In this video by the AIA, Marlon Blackwell, one of Arkansas’ foremost architects, speaks on the importance of small projects in an architect's career. “I only really worked on small projects at the beginning…that was doing everything…The scale of the site, the scale of the model, the scale of the hand…the beauty of the small project is that you can work at all of those many scales," says Blackwell. “The smaller projects are the beginning of the development of a language in architecture. I see it not as a benign or banal thing but as the beginning of taking yourself from where you are to where you want to be.”
Blackwell goes on to talk about the Keenan Tower House, illustrating its importance as a small project at the start of his career. Blackwell mentions all of the decisions made in the process of designing the Tower House, from the material choices to the control of heights.
Read more about the Tower House here, and check out our interview with Marlon Blackwell here.
