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 Architect Donald MacDonald 

Donald MacDonald is an American architect. He was born in 1935 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but for decades has been practicing architecture with his firm in San Francisco, California. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and short after got a master’s degree in Architecture from Columbia University. After graduation, he began working at multiple private firms in northern California. While working, he decided to teach at the University of California in Berkeley for a little while before starting his own practice in San Francisco. Throughout his career he has engaged in series of projects such as high-rise buildings, residential homes, and even designed an earthquake proof bed. But mainly, MacDonald and his firm are mostly known for their iconic bridge designs throughout the US. In 2013 MacDonald was interviewed by “Public Radio Tulsa” for one of his more recent bridge designs. In this article, ”The Art of the Bridge: A Conversation with Donald MacDonald, the Noted Bridge Architect” the publisher talks about the iconic status that this bridge will render even before it was built. San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is the world’s largest single tower, self-anchored suspended bridge of its kind designed by MacDonald and his firm.

With over 35 years of experience in bridge design, MacDonald, has been conducting his own private practice for over decades now and is the owner of the MacDonald Architects. MacDonald is also an Architectural engineer and has been trained by the best instructors, such as, Professor Mario Savadori at Columbia University and F. L. Wright’s Senior Engineer Mendel Glickman at the time he was studying at the University of Oklahoma. Combining his structural engineering background with his architectural ability makes MacDonald especially unique and one of a kind bridge designer. MacDonald and his architecture firm have been recognized in national and international scale for their outstanding bridge designs. Such as, long span bridges with cable-suspension, self-anchored suspension, concrete and arch bridges, and many other bridge types throughout the United States. MacDonald has over 50 awards (Award of Excellence/Associated General Contractors of American, Award of Merit/American Society of Civil Engineers, Award of Excellence/ASCE, Sacramento Section/Structural Engineering Project of the Year, Award of Merit/McGraw-Hill Southeast Construction Magazine, Award of Excellence/American Road and Transportation Builders Association, Award of Merit/National Steel Bridge Alliance) for his brilliant work throughout his professional career. MacDonald has also written a handful of internationally recognized books (City by Design, The Golden Gate Bridge: A History and Design of an Icon, Heart of the Rock: The Indian Invasion of Alcatraz, The Grow Home, Visionary Architecture, Starter Häuser, Village in the City, Making Cities Livable, Democratic Architecture, Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing, Creating Environments for Young Children) in relation to architecture, built environment and bridge design.

A decade into his career, MacDonald and several of his most recent projects at the time were featured on “A+U Architecture and Urbanism” magazine No.134. This Japanese magazine was published by Yoshio Yoshida in 1985 and was edited by Toshio Nakamura. At the time, MacDonald had was conducting his own private practice in San Francisco, California. One of the projects that was published in this magazine was the Broadway Condominium, build in 1984 in San Francisco, California. The buildings undulating façade caught a lot of attention due to its unique design and organic curves. The building looks like a series of waves that meets the sidewalk which will connect to the road. The façade looks welcoming and has a sense of freedom but with underlying orders. The building is made of concrete and glass along with protective metal handrails in the front patio. There is a strong sense of horizontality as one is looking and passing by this structure but at the same time very organic and loose in terms of design. There are parking spaces in the front of the building. One could reach the entrance from the sidewalk and find their way inside which will then connects to a corridor that leads to the elevators to explore the rest of the building. Bush Street Residential Condominium was another one of MacDonald’s proposals that was featured in this magazine. Very similar to the Broadway Condominium in terms of the designed approach and how the façade looks like but still has its own sense of identity due to its half round arch patio system that shapes the façade. There is a use of concrete, glass and metal in construction of the building. Organic, curve shaped patio protected by a glazing system. Lots of natural day-lighting penetrating through the glazing system and illuminating the interior space. A mixture of organic and geometric design with respect to proportion.

Later into his career, in 1991, MacDonald worked in publishing a magazine with collaboration with Friends of Kebyar. In this journal “An Assemblage of Works” one could almost witness every single important structure that had ever been designed by MacDonald and his colleagues. There are tons of interior and exterior pictures, sketches, and diagrams with text for further reference. The undulating façade of the Broadway condominium was chosen as the cover page for this journal with detailed depiction of the front patio handrails. In this journal, MacDonald explains how he communicates with his clients in pursuit to find the final design. He demonstrates his ideas by quickly cutting a few pieces of model building materials and stacking them together to cross his point. MacDonald has engaged in many mixed-use developments throughout the state of California. He was conscious of the technological advancements, such as, use of solar panels in buildings to produce free and clean electricity, and in deed he applied those concepts to some of his projects. In one of the articles in this journal, MacDonald talks about the housing crisis and how to encounter such a problem. He realized that not all people have the same amount of income, and therefore, explains ways to make housing more affordable for everyone in every social class. He talks about the idea of living in a single volume of space that is dynamic and could be served for multiple purposes. In a way, he encouraged people to reshape the way the think about an interior space and privacy in order to reach function and sustainability in every single design.

Donald MacDonald and his Townhouse project in San Francisco, CA, were featured in Architectural Record Book which was published in June 1980. There was a two-page article that was dedicated to Mr. MacDonald. In the first page, there is the grand portrait image of the structure. The building looks modern and elegant with use of modern industrial materials, such as, glazing walls in the front façade. The whole structure is shaped like a series of rising steps that meets the sky. Situated on a narrow and steep hill this structure is a total act of balance which is composed of two separate apartments attacked on top of one another. The lower floor has the least amount of square footage at 1700 and the top floor is 2400 square feet. Once inside, one has a panoramic view of the whole city right in front of their eyes along with a view of the street and the passing by pedestrians and cars. On the other side, there is a view of the bay and the beautiful sunset evenings. One could easily relax, sunbathe, and kickback on the patio as the sun sets and day meets the night. This structure was designed with the user in mind and the series of activities that could potentially take palace in every volume of space. constructed from wood and concrete and supported by series of retaining walls. The building is red on the outside and covered with plywood boards. Inside there is the oak floor covering the whole walking area.

In December 1993, MacDonald was featured in Architectural Review Books for one of his prototype starter home projects in respect to affordable housing called “San Francisco Solutions”. In this three-page article, MacDonald mentions how affordable housing is an important matter and how this problem of housing people could be addressed and solved through design. In this article one could easily sense how eager MacDonald is to solve this problem. He comes up with a few propositions in respect to an interior space and how a single space could be used for multiple purposes. MacDonald comes up with this idea called “Starter Home”. In this approach, the main goal is to provide individuals and families with a home quickly with the least amount of structure needed. Once the occupants are moved in, then, they could easily add more volumes of space as needed in both horizontal and vertical directions.

List of Projects

Bridges;

-         Alexander bridge in Larkspur, California.

-         Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge in Carquinez, California.

-         Anacostia pedestrian bridge in Washington, D.C.

-         Avenue 19 bridge in Los Angeles, California.

-         Balboa island bridge in Newport Beach, California.

-         Bay Bridge, East Span in San Francisco-Oakland, California.

-         Bay Bridge, West Span Bicycle/Pedestrian Pathway in San Francisco-Oakland, California.

-         Cooper River (Arthur Ravenel Jr.) bridge in Charleston, South Carolina.

-         Falcon Flight Bridge in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

-         Golden Gate Bridge Safety and Seismic Retrofit in San Francisco, California.

Education;

-         Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.

-         Stanford University Child Care Center in Stanford, California.

-         Stanford University Graduate Housing in Stanford, California.

-         Stanford University Linear Accelerator Center Guest House in Stanford, California.

-         University of California, Davis, Applied Sciences Building in Livermore, California.

-         University of California, Davis, Housing Administration Building in Davis, California.

-         University of California, Santa Cruz Child Care Center in Santa Cruz, California.

Commercial;

-         800 Bryant Street Retail and Office Building in San Francisco, California.

-         Glendale Center Offices, Hotel, and Parking Structures in Glendale, California.

-         Industrial Park Research Center in Ogden, Utah.

-         Squaw Valley Inn in Olympic Valley, California.

Residential;

-         Broadway/Vallejo apartments in San Francisco, California.

-         Bush Street High-Rise Condominiums in San Francisco, California.

-         Clay Street Condominiums in San Francisco, California.

-         Cypress Ridge Village in Santa Rosa, California.

-         Oak Street Townhouses in San Francisco, California.

-         Octavia Street Apartments in San Francisco, California.

-         Osterweis Ranch in Bolinas, California.

-         Roundwalk Village in Petaluma, California.

-         Virginia Terrace in San Jose, California.

Institutional;

-         Camping Trailer.

-         City Sleepers for the Homeless.

-         Cottage on Wheels.

-         Do-It-Yourself Furniture.

-         Earthquake Survival Bed.

-         Green Tent.

Mixed-use;

-         Bovet Place in San Francisco, California.

-         211 Eastmore Street in Daly city, California.

-         Frank G. Mar Community Housing in Oakland, California.

-         Richmond Square in San Francisco, California.

-         Schoolhouse Station in Daly city, California.

-         Sixth Street Live/Work in San Francisco, California.

-         Two Worlds in Mountain View and Pleasant Hill, California.

-         Vista Grande in Daly city, California.

Small Projects;

-         Blood Alley in Vancouver, Canada.

-         Hall House Mountain Chalet in Blue Lake Springs, California.

-         Ivy Street Townhouse in San Francisco, California.

-         Rocchia Four Season Home in Bear Valley, California.

-         snowflake four season home in bear valley, California.

-         Starter House: CCAC Exhibit in San Francisco, California.

-         The Ark Four Season Home in Bear Valley, California.

 Books 

-        Bay Bridge: History and Design of a New Icon.

-        Alcatraz: History and Design of a Landmark.

-        Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of an Icon.

-        Golden Gate Bridge: 75 Extraordinary Facts.

-        Democratic Architecture: Practical Solutions to Today's Housing Crisis.

 Awards 

-        Project of the Year.

-        People's Choice Awards.

-        Bridge Award of Excellence.

-        Excellence in Concrete Award.

-        Outstanding Structure Award.

-        Outstanding Project Award.

-        Grand Conceptor Award.

-        Public Works Project of the Year.

-        Project of the Year.

-        Golden State Award.

-        National Grand Award.

-        Global Road Achievement Award for Design.

-        Globe Award, Bridges (Projects > $100 Million).