Contrapuntal design: The influence of Bertram Y. Kinzey, Jr., on architectural pedagogy at the University of Florida

Abstract

Bertram Kinzey introduced modes of analysis, conceptualization, and exploration, as a dedicated and productive researcher, author, teacher, architect, consultant, and musician that were transformative and continue to reverberate internationally through the work of his students. Bert’s insightful theoretical and practical relationships between music, acoustics, and architecture were drawn from his reflective approach to teaching and refined through active practice. Perhaps foundational to his educational contribution, is his interest and talent as an organist and organ builder leading to his use of “contrapuntal” to describe the interaction of music and architecture—new notes overlapping those lingering in the space and time of reverberance. Overlapping, independent, yet harmonizing elements might also describe Bert’s approach to architectural design as a theoretical construct; an integrative process; and as a measure of great architecture. Contrapuntal thinking is well known in literature and music but is just emerging in architecture. Bert introduced this important idea—among many others at the University of Florida—through his writings and tenure as a UF professor. This paper discusses Bert’s ‘contrapuntal thinking’ and the subsequent influence on architectural education through a recent graduate studio project for a new arts park and concert hall for the community of Sarasota, Florida.