Tom Luckey

{{short description|American architect (1940–2012)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Tom Luckey

| image=WestfieldFoxValley-05.JPG

| caption = Luckey Climber at Westfield Fox Valley

| birth_name = Thomas Walker Luckey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1940|01|06}}

| birth_place = Quantico, VA

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|08|19|1940|01|06}}

| death_place = New Haven, CT

| nationality = American

| known_for = Luckey Climbers

| occupation = Architect, sculptor

| alma mater = Yale School of Architecture{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12597310.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329065037/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-12597310.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 March 2015|title=Tom Luckey: Not your traditional architect; Climbing new heights|work=New Haven Register|first=Robert|last=Varley|date=31 May 2006|accessdate=6 June 2012}}

| spouse = Ettie{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-169131072.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127224024/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-169131072.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 November 2015|title=Art Come Alive: Imaginative Works Of Tom Luckey Aren't Complete Until Inhabited By Humans|work=Hartford Courant |first=Jesse|last=Leavenworth|date=26 September 2007|accessdate=6 June 2012}}

| children = Spencer, Kit, Walker, Owen

| parents = General Robert Luckey

| website = {{URL|http://www.luckeyclimbers.com}}

}}

File:NB Climb.JPG]]

Thomas Walker Luckey (January 6, 1940 – August 19, 2012) was an American architect and sculptor, best known for inventing abstract playgrounds called Luckey Climbers.{{cite news|last=Jermanok|first=Stephen|title=Ready. Set. Climb|work=The Boston Globe|date=18 March 2007|accessdate=6 June 2012|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8699261.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610170919/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8699261.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 June 2014 }} Luckey also created furniture, merry-go-rounds, and interiors.

Life and career

After graduating from the Yale School of Architecture in the late 1960s, Luckey began remodeling friends' houses and doing experimental projects, including one described as transforming: {{blockquote|... part of a Vermont house into a "spooky space landscape," as one critic described it. Randomly placed steps, ramps, and terraces ascended to the ceiling, and surfaces were sheathed in woolly orange carpet. Elsewhere in the house, a cylindrical rotating room replicated the spatial transmutations of LSD with a bed that became the back of a sofa, a table that morphed into a seating platform that became a desk, and so on.|Alastair Gordon|Spaced Out: Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties{{cite news|url=http://www.interiordesign.net/article/481125-Spaced_Out_Spaces.php|title=Spaced-Out Spaces|work=Interior Design|first=Alastair|last=Gordon|date=1 April 2008|accessdate=9 June 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523010831/http://www.interiordesign.net/article/481125-Spaced_Out_Spaces.php|archivedate=23 May 2011}}}}

In addition to interiors and furniture, he also designed merry-go-rounds; one, inspired by square dances, moves riders from one seat to another as they go around.

A mutual friend introduced Luckey to Agnes Gund, who insisted he contact the Boston Children's Museum. After he persuaded officials to let him build his first Luckey Climber, the structure turned out to be one of the museum's most popular exhibits, and has now been replaced with a new version.

In 2005, Luckey fell out of a second-story bathroom window and landed on his head. He fractured his cervical vertebra and was paralyzed from the neck down.

Luckey died on August 19, 2012, at Yale–New Haven Hospital due to complications from pneumonia. He was 72.{{cite web|title=Thomas W. Luckey, architect/sculptor of inventive recreation environments for children; service at Yale Sept.8|last=Cory|first=Christopher T.|date=September 7, 2012|url=http://www.shorelinetimes.com/articles/2012/09/07/life/doc504a2c1eecf25762191658.txt|work=The Shoreline Times|accessdate=May 10, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Thomas W. Luckey|date=September 5, 2012|url=http://www.mvtimes.com/2012/09/05/thomas-w-luckey-12393/|work=The Martha's Vineyard Times|accessdate=May 10, 2013}}

=Luckey Climbers=

Luckey Climbers are multi-story climbing structures crossed with mazes and jungle gyms. In appearance, they have been compared to "a Calder mobile fashioned from Monet's lily pads". They have been installed in locations across North America that include:

class="wikitable sortable"
VenueLocation
Boston Children's MuseumBoston, Massachusetts
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wJYxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5464,761784|title=The climber links earth, sky for kids|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=17 November 1989|accessdate=6 June 2012|first=Bob|last=Hoover}}Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Young at Art Museum{{cite news|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-18/news/sfe-sfp-young-at-art-expansion_1_mindy-shrago-gallery-art-children-s-museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602071209/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-08-18/news/sfe-sfp-young-at-art-expansion_1_mindy-shrago-gallery-art-children-s-museum|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 2, 2013|title=Young at Art expands|work=South Florida Sun-Sentinel|date=18 August 2011|first=Dina|last=Weinstein|accessdate=6 June 2012}}Davie, Florida
Papalote museo del niño{{cite news | last = DePalma | first = Anthony | title = In Mexico City, A State-of-the-Art Children's Museum | work = The New York Times | date = 18 November 2003 | accessdate = 6 June 2012 | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDD113FF93BA25752C1A965958260}} – with sound and light system by Remo Saraceni.
(Papalote Children's Museum)
Mexico City, Mexico
Children's Discovery Museum{{cite news | last = Ford | first = Mary Ann | title = The New Discovery Kids test out museum set to open Saturday | work = The Pantagraph | date = 25 November 2004 | accessdate = 6 June 2012 | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11664286.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095218/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11664286.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 4 March 2016}}Normal, Illinois
Children's Museum of Winston-SalemWinston-Salem, North Carolina
Westfield Fox Valley{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-0EB771E554F2703D.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126162402/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-0EB771E554F2703D.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 January 2013|title=A New Twist|work=Naperville Sun|date=8 April 1999|accessdate=6 June 2012}}Aurora, Illinois
Lincoln Park ZooChicago, Illinois
WonderLabBloomington, Indiana
Long Island Children's MuseumGarden City, New York
Children's Museum at HolyokeHolyoke, Massachusetts
Children's Museum of MemphisMemphis, Tennessee
The Commons{{cite news|url=http://www.wibc.com/news/Story.aspx?id=1333575|title=Rebuilding of Columbus' Commons Nears Finish|work= WIBC (FM)|date=25 December 2010|first=Eric|last=Berman|accessdate=9 June 2012}}Columbus, Indiana
Children's Museum of Alamance CountyGraham, North Carolina
Westfield Century CityLos Angeles, California
Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery MuseumReno, Nevada
Children's Museum of South DakotaBrookings, South Dakota
Providence Children's MuseumProvidence, Rhode Island
Delaware Children's Museum{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2010-01-31-delaware-childrens-museum_N.htm|title=Delaware Children's Museum expected to open on schedule|work=USA Today|date=31 January 2010|first=Betsy|last=Price|accessdate=9 June 2012}}Wilmington, Delaware
Children's Museum of the UpstateGreenville, South Carolina
Children's Museum of HoustonHouston, Texas
The Magic HouseKirkwood, Missouri
Kidspace Children's MuseumPasadena, California
Discovery PlaceCharlotte, North Carolina
Christ Community Church{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-114A8CA1D614EC70.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125033035/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1N1-114A8CA1D614EC70.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2013|title=Christ Community opens interactive kids playground|work=The Beacon News|date=28 June 2006|first=Michael J.|last=Murschel|accessdate=9 June 2012}}St. Charles, Illinois

''Luckey'' (documentary)

Filmmaker Laura Longsworth made a 2008 documentary, Luckey.{{IMDb title|1403857|Luckey}} The film appeared at a number of festivals, including SxSW{{cite web|url=http://sxsw.com/node/1296|title=Emerging Visions: Introducing Luckey|work=sxsw.com|author=jim|date=12 March 2009|accessdate=6 June 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228173837/http://sxsw.com/node/1296|archivedate=28 December 2013}} and the Independent Film Festival of Boston,{{cite news|url=http://www.loadedgunboston.com/2009/03/interview-luckey-filmmaker-laura.html|title=Luckey filmmaker Laura Longsworth|accessdate=6 June 2012|date=31 March 2009|first=Sam|last=Baltrusis|work=Loaded Gun Boston}} and garnered the Special Jury Award for Artistic Portrait at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.fanlight.com/catalog/films/550_luck.php |title=Luckey by Laura Longsworth|publisher=Fanlight Productions|accessdate=18 June 2012}} and Best Documentary Feature at the Indie Memphis Film Festival.{{cite news|url=http://www.memphisflyer.com/SingAllKinds/archives/2009/10/11/indie-memphis-film-fest-award-winnersencore-screenings|title=Indie Memphis Film Fest: Award Winners/Encore Screenings | work=Memphis Flyer|date=11 October 2009|first=Chris|last=Herrington|accessdate=6 June 2012}} The film has also been shown on the Sundance Channel.{{cite web|url=http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500532701/|title=Luckey|publisher=Sundance Channel listings|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223132948/http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500532701/|archivedate=2011-12-23}}

References

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