Nationally recognized architect Rob Quigley grew up in a bedroom in Pacific Palisades lined with murals painted by the artist Rick Griffin. Those same murals have just been donated by an anonymous source to Surfing Heritage Foundation. On Thursday, March 14, at an unveiling of the works of art, Rob Quigley will talk on the influence of Rick Griffin on his architectural practice.
Rob Quigley’s work has garnered more than 60 design awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 2005, the AIA California Council honored Rob with the Maybeck Award-California’s equivalent of the Gold Medal-for three decades of architectural design excellence.
Rob earned his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Utah in 1969. Upon graduation he entered the Peace Corps, where he developed his skills designing and building affordable housing in underserved areas of Chile. After two years of service, Rob settled in San Diego and opened his own architecture and planning firm. Shaped by his early experiences, he became a pioneer in the design of architecturally significant yet affordable housing for the working poor. Rob was also an early leader in the sustainable design movement, designing solar-powered homes in the 1970s-long before “green” became an industry buzzword. His work is driven by a deep sense of responsibility to conserve natural resources.
Current projects in his diverse practice range from a single family house to the new Central Library in San Diego.
Rick Griffin (1944-1991) first reveled in the art and politics of the counterculture as a surfer. A teenager in Southern California during the late 1950s and early 1960s, he developed the seminal cartoon-strip character, Murphy, published in Surfer magazine. Griffin’s rebellious and prankish cartoon character initiated the surf cartoon genre and helped define the look and voice of the incipient surf culture. Griffin’s Quigley murals are among the earliest examples of his surf cartoon art and are the only known murals from this period, 1960-1961, that have been removed from their original supports and donated to a collecting institution.
