Kendrick Bangs Kellogg (1934 – February 16, 2024)
Kendrick Bangs Kellogg was the pioneer of organic architecture. In the past decades, Kellogg completed over a dozen striking structures (residential and public), each marked with his distinctly curved, irregular, and expressive style. Influenced by his family’s ties to Frederick Law Olmsted, the ‘Father of Landscape Architecture’, Kellogg’s independent architectural journey began after a brief meeting with Frank Lloyd Wright in 1955.
However, unlike Wright and organic architect Bruce Goff, his style explicitly defies categorization, often alluding to a mix of the Sydney Opera House and Stonehenge.
In fact, Kellogg prioritized durability, solidity, and intricacy, a vision reinforced by his collaboration with visionary clients, using high-quality materials like copper and concrete.
Sculpted over 30 years, the Kellogg Doolittle estate in Joshua Tree California is probably the greatest example of organic architecture signed by Kellogg.
Nestled among the rocky terrain of Joshua Tree, California, the house takes the form of an organic object made up of a cluster of sculptural piers. There is an ambiguous relationship between the built space and the extreme landscape as the house navigates between the protruding rock formations. At certain moments, these natural elements pierce through the interior and become sculptural elements of the conditioned space.Â
