Eliot Noyes

Eliot Fette Noyes (August 12, 1910 – July 18, 1977) was an American-born, Harvard-trained architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most famously the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California. Noyes was also a pioneer in development of comprehensive corporate-wide design programs that integrated design strategy and business strategy. Examples of his work are IBM, Mobil Oil, Cummins Engine and Westinghouse. Bruce, G., (2006), "Eliot Noyes", London: Phaidon Press Limited.]

Early life

Eliot Noyes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Shortly after his birth, Noyes moved to Colorado where he resided until age seven. At this point, Eliot and his family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Eliot Noyes’ father taught English at Harvard and his mother was an accomplished pianist. Eliot was not always set on architecture. As a teen, he seriously contemplated becoming a painter; however by age 19 he had his mind set on architecture. However, he first enrolled at Harvard University in 1932 to obtain a bachelor’s degree in the Classics, and then later in 1938 he received his architecture degree from the The Harvard School of Design. Eliot’s experience at Harvard was unlike the other four members of Harvard Five. When he arrived at Harvard, the school was still under the influence of the Beaux-Arts architecture movement – hardly the modernist influence that the other four received. However, after meeting Le Corbusier in the school library, Noyes’s architectural outlook changed entirely. He was so inspired by Le Corbusier’s work that Noyes researched the Bauhaus and even had thoughts of transferring to Dessau. Reality of the situation preventing the bold move, though, and Le Corbusier chose (unhappily) to stay at Harvard for the time being. However, his opportunity soon came. In his junior year at Harvard, Eliot traveled to Iran for an archaeological expedition. Upon returning to the school, Eliot found that Harvard had undergone a complete revolution. Gropius and Breuer had already arrived there, and with them came a new modernist spirit at the school.

While at Harvard, Eliot was also a member of the Harvard soaring club and flew the club's new Schweizer Aircraft-built SGU1-7 glider. [ [http://www.soaringmuseum.org/landmark/nls14/nls14.html] National Landmark of Soaring Program - 14 - Mount Washington, New Hampshire]

Career

After graduating with his masters in architecture in 1938, Eliot Noyes joined Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer’s firm in Cambridge (MA). 1939-1946 Eliot was employed by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as director of industrial design. This job was interrupted, however, by a brief but unforgettable term of service in World War II setting up the glider program. [Arthur J. Pulos. "The American Design Adventure, 1940-1975". MIT Press. 1988. Page 28. ISBN 0262161060] Noyes also served as an industrial designer for Norman Bel Geddes and Co.

Works

His first house built in New Canaan was the Tallman House, built in 1950, followed in the same year by the Bremer House. Residing in New Canaan for 30 years, Eliot designed more residential buildings including the Ault House (1951), the Weeks House (1953), and the Noyes House (1955). One of Eliot’s most notable designs was the Wilton Library (1974) in the neighboring town of Wilton, CT.

Noyes also spent twenty-one years working as consultant design director for IBM, designing the “IBM Selectric typewriter” in 1961. Prior to his work on the Selectric, Noyes was commissioned in 1956 by Thomas J. Watson, Jr to create IBM's first corporate-wide design program — indeed, these influential efforts, in which Noyes collaborated with Paul Rand and Charles Eames, have been referred to as the first comprehensive design program in American business. Noyes was commissioned regularly by IBM to design various products as well as buildings for the corporation. His most famous and well known of these buildings are the IBM building in Garden City, NY (1966), the IBM Aerospace Building in Los Angeles, CA (1964), The IBM Pavilion Hemisfair in San Antonio, TX (1968) and the IBM Management Development Center in Armonk, NY (1980). Noyes also selected other notable architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Marco Zanuso and Marcel Breuer to design IBM buildings around the world.

He also redesigned the standard look for all Mobil gasoline stations during the 1960s (and hired the graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar to redesign the Mobil logo). His New Canaan, Connecticut residence is regarded as an important piece of Modernist architecture.

Design Philosophy

Eliot Noyes was an outstanding architect of the 20th century modern period in American history. (1910—1997) He was a member of the Harvard Five, a group of distinct modern architects who practiced in the quaint town of New Canaan, CT. Noyes began his career working for Walter Gropius, and in the 1940s was instrumental in promoting the early work of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen as curator of industrial design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. An instance of this was the MoMA competition "Organic Design in Home Furnishings", which was published in a book by the museum. [Eliot F. Noyes. "Organic Design in Home Furnishings." Museum of Modern Art. 1941.]

He believed that each region of the United States has buildings inspired by the climate. He was a strong advocate of functional Modernism and his work was firmly grounded in the tradition of Gropius, Breuer & Le Corbusier. He advocated simplicity of form and truth to the nature of materials which is seen particularly in his houses. He was responsible for many residential and commercial archetypes alike. Likewise, Noyes' corporate design program philosophy was to ensure that design expressed the true leadership essence of the company and embodied technology in a new and appropriate ways. His approach went far beyond a typical corporate identity project. Achieving harmony between design strategy and business strategy was the hallmark of Noyes' work with IBM, and other companies that followed. From creating the IBM design program to leading ground-breaking residential design in New Cannan, Eliot Noyes has become a leading image of post-war American architecture, industrial design and design management.

The Harvard Graduate School of Design has a named chair in his honor.

Quotes

“Details must play their part in relation to the overall concept and character of the building, and are the means by which the architect may underline his main idea, reinforce it, echo it, intensify or dramatize it.” [John Harwood. "The White Room: Eliot Noyes and the Logic of the Information Age Interior." Grey Room. Summer 2003, No. 12. Page 20.]

"One thing I am not going to become is a guy who is called in to change the expression on the corporate face by hanging abstract paintings on the office walls."

References

External links

* [http://www.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=252 Biography Page -- Industrial Designers Society of America]
* [http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2223 Article on Noyes' home in Connecticut]