When walking into the courtyard of the Fairhaven Complex here on campus, one may notice the pond, or the students hammocking by the trees on the lawn. But the one unmistakable landmark that catches the eye and holds its gaze the longest is Fred Bassetti’s Alphabeta Cube.

At first it doesn’t seem too dramatic—a large tilted cube made of floating wooden beams, nestled into a patch of greenery. But a careful eye reveals much more. The cube’s design, while simple, is elegant, and calls on the natural beauty of the area surrounding it in a way that makes one pause.

The sculpture was originally built in front of Wilson Library. Because Basseti had a great admiration of the use of language and literacy, he wanted to create something that would pay tribute to the alphabet’s usefulness and versatility.

Bassetti’s Forde Corporation in Tacoma made Flexagon cardboard toys, a set of carboard shapes with which lot of objects with geometrical shape, planar structures, etc. could be made. This could be one of the reasons that may have lead him to design this sculpture as a cube. The Alphabeta Cube is made of twelve octagonal redwood timbres enclosing a suspended bronze, 38- sided polyhedron. Because it was going to be placed between the Wilson Library and Haggard Hall, Bassett also wanted to include references to both buildings and communication features. Mathematical symbols like pi and infinity, numbers from zero to nine and several letters of the alphabet are engraved on the bronze polyhedron in the center. In the end of each redwood beam, Basseti stamped contiguous letters in a cryptogram. When these letters are separated, they spell out the alphabet and therefore all famous literary authors and characters from Moses to Jane Eyre, etc. It is also believed that he may have been inspired by Noguchi’s garden for IBM Building in Armonk, New York: a juxtaposition of shapes and natural rocks beneath a black dome inscribed with mathematical formulas (“South Campus Tour”).

Bassetti’s real impact stretched far beyond the creation of the Alphabeta Cube, however. Even on Western’s campus, the architect made his mark in countless ways—he was responsible for the design of several important campus buildings, such as the Carver Gym, the bookstore, Fraser Hall, the Humanities Building, and the entirety of the Ridgeway Complex (Anderson). And that’s just his work on campus: in the greater Western half of Washington itself, his influence has been even bigger.

In 1967, Bassetti was responsible for the founding of Action: Better City, a pod of young architects with fresh ideas that broke through boundaries of the time period. In the introduction of the group’s pamphlet, Bassetti wrote: “Much about Seattle is right, but an equal amount is wrong — who can rest until the balance is improved?” (Brunner).

So, naturally, he went about improving the city where he could. His works often included long swooping curves and rounded corners, which he saw as indicative of nature and the land, and very rarely involve right angles because he found them too boxy and rigid. Among his most famous works are the Seattle Municipal Tower and the Woodland Park Children’s Petting Zoo.

As a person, Bassetti was known for his excited and dynamic nature. In 1989, the Seattle Times described him as having “the innocence of an 8-year-old and the energy of an adolescent.” He embraced this, fully acknowledging it as a facet of his personality (Brunner).

Bassetti contributed greatly to the introduction of modern architecture in our region during the 1940’s-1990’s. His ideas about architecture inspired future generations in the Seattle area, so even though he passed away in 2013, the ripples he made will still be apparent for years to come.

Credits

Article by Tristan Albrecht & Serventino

Photographs and Captions by Tristan Albrecht

Sources

Anderson, Matthew. “Fred Bassetti designed much of Western’s campus.” 6 December 2013. Western Today. Web. 25 October 2016.

Brunner, Jim. “Architect Fred Bassetti dies; he leaves indelible mark on Seattle.” 5 December 2013. The Seattle Times. Web. 25 October 2016.

Clark-Langager, Sarah. “Walking Tour with Arists.” 2006. Western Gallery. Web. 31 October 2016.

“South Campus Tour.” n.d. Western Gallery. Web. 31 October 2016.