[Kelt]

Architecture geeks will morn his passing.



Donald Wexler, Architect Who Gave Shape to Palm Springs, Dies at 89

Here is a really great short video about his contribution to steel frame and off site pre-fab work. It's Vimeo so I can't embed it. Enjoy.




"Donald Wexler, an architect whose innovative steel houses and soaring glass-fronted terminal at the Palm Springs International Airport helped make Palm Springs, Calif., a showcase for midcentury modernism, died on Friday at his home in Palm Desert. He was 89.

His son Gary confirmed his death.

Mr. Wexler, a disciple of the California architect Richard Neutra, went to Palm Springs in the early 1950s to work for William Cody, a leading practitioner of the style known as Desert Modern. “Wexler worked from an existing Desert Modern vocabulary — indoor-outdoor spaces, walls of glass, a focus on mountain views, all very spare and minimal — and applied it to all sorts of buildings over the years,” said Peter Moruzzi, an architectural historian and the founder of the Palm Springs Modern Committee, a preservation group. “He had a profound influence not just on Palm Springs but on the entire Coachella Valley.” - New York Times