Kent C. Bloomer (May 5, 1935-October 22, 2023) was an American sculptor of architectural ornament. He taught classes on ornament for over forty years at the Yale School of Architecture, and many of his public works of ornament have become well known landmarks. He wrote several books and articles on visual perception and architectural ornament, including the principal authorship, with Charles Moore, of “Body, Memory and Architecture,” 1977.[1][2]
Bloomer was born on May 5, 1935, in Mt. Vernon, New York. He studied physics and architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1953-1957. He then studied sculpture at Yale University from 1957–61. Art News described Bloomer’s work as “something of a stranger in this general company, both in terms of the interest that he assumes in metal textures and also in terms of the fact that his forms have anthropomorphic connotations."
Bloomer was an instructor and assistant professor in architecture at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) from 1961–66, where he taught first-year architecture students in the intensive Basic Design course. Bloomer was also a frequent critic at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Texas at Austin.[2]
In 1966, Bloomer was recruited to the Yale School of Architecture by Dean Charles Moore and appointed assistant professor of architectural design. Bloomer was also an integral player in the development of the Yale Building Project, working with Moore and students to design and build the critically praised New Zion Community Center in rural Kentucky.[3]
At Yale, Bloomer served as director of undergraduate studies in architecture for seventeen years. In 1978, Bloomer began teaching “Ornament Theory and Design,” exploring the history and meaning of architectural ornament expressed in built work and writings throughout the history of architecture.[4] Through Bloomer's classes and publications, he has been influential in bringing ornament back into architecture. Bloomer remains a professor on the faculty of architecture at Yale, teaching his ornament seminar and co-teaching the first-year Visualization requirement.[2]
In 1981, Bloomer and lighting designer Gerald Allen designed new luminaires to sit atop Central Park’s 1910 Henry Bacon-designed lampposts.
Bloomer maintained a professional practice since 1961, founding the Kent Bloomer Studio in 1982.
Chicago's Harold Washington Library's southern acroterion, designed and fabricated by Kent Bloomer Studio
The studio's work began at a large scale with the installation of enormous aluminum "tree domes" within the WonderWall at the 1984 New Orleans World’s Fair, designed by Moore's firm MLTW. Bloomer designed the exuberant acroteriononThomas Beeby’s Harold Washington Library Center in Chicago, and the ornament for many other large public works, including the ornament of the Slover Library in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2014.
New Orleans World's Fair, "Tree Domes," New Orleans, with Charles Moore Architect (completed 1984).
University of Oregon Science Complex, Willamette Hall, "Physics Wall," atrium and light standards, with The Ratcliff Architects; Moore Ruble Yudell Architects; and Brockmeyer McDonnell Architects (completed 1989).
