Notes from the Archives: Memories of Antoine Predock (1936-2024)
by Daniela Moneta
Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Canada
Antoine Predock (1936-2024) Subud member and world-renowned architect, gives an account about how he came into Subud and why in an interview by Rachman Cantrell made several years ago. Antoine was opened in 1964 in San Francisco and had been in Subud for 60 years. He was introduced to Subud by Rachman Cantrell who just happened to appear on three unplanned occasions which made Antoine wonder what was going on as he felt that there was something inside of him that needed to get out. That happened to be Subud.
He said he got nailed by the opening and the vibration. Antoine relates his experiences with Bapak, his life as an architect, testing, and more. He describes the true meaning of architecture and the inner life of a building. Toward the end of the interview Antoine gives a stirring, detailed description of one of his best-known works, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. He explains what it feels like to be in the building, a lesson on how to appreciate architecture. Antoine has created hundreds of buildings all over the world.
One film on the archives website about Antoine was made by the University of New Mexico where he got his degree and started his career. https://www.youtube.com/embed/1aSoE2UX3BA . There is also a link on the archives website https://youtu.be/kbD2rgWNdbw that takes you to all of Antoine’s buildings from 1967 to 2020. For access to the archives website and Rachman’s interview, send an email to: admin@wsaarchives.org
Antoine in Desert
Thank you for this concise remembrance with very helpful links, Daniela.
Lovely to hear of a Brother who found true expression of his talent. We seem to have had similar blessings .
I too was opened the same year.
My inner talent was to prevent suicide..and followed through we are indeed blessed
Thank you Daniela. – On top of which Antoine was one cool dude. An original character. How he loved his motorcycles! How gracious he was when he took me and my son Arthur to a ballgame at his redesigned San Diego Stadium, Petco Park. – Plus (unvarnished delighted pride from me on this) Antoine flipped for my role in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.” saying, “You are so Lynchian, man!” He was always so supportive of my talent. And I was very fortunate to be able to hang out with him on the rare occasion. God bless our Antoine!
Thank you for this Daniela. (Shoot! Had written a comment and SICA’s system said I’d “already said that”. Very odd). – Had said how cool Antoine was. How he loved his motorcycles. How he gracious he was to me and my son Arthur taking us to a San Diego Padres game in his newly opened redesigned Petco Stadium. – How supportive he was of my work. – (The following said with unvarnished pride): Upon seeing me in “Mulholland Dr.” Antoine flipped about my role saying, “You are so Lynchian, man!” – We were able to hang out a few times despite his round the clock schedule. Very cool. God bless Antoine!
What a great loss!!! So much ahs been written about Antoine lately. It is simply overwhelming. Since Antoine was a fellow at the American Academy in Rome in 1985, The Academy published a memoriam for Antoine as well.
Thanks,Simon.
Reynold Ruslan
Antoine and his wife at the time Lawrence and I married in Albuquerque were very kind snd generous with us. Lawrence worked for him making architectural models. Antoine treated us as family. We celebrated IdulFitri with him at the Toronto World Congress. I feel it’s a blessing he left this life during Ramadan. will miss seeing him pop up at World Congresses, and of course, the world will miss seeing his new creations! May God bless his soul’s journey!
Thanks Daniela. I appreciate the links.
Antoine was a longtime friend since 1964 when I introduced him to Subud. We did a Zoom interview with him exactly two years before his passing. The link for that interview is here: https://youtu.be/kbD2rgWNdbw
The following is a link to many of Antoine’s amazing projects: http://www.predock.com/ArchitecturePage/newarchitecture.html