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In the mid-20th century, a group of renegade architects broke all the rules, shaping a uniquely American vision of design. Now, their work comes to life in Do Not Try to Remember: The American School of Architecture in the Bay Area, an archival exhibition opening February 20, 2025, at San Francisco’s Center for Architecture + Design.
Critics called them iconoclasts, radicals, and even outlaws. In the mid-twentieth century, a group of architecture students at the University of Oklahoma developed an unprecedented range of visionary projects. Mentored by architects Bruce Goff, Herb Greene, and others, these students were encouraged to develop their individual creativity and taught to prize originality. Known as the American School of Architecture, this program rejected European teaching styles in favor of bold originality. Instead of a singular aesthetic, it was defined by a set of shared values: pluralism, contextualism, and expression. This archival exhibition explores the work of a group of American School architects who went West and established groundbreaking practices in and around the Bay Area.
“Do not try to remember” was their only dogma. Do not burden yourself with the past. Do not attempt to copy. Invent! These architects realized hundreds of distinctive works in California. In sites from Sausalito to San Francisco to Big Sur, they found a booming postwar economy, cultural openness, and dramatic landscapes—the ideal testing grounds for an unconventional design approach born on the Prairie and nurtured on the Pacific Coast. Featured architects include Valentino Agnoli, Violeta Autumn, Robert Bowlby, Donald MacDonald, John Marsh Davis, Mickey Muennig, and Robert Overstreet.
Opening February 20, 2025, at the Center for Architecture + Design in San Francisco, the exhibition presents the history of this Organic Architecture and suggests these quietly radical structures still have much to teach designers, architects, and planners addressing the most pressing challenges of our time.
Key exhibition topics include:
Do Not Try to Remember is curated by Marco Piscitelli, a scholar at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, with support from Stephanie Pilat, Angela Person, and a team of historians and designers, including Hans Baldauf, Rachel Engler, Chris Loofs, and Amber Brown.
“This riotous, iconoclastic, and downright strange body of work doesn’t fit all too neatly in the narrative of postwar architectural history,” said Piscitelli. “Still, these renegades suggest a radical potential for an organic architecture which does not impose but celebrates the complexly entangled ecologies of our cities, our bodies, and our environment.”
As part of ongoing research into the American School of Architecture, this research is supported by the Gibbs College of Architecture, University Libraries Special Collections, Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture, and Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships at the University of Oklahoma.
“Do Not Try to Remember spotlights a key chapter of Modernism’s legacy in Northern California,” said architect and historian Alan Hess. “It reminds us of Modern architecture’s creative roots in Organic architecture and the impact of Bruce Goff and his students at the University of Oklahoma on Northern California from Big Sur to Marin County. This is a must-see exhibit that opens our eyes to our heritage and our future.”
This exhibition is supported by the Gibbs College of Architecture, Libraries Special Collections, the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture, and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Partnerships at the University of Oklahoma.
Visit the Center for Architecture + Design to view the exhibit. The opening night features a presentation by the curator and a moderated panel discussion with scholars of the American School, including Stephanie Pilat, Angela Person, and Hans Baldauf.
Sophia Teng, steng@aiasf.org
University of Oklahoma Libraries and the Gibbs College of Architecture have collaborated to collect, preserve, and provide access to an expansive archive of more than 40 individual collections including architectural drawings, photographs, planning records, and models that document the legacy of the American School. Learn more about the American School of Architecture.
The Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to creating a public-focused dialogue on architecture, design, and the built environment in the San Francisco Bay Area. Established in 2005, the Center enhances public appreciation for architecture and design through exhibitions, lectures, tours, film series, and other programs.
Associate Professors Lee Fithian, Ph.D., and Elizabeth Pober have published a chapter in the recently released New Perspectives in Indoor Air Quality, published by Elsevier. Their contribution, titled “Chapter 16 – Architecture and the Challenges of Indoor Air Quality,” examines the relationship between architecture and indoor air quality.
Dr. Ladan Mozaffarian, Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning, has been selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Planners of Color Interest Group (POCIG) for the 2025–2027 term.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Tahsin Tabassum, a recent graduate of the college’s Master of Regional and City Planning program and current doctoral student at the University of California, Irvine, for receiving the prestigious 2024–2025 American Planning Association (APA) Outstanding Student Award.
