John Kvapil /Principal Emeritus | Architect
Since he was able to hold a hammer, John has been practicing architecture — a worthwhile skill in his then-rapidly-developing hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. Growing up, he spent most weekends helping with construction projects (his father was a first-generation, Czech-descent architecture grad of the Illinois Institute of Technology and designed their family’s unique flat-roofed, glass-walled, modernist home). He recounts one of his earliest memories: his dad taking him to the construction site of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price House in Paradise Valley and saying, “This is architecture.” Such an upbringing cultivated in John a desire to design, build, and create — anything from bookshelves and room additions to entire houses.
After graduating from St. John’s College in Santa Fe as a Southwestern Scholar, he enrolled as a graduate student at the University of New Mexico’s Architecture Department, where he met his future wife, Kristina. They continued their studies with the University of Washington’s Master of Architecture program and later served as joint Fulbright Scholars in Rome, Italy. The couple relocated to Seattle, then emigrated to Australia with their then-six-month-old daughter, where John became an associate director of a large architectural firm and served as co-coordinator of the Building Conservation Programme at the University of Sydney. They eventually returned to the U.S. in 1986 to be closer to their extended families. To date, some of John’s favorite projects include Sydney’s Quarantine Station conservation plan; the Honolulu Zoo African Savanna buildings; AmeriTitle buildings throughout Oregon and Idaho; Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon; St. Mary’s Chapel in Powell Butte, Oregon; and the Cove Aquatic Center at Sunriver Resort.
In his leisure time, John can be found modifying the urban garden spaces around his family’s home, adjusting rockeries, and taking in the wabi-sabi of his environment. For the better part of 45 years, he has kept a daily practice of qi gong, zazen, and Rosary. He and his wife also enjoy hiking and cross-country skiing in the Cascades, and traveling.
Learn more about John — in his own words.
What is your design philosophy?
The First Law of Design Relativity: for every correct design solution there is an equal and opposite correct design solution. There may be fifty or more correct design solutions and it is the design professional’s job to help the client (who is also inherently a creative person) select the solution that they (the client) feel best about. Also, everyone is born with a creative impulse and some have been blessed with an inability to not create stuff. So just get off your high horse about being “creative,” since everyone else is, too.
In five words or less, describe your design aesthetic.
It’s OK to create beautiful things (assuming OK is one word, and it’s OK to not count the adverb!).
How does that aesthetic inform your work?
I’m not afraid to use the word “beautiful” and I encourage colleagues, clients, and friends to use it, too.
Share a little-known fact about yourself.
I worked as a waiter in Seehotel Königsbad in Mondsee, Austria in 1968 and was in Vienna when the Soviet tanks rolled into Prague, crushing the Prague Spring; the Viennese thought they would not stop at the Czech border.