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Sim Van der Ryn is an American architect, researcher and educator. Van der Ryn's professional interest has been applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design.[1]
Van der Ryn has promoted sustainable design at the community scale and the building-specific scale. He has designed single-family and multi-family housing, community facilities, retreat centers and resorts, learning facilities, as well as office and commercial buildings.[citation needed]
Sim Van Der Ryn was born in 1935[2] (age 88) in the Netherlands. His family moved to Queens, New York, then moved to Great Neck, New York on Long Island.[3]
Van der Ryn pursued education in architecture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, graduating at the age of 24 with a B.Arch degree, in 1958.[4] During that year he moved to California and joined the UC Berkeley faculty where he taught for 35 years.[5] Later in his career, he was listed as a state architect in California and New Mexico. Sim also, became a licensed architect where he received a certification by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).[6][7]
Van der Ryn’s vision and philosophy have been based on the inclusion of ecological values to the built environment. He introduced new academic programs through elementary schools in Berkeley, California. One of the program's mottos was “trash can do it.” The idea was that recycling of materials would encourage students to utilize resources; the approach was new at the time. Hands-on methods of gaining understanding allowed students to grasp a real-life perspective concerning different materials by utilizing them in environmentally functional projects. The program created opportunities to enhance and develop manual, intellectual and social skills. It put forward a do-it-yourself guideline to enhance educational systems.[13]
Van der Ryn had an innovative and unconventional approach to teaching. In his classes he insisted on creating a more balanced basis among male and female students. He persisted with this principle and was able to create a more equal environment for all with professional aspirations. His vision in relation to architecture was to provide women with similar opportunities as men, accepting equal applicants of men and women in the early 70s.
“Outlaw Builder Studio,” a significant platform for Van der Ryn to demonstrate his new ecological and solar architecture, in which his students could develop building and social skills. Students created, designed and built according to their need while living in the outdoors for at least three days of the week. Later on, some of the projects were dismantled because they didn't meet building-code requirements. This was met with some scrutiny in his teaching career from his peers and other professionals.[13]
Energy Pavilion was a project of interest in the early 70s. This project provided the first mainstream booklet on solar architecture. Students were able to construct an early solar-panel design. This energy-efficient design offered a futuristic glimpse into ecological and environmental architecture. At the time of this project, the world was witnessing the dilemmas of the oil crisis. Van der Ryn encouraged his studio to connect with the surrounding environment and maintain a cohesive approach in design.[13]
Van der Ryn was appointed California State Architect in the administration of Governor Jerry Brown in the late 1970s.[1] Van der Ryn was in the architecture faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in California.[14]
Sim desired to become a painter he believed that design is a gate to understand ourselves through nature. He taught different watercolor classes to his students and found it to be meditative state. Sim also found it to be a starting point for a designer to integrate with nature and begin to collaborate with it.[15]
Van de Ryn also contributed a foreword to the book Handmade Houses: A Guide to the Woodbutcher's Art by Art Boericke and Barry Shapiro (1973).
