Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
PORTRAIT OF INNOVATION: DAVID HERTZ
MARTHA DAVIDSON
Concrete, used in ancient Rome, is one of the oldest building materials cre-
ated by human invention. It is also one of the newest and most versatile,
thanks to the ingenuity of David Hertz, an artist and architect whose work
embodies his concerns for craftsmanship, the preservation of the natural
environment, and social responsibility. Hertz is the president of a multi-
disciplinary design firm, Syndesis, and the inventor of Syndecrete, an
advanced cement-based composite that incorporates post-consumer prod-
ucts destined for landfills—almost any kind of ground-up glass, metal,
wood, or plastic components, from pencils to plumbing fixtures—to create
customized surfacing materials of outstanding quality and beauty.
The fusion of the functional and the aesthetic grew out of Hertz's child-
hood experiences. Born in California, the elder of two brothers, he has
spent nearly all of his life in Los Angeles. His father, an oral and maxillofa-
cial surgeon, has always had a strong interest in sculpture and architecture,
particularly the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Hertz's mother is a painter
and fine art photographer.“Architecture is in many ways a synthesis of both
their professions, in that it's part science, part art,” Hertz says. “Some of my
earliest memories are of working with my father in the garage.Together we
would repair things or work on projects. I remember pouring molten alu-
minum off the roof and into the swimming pool to create frozen shapes as
sculptures. My mother says I was obsessed with disassembling and reassem-
bling things, like the vacuum cleaner. I used to enjoy building models and
coloring. I even won a national coloring contest sponsored by Kellogg's.”
Hertz got his first hands-on experience in construction by assisting his
father in ongoing renovations of their house. Then, as an adolescent, he
worked as a construction laborer, an apprentice carpenter, and an artist's
assistant. Through his enjoyment of surfing and backpacking, he was also
