Urs Peter (Upe) Flueckiger is a Swiss-licensed architect who lives and teaches architecture in Lubbock, Texas. The home he designed and built for his young family on 21st Street in Lubbock was the subject of a recent article in the New York Times which pointedly noted that the modern structure was built for “the startlingly low price of $51 a square foot”. Far from the oft quoted $150 to $250 “affordable” range that we often see in the media. His minimalist house is colorful, surprisingly large, 2750 s.f. on a 50x150 lot, and attractive. Proof that for residential architecture elegant and truly affordable are compatible and attainable.

When did you decide to become a designer?
Around age 16 I struggled to become either an architect or an artist. The battle was won by the architect around age 24.

Where do you do most of your design work?
In my office and during my "airhead rides" [motorcycle rides] on the High Plains.

Inspiration often comes in unusual places and at unexpected times. Can you describe what happens, workwise, on those rides?
Robert M. Pirsig described it best in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, AN INQUIRY INTO VALUES

Quote:
"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame."

In Pirsig's quote I find something architectural, the quality of the open space. Architects essentially define space. In a way I feel the most "open" when I ride my motorcycle in one of the flattest areas in the world (according to Microsoft Encarta The High Plains). I am feeling part of it. It is Zen for me..

Where, or from what, do you get inspiration for your work?
From history and from common things around the corner which tend to be overlooked too often.

Do you have any examples of a project that was inspired by something that was overlooked?
In West Texas there is lots of corrugated metal which captured my attention. Also the simple utilitarian shed structures out of corrugated metal. It is a sturdy, durable, economical, lightweight material that creates wonderful light and shadow pattern.

What is your favorite part of the design process and why?
There is always something special at the beginning. However, for me, I like the moment when a building construction is about 98% complete. That is when the design idea is tested in full scale. Also the space can be seen best because it is the only time the designer "owns" it before the keys are handed to the client.

How would you label/categorize your work?
Like many designers I dislike labels, however modern and economical come to mind.

21st Street house floor plan.

Your work has an elegant aesthetic and yet it's surprisingly economical, what's the recipe for that?
A proportional system of the number four based on Andrea Palladio. Also history again... When I look at the early modernists I see their ideals in economical housing as REAL. Le Corbusier's Pessac Housing but especially the Maison Loucher, a prefabricated system assembled in the factory and brought on site by the railroad 1929 (unbuilt). Gropius ideas of prefabrication first in Europe and later in the US with Wachsman that interests me. Joe Eichler in America with John Entenza Case Study Houses there was a real interest to make modern affordable.

21st Street house details, entryway and looking down the main corridor.

Using techniques which the local building industry is familiar with to keep the price economical. For example, who does not know stick/platform framing in North America? In my humble opinion architects often times too interested in the novelty of the new. I am more conservative that way. I prefer to use building techniques which are tested and competitive. I take it as my obligation to be able to compete [on price] with the local building industry. Many of the architect designed prefabricated systems generating much interest in the design world are clearly for the affluent. Modern architecture is no longer known for true innovation it is just for the affluent and about innovation of form. A recent famous example of that is the Turbulence House by Steven Holl on a Mesa in New Mexico. (See M. Kimmelman's article in the Architecture issue of the New York Times Magazine... in that architecture I am not interested.)

Do you have a signature style? If yes, what are the hallmarks of your style?
Like the question above, similar goes here. However if someone describes me as a modernist I would not argue with that.

21st Street house, view from the street.

We meant more in terms of your choice of materials and/or shapes. If we look at your body of work, does it have a common thread(s)?
Well, the corrugated metal is quite frequent here in West Texas however I do not see that as novel. Albert Fry used that material decades ago for his own house in Palm Springs. Here again history is very important. I am critical about novelty, there is very little really to invent in architecture. Everything is to reinvent.

Who are your favorite designers and/or architects?
The ideals of the early modernists come to mind: Corbu, Gropius, the work of Donald Judd, Ray and Charles Eames. From the "living giants" I very much respect Glenn Murcutt's work.

That's an impressive list of modernists. What is it about modernism that attracts you to that style?
It is not so much the form, it is the philosophy of the early modernist:

- Corb who handled his art career parallel to his architectural career.
- Gropius the idea of the collaborative/collaboration and the fact that he was an extraordinary educator (Bauhaus/Harvard) plus as mentioned already his interest in prefabrication.
- Judd the simplicity and his extraordinary vision and understanding for space and to adapt buildings. Here is a link to a video where I explain a little my thoughts on Judd.
- The Eamses, who once said that they use common materials in an uncommon way. That can be said to some extent about the house on 21st Street.
- and Murcutt the Sustainability aspect, cross ventilation etc. and how he barely touches the landscape with his structures and the fact that he made major achievements with the home.

Of course those people are all giants and I am nowhere near them. But if you have to talk about examples talk about good ones.

What item (PC, pen, etc) can you not do without when you are designing?
A Rotring Art Pen EF and Adobe Photoshop.

What's next?
A Small Sustainable Cabin.

Any drawings/plans we can see?
Sorry not yet.

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VITAL STATS
Full name: Urs Peter Flueckiger
Location: Lubbock, TX
Size of team: 2
In business since: 2001
Claim to fame projects: House on 21st Street
Spare time: Classic BMW Airhead Motorcyclist

MEDIA FAVES
Favorite website(s):nytimes.com, spiegel.de, w6rec.com
What music is on your iPod or radio? Fabrizio De André, Keith Jarrett and Glenn Gould.
Your favorite magazine(s): The New Yorker and fishwrap the Quarterly Journal of the Institute for Small Town Studies.
Last or current book you are reading: house THINKING, A Room by Room Look at How we Live by Winifred Gallagher
Last movie you saw: The World's Fastest Indian