We were lucky to catch up with Alan Hess recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

A working knowledge about the history of architecture is one of the most valuable tools an architect can have, as important as structural engineering. Yet it is not treated as such by the profession in general. Building on (though not necessarily repeating) a city’s historical legacy creates a remarkably rich, varied, and livable environment — the kind of city most people want to live in.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been interested in history of all kinds since second grade; it’s interesting to see how that interest evolved into my work as an architect and writer in research, books, and practical applications consulting on restoring buildings. I focus on midcentury modern architecture; it’s become popular today, but when I first started to write about it in the 1980s it was not widely popular — at the time it seemed too near in time for people to appreciate or be concerned with conserving.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve always been drawn to certain types of architecture, but it took me a while to realize that those types were not obviously appealing to most other people. Once I did, however, I realized that part of my job was to educate people about why those obscure types were actually important. I still believed in their importance so I was not going to turn to other subjects that might have been easier to promote — I went about writing, speaking, and advocating for the kinds of architecture I believed in. This included, for example, midcentury Modern architecture which did finally become recognized, appreciated, and popular with a large part of the profession and public.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Keep at it and don’t be discouraged. The first article I submitted to a major newspaper was about one of my favorite types of architecture, called programmatic architecture — that is, buildings shaped like giant objects like hot dogs, oranges, tamales, etc. These are delightful vernacular buildings that enliven a city. A friend had recommended an editor to send it to, saying that they were sympathetic to new writers. But that editor rejected it, saying “why would you choose a type of architecture as ugly as that?” That, of course, was the whole point — to open the reader’s eye to something they may not have considered before. The editor’s response was a bit of a shock — but only strengthened my faith in my own insights as I continued to write. I’ve now published twenty-one books by major publishers, with another coming out in 2025.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: alanhessarchitect
• Facebook: Alan Hess

Image Credits
all photos by Alan Hess