The Bedazzling, Wild Designs of Modernism’s Forgotten Genius

Michael Kimmelman | Breaking One | 4th February 2026

Architects are now supposed to be multi-disciplinary collaborators rather than isolated creatives. If true, that makes Goff thoroughly modern. Mid-century America saw him as a polymath and a visionary, yet he is now little remembered. What marked him out were his daring designs and use of everyday materials and objects. He designed a church in the oilfields, for example, with a roof structure made from surplus oil pipes. Said one critic “the most provocative manifestation of American architectural genius”.