but the article is disappointing — too short, a bit shallow and a not-exactly-flattering portrait of her character.

But, the acknowledgment of her work is overdue, and drawing attention to the on-line Magic of America is a wonderful thing, so the article is hard to fault. 

“The Magic of America,” a typescript of over 1,400 pages with approximately 650 accompanying illustrations, was written and compiled by Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961), architect, designer, delineator, and artist. In 1911 she married Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937), architect, landscape designer, and city planner. Their architectural practice spanned almost four decades on three continents, and “The Magic of America” was meant, in part, to be a testament to their life and work together. “The Magic of America: Electronic Edition” collates in a digital format all the texts and illustrations from the three known copies of the work. The electronic edition thus represents the most complete and accessible version currently available of this important architectural document.

Not content to give us just THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER, the Art Institute has shown us a bit of its Ron Popeil nature ( “… but wait, there’s more!” ) and provided a selection of downloadable “supplementa” a selection of primary and secondary material on both Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin. This selection includes a PDF version (text only) of The Magic of America and promotional brochures from the Castlecraig development (Castlecrag was the subject of the promotional films that PrairieMod linked to a month ago).

Welcome, my friends to the 21st Century.

[Just in case you don’t know, Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin worked for Frank Lloyd Wright before he left (or fled) to Europe with Mamah Cheney in 1909. Mahony was one of the first licensed female architects, and many of the iconic illustrations in Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio were drawn by her — in fact, it’s been argued that her striking illustrations were one of the reasons for Wright’s early success. Marion and Walter married in 1911, later moved to Australia where they practiced together.]

The Westcott House Foundation hopes to build on the success by expanding programs and becoming a promoters of good design for the Springfield area.

Design and the creative class are driving forces in the world today, Kearns [Westcott House Foundation CEO] said.

So Westcott wants to promote design process thinking, Kearns said, to benefit the community.

That is a way to allow students and leaders to understand the creative and collaborative way designers think.

That includes offering programs to schools, such as a summer architecture camp, teacher training and a project to design a Habitat for Humanity house.

“Whether you’re aware of it or not, design is going to permeate everything we do,” Kearns said.

Kearns wants to bring designers from all disciplines — from automotive to technology to health care — to the house to share their ideas, conduct workshops and hold brainstorming sessions.