Once again, look to the end of this post to find images and links covering information on this podcast if you wish to know a little more.
Nathan Koskovich, AIA sits down with John A. Busby, Jr. FAIA. John Busby is a member of a generation of architects who built Atlanta from a provincial state capital into a dynamic city at the center of the country's ninth largest metropolitan area. Like many architects of his generation, John impacted the city not just through his professional practice but also through engagement with the community. John is a Citizen-Architect, something we should all aspire to.
In the
1960s, Busby began working on various small commissions with Stanley Daniels, a
former classmate at Georgia Tech. At the same time, Henri Jova moved to Atlanta
from New York, where he had been a designer with Harrison and Abramovitz. Jova
moved to downtown Atlanta and began encouraging others to do so to stimulate
neighborhood renewal in the city.
Busby
purchased his first home in Jova’s neighborhood; other architects followed, and
the urban renewal movement in Atlanta gained momentum. In 1966, Jova, Daniels,
and Busby established an architecture and interior design practice,
Jova/Daniels/Busby, and opened an office in Atlanta. J/D/B designed Colony
Square, which was Atlanta’s first mixed-use development. When the firm was
established, the partners set a retirement age, and Busby retired from the firm
in 1999 with 39 years of active practice.
In 2001,
Busby was invited to become an adjunct professor of architecture at Southern
Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Ga. In 2002, he became chair of the
Advisory Committee and served in that capacity until 2010, making significant
contributions to improving the five-year accredited program.
John Busby
was born in Charleston, S.C., in 1933. His father was in the U.S. Navy, and the
family lived in California before settling in Macon, Ga. With strong
encouragement from his father, Busby entered the Georgia Institute of
Technology in 1952, the first person on his father’s side to go to college. He
worked construction during summer breaks. In 1960, Busby married Mary Ann Cross
of Sunbury, N.C. They have two daughters, Clarissa and Julia, whom they raised
in the house on Plymouth Road in Atlanta where they still live. The house was
designed by Georgia’s first female registered architect, Leila Wilburn (ca.
1939).
Busby’s
service to his community includes:
- Vice president, Atlanta Landmarks, Inc. (the organization that saved and preserved the Fox Theater in Atlanta)
- Atlanta Clean City Commission
- Leadership Atlanta
- Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Task Force on Growth
- Fulton County Commission on Disability Affairs
- Atlanta Board of Education Special Study Commission on Facilities
RECOGNITION
AND HONORS
- College of Fellows, 1968
- Ivan Allen Trophy, AIA Atlanta, for contributions to community
- AIA Georgia Bronze Medal
- Rocky Rothschild Medal
- Honorary fellow, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
- Honorary fellow, Royal Australian Institute of Architects
- Member of Honor, La Federación de Colegios de Arquitectos de la República.
- President of the American Institute of Architects, 1986
Images
Colony Square. The Mall is highlight in blue. The yellow towers connect to it.
The Fox highlighted in yellow, the AT&T (Southern Bell) Complex in blue.
Main (White) entrance to Fox Theater on Peachtree Street
Side (Black) entrance to Fox Theater on Ponce de Leon with stairs leading directly to segregated balcony
Alley between Fox Theater and AT&T tower off Ponce de Leon. Alleys are powerful urban planning tools that not only provide a space for services but also make it possible for two very different buildings to live comfortably next to each other.
Links
John Portman's Downtown
Five Points/ Marietta Street / Fairely-Popler District
A modern design that replaced the Beaux-Arts style building. The current location of the Federal Reserve is in Midtown at the corner of Tenth and Peachtree.
Atlanta's first "modern" sky scraper
The "Pagoda" building
Atlanta Theaters
Midtown - North Avenue / Pounce de Leon Ave and Peachtree Street
