J. Baldwin
Encyclopedia
James Tennant Baldwin (born 1934) (whose books and articles have been published under the names J. Baldwin, Jay Baldwin, and James T. Baldwin) is an American industrial design
er and writer. Baldwin was a student of Buckminster Fuller
; Baldwin's work has been inspired by Fuller's principles and (in the case of some of Baldwin's published writing) has popularized and interpreted Fuller's ideas and achievements. In his own right, Baldwin has been a figure in American designers' efforts to incorporate solar, wind, and other renewable sources of energy. In his career, being a fabricator
has been as important as being a designer. Baldwin is noted as the inventor of the geodesic "Pillow Dome."
speak for 14 hours non-stop. This was in 1951 at the University of Michigan
, where Baldwin had enrolled to learn automobile design because a friend of his had been killed in a car accident that Baldwin attributed to bad design. He worked with Fuller prior to graduation from U. of M. in 1955. During his student years, Baldwin worked (in a unique job sharing
role) in an auto factory assembly line. He went on to do graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley
.
Baldwin remained a friend of Buckminster Fuller, and reflected that "By example, he encouraged me to think for myself comprehensively, to be disciplined, to work for the good of everyone, and to have a good time doing it." [BuckyWorks, p. xi]
As a young designer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Baldwin designed advanced camping equipment with Bill Moss Associates. Thereafter, he taught simultaneously at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University
), San Francisco Art Institute
, and the Oakland campus of California College of Arts & Crafts for about six years.
The period 1968-69 found him both a visiting lecturer at Southern Illinois University
and the design editor of the innovative Whole Earth Catalog
. (The Catalog came out in many editions between 1968 and 1998, and Baldwin continued to edit and write for both the Catalog and an offshoot publication, CoEvolution Quarterly
, later renamed Whole Earth Review
.) In the early 1970s, Baldwin taught at Pacific High School.
Baldwin was at the center of experimentation with geodesic dome
s (an unconventional building-design approach, explored by Fuller, that maximizes strength and covered area in relation to materials used). He also dove enthusiastically into the application of renewable energy
sources in homes and in food-production facilities, working with Integrated Life Support Systems Laboratories (ILS, in New Mexico
) and with Dr John Todd
and the other New Alchemists involved with the "Ark" project. Baldwin's initial involvement with solar energy was during that very experimental, ad-lib phase when much was moving from principles or theory into actual development. In the 1970s, at ILS, he was the co-developer of what has been touted as the world's first building to be heated and otherwise powered by solar and wind power exclusively.
Baldwin referred to his own rural home as "a three-dimensional sketchpad."
During the Jerry Brown
administration, Baldwin worked in the California Office of Appropriate Technology. Since the 1970s, Baldwin has continued to work as a designer in association with numerous organizations and projects. He organized for himself a mobile design studio and machine workshop (in a van pulling an Airstream trailer) to drive to various projects across America.
With the ears of a wider audience in the 1980s, Baldwin developed an incisive critique of the American automobile industry, which he viewed as over-focused on superficial marketing
concerns and farcically under-concerned with real innovation and improvement. He was also a constructive critic of the emerging industries manufacturing "soft technology" equipment like wind turbines.
In the 1990s, Baldwin wrote a book about Buckminster Fuller, his ideas, experiments, and influence, Bucky Works: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today.
In the late 1990s, he worked with the Rocky Mountain Institute
(Snowmass, Colorado) in the research, design, and development of the ultralight, ultra-efficient "Hypercar" — a prototype by way of which independent designers hope to show the way for the world's auto manufacturers. With conceptual development having begun in 1991, the current version of the Hypercar uses a small generator to power an electric motor in each wheel.
Given his long-term role as a "technology
" editor, something should be mentioned about the scope of Baldwin's focus on technology. His interests remained broader than that represented in the shifting media and popular focus of the mid 1980s and later, which inclined to highlight the micro chip
and electronic devices based on it. Baldwin has continued to point out the value of (and need for evaluation of) technologies within a larger perimeter. Certainly shelter and transportation technologies have always interested him. So have tools, and whether a device or tool or process was freshly innovative or age-old in concept, if it enabled a person to “do the job” with wood, metal, fiberglass panels, soil, trees, or whatever, it remained worthy of Baldwin’s attention. Whereas the personal computer often (though not necessarily) inclines its operator toward imagination, almost in the sense of entertainment, Baldwin has remained equally interested in doing, in application. And while he has never ceased to be interested in the products of the factory, Baldwin has always wanted to empower individuals and small teams of people to accomplish something.
Baldwin, as one of the notable designer technologists whose cross-disciplinary approaches have opened new territory, was featured in the 1994 documentary film Ecological Design: Inventing the Future. The film viewed these designers as "outlaws" whose careers have necessarily developed "outside the box" of their time, largely unsupported by mainstream industry and often beyond the pale of mainstream academia, as well.
J. Baldwin invented (and has built) a permanent, transparent, insulated structure — of aluminum and Teflon — he calls a "Pillow Dome," said to have withstood 135-mph winds and tons of snow. The Pillow Dome weighs just one-half pound per square foot. The basic approach has since been applied in large-scale applications such as the Eden Project
in Cornwall, England. Baldwin continues to practice design (as exemplified in the unique and aerodynamic 'mobile-room' Quick-Up camper he has put on the market) and to teach design at the college level. In recent years, he has taught at Sonoma State University
, San Francisco Institute of Architecture
and at California College of Arts & Crafts.
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
er and writer. Baldwin was a student of Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
; Baldwin's work has been inspired by Fuller's principles and (in the case of some of Baldwin's published writing) has popularized and interpreted Fuller's ideas and achievements. In his own right, Baldwin has been a figure in American designers' efforts to incorporate solar, wind, and other renewable sources of energy. In his career, being a fabricator
Fabrication (metal)
Fabrication as an industrial term refers to building metal structures by cutting, bending, and assembling. The cutting part of fabrication is via sawing, shearing, or chiseling ; torching with handheld torches ; and via CNC cutters...
has been as important as being a designer. Baldwin is noted as the inventor of the geodesic "Pillow Dome."
Life and work
J. Baldwin was born the son of an engineer. Baldwin has said that, at 18, he heard Buckminster FullerBuckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
speak for 14 hours non-stop. This was in 1951 at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, where Baldwin had enrolled to learn automobile design because a friend of his had been killed in a car accident that Baldwin attributed to bad design. He worked with Fuller prior to graduation from U. of M. in 1955. During his student years, Baldwin worked (in a unique job sharing
Job sharing
Job sharing is an employment arrangement where typically two people are retained on a part-time or reduced-time basis to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full-time. Compensation is apportioned between the workers, thus leading to a net reduction in per-employee income...
role) in an auto factory assembly line. He went on to do graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Baldwin remained a friend of Buckminster Fuller, and reflected that "By example, he encouraged me to think for myself comprehensively, to be disciplined, to work for the good of everyone, and to have a good time doing it." [BuckyWorks, p. xi]
As a young designer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Baldwin designed advanced camping equipment with Bill Moss Associates. Thereafter, he taught simultaneously at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
), San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
, and the Oakland campus of California College of Arts & Crafts for about six years.
The period 1968-69 found him both a visiting lecturer at Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
and the design editor of the innovative Whole Earth Catalog
Whole Earth Catalog
The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998...
. (The Catalog came out in many editions between 1968 and 1998, and Baldwin continued to edit and write for both the Catalog and an offshoot publication, CoEvolution Quarterly
CoEvolution Quarterly
CoEvolution Quarterly is a descendant of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog. It eventually became the Whole Earth Review.-History:...
, later renamed Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the Whole Earth Software Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly. All of these periodicals are descendants of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog...
.) In the early 1970s, Baldwin taught at Pacific High School.
Baldwin was at the center of experimentation with geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
s (an unconventional building-design approach, explored by Fuller, that maximizes strength and covered area in relation to materials used). He also dove enthusiastically into the application of renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
sources in homes and in food-production facilities, working with Integrated Life Support Systems Laboratories (ILS, in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
) and with Dr John Todd
John Todd (biologist)
John Todd is a biologist working in what is sometimes considered the general field of ecological design, in that his ideas often involve applications that become the basis of alternative technologies. His principal professional interests have included solving problems of food production and...
and the other New Alchemists involved with the "Ark" project. Baldwin's initial involvement with solar energy was during that very experimental, ad-lib phase when much was moving from principles or theory into actual development. In the 1970s, at ILS, he was the co-developer of what has been touted as the world's first building to be heated and otherwise powered by solar and wind power exclusively.
Baldwin referred to his own rural home as "a three-dimensional sketchpad."
During the Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
administration, Baldwin worked in the California Office of Appropriate Technology. Since the 1970s, Baldwin has continued to work as a designer in association with numerous organizations and projects. He organized for himself a mobile design studio and machine workshop (in a van pulling an Airstream trailer) to drive to various projects across America.
With the ears of a wider audience in the 1980s, Baldwin developed an incisive critique of the American automobile industry, which he viewed as over-focused on superficial marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
concerns and farcically under-concerned with real innovation and improvement. He was also a constructive critic of the emerging industries manufacturing "soft technology" equipment like wind turbines.
In the 1990s, Baldwin wrote a book about Buckminster Fuller, his ideas, experiments, and influence, Bucky Works: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today.
In the late 1990s, he worked with the Rocky Mountain Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute
Rocky Mountain Institute is an organization in the United States dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency. RMI was established in 1982 and has grown into a...
(Snowmass, Colorado) in the research, design, and development of the ultralight, ultra-efficient "Hypercar" — a prototype by way of which independent designers hope to show the way for the world's auto manufacturers. With conceptual development having begun in 1991, the current version of the Hypercar uses a small generator to power an electric motor in each wheel.
Given his long-term role as a "technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
" editor, something should be mentioned about the scope of Baldwin's focus on technology. His interests remained broader than that represented in the shifting media and popular focus of the mid 1980s and later, which inclined to highlight the micro chip
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
and electronic devices based on it. Baldwin has continued to point out the value of (and need for evaluation of) technologies within a larger perimeter. Certainly shelter and transportation technologies have always interested him. So have tools, and whether a device or tool or process was freshly innovative or age-old in concept, if it enabled a person to “do the job” with wood, metal, fiberglass panels, soil, trees, or whatever, it remained worthy of Baldwin’s attention. Whereas the personal computer often (though not necessarily) inclines its operator toward imagination, almost in the sense of entertainment, Baldwin has remained equally interested in doing, in application. And while he has never ceased to be interested in the products of the factory, Baldwin has always wanted to empower individuals and small teams of people to accomplish something.
Baldwin, as one of the notable designer technologists whose cross-disciplinary approaches have opened new territory, was featured in the 1994 documentary film Ecological Design: Inventing the Future. The film viewed these designers as "outlaws" whose careers have necessarily developed "outside the box" of their time, largely unsupported by mainstream industry and often beyond the pale of mainstream academia, as well.
J. Baldwin invented (and has built) a permanent, transparent, insulated structure — of aluminum and Teflon — he calls a "Pillow Dome," said to have withstood 135-mph winds and tons of snow. The Pillow Dome weighs just one-half pound per square foot. The basic approach has since been applied in large-scale applications such as the Eden Project
Eden Project
The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, including the world's largest greenhouse. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world....
in Cornwall, England. Baldwin continues to practice design (as exemplified in the unique and aerodynamic 'mobile-room' Quick-Up camper he has put on the market) and to teach design at the college level. In recent years, he has taught at Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University
Sonoma State University is a public, coeducational business and liberal arts college affiliated with the California State University system. The main campus is located in Rohnert Park, California, United States and lies approximately south of Santa Rosa and north of San Francisco...
, San Francisco Institute of Architecture
San Francisco Institute of Architecture
The San Francisco Institute of Architecture was founded in 1990 by Fred A. Stitt, architect, as a school devoted to innovation in design and experimental research and reform in architectural education. Its goal: to offer a new kind of architectural education, grounded in nature-based architecture...
and at California College of Arts & Crafts.
Books
- Author: BuckyWorks: Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today, 1997, ISBN 0-471-19812-9
- Co-editor (with Stewart BrandStewart BrandStewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation...
and others ): Whole Earth CatalogWhole Earth CatalogThe Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture catalog published by Stewart Brand between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998...
s, 1968-1998. - Co-editor (with Stewart BrandStewart BrandStewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation...
): Soft Technology, 1978. - Editor Whole Earth Ecolog: The Best of Environmental Tools & Ideas, 1990, ISBN 0-517-57658-9