The Indicator: When Architects Attack
When Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times, gives a bad review there is the sense that he is essentially dismantling a building, chipping its façade apart, like breaking down some charade in defense of the public’s honor. Like a hired killer he disappears the architecture, but at the same time heightens its visibility in the culture.
This ability, to provoke in such ways, is precisely why Thom Mayne would like to bar Mr. Hawthorne from taking a crack at reviewing the new building he and his firm, Morphosis designed for the firm’s new offices.
On a recent tour of the new digs, Mayne, as reported in The Architect’s Newspaper, was overheard saying, “There are no good writers in Los Angeles” and “All local writers are horrible.” To add further insult, he wants a science writer to cover it. That should be a short review.
The Connected City Design Challenge
Aiming to build awareness of urban design solutions capable of shaping Dallas forward, The Connected City Design Challenge is asking participants to develop a more refined and specific strategy for connecting the downtown and river, and assist in securing future public and private investment. By empowering both designers and citizens, The Challenge will work to realize integrated solutions that improve the livability and viability of our city. In order to secure the most capable design talent and facilitate a variety of solutions, this will be structured as a competitive process consisting of two idea streams: a professional stream and an open stream. Requests for qualifications are due May 9 for the professional stream and for the open stream, the deadline for submissions is October 3. For more information, please visit here.
Like a Houseboat / Shipley Architects
Architects: Shipley Architects
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Architect In Charge: Dan Shipley
Builder: Rick Fontenot of Constructive General Contractors
Client: Rick & Julie Fontenot
Area: 1,490 sqm
Year: 2008
Photographs: Charles Davis Smith
Webb Chapel Park Pavilion / Cooper Joseph Studio
Architects: Cooper Joseph Studio
Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
Project Team: Wendy Evans Joseph, FAIA (Principal in Charge), Chris Cooper, AIA (Principal in Charge), Chris Good (Project Manager / Design Team), Read Langworthy (Design Team)
Area: 903 sq ft
Year: 2012
Photographs: Eduard Hueber
Klyde Warren Park / The Office of James Burnett
Architects: The Office of James Burnett
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Year: 2012
Photographs: Dillon Diers Photography, Aerial Photography, Inc, Courtesy of The Office of James Burnett
Update: Nasher Sculpture Center Controversy
As an update to the article we posted several months ago regarding the disputed ‘hot spot’ in Dallas between Renzo Piano‘s Nasher Sculpture Center and the adjacent residential tower, the controversy is still a hot issue. The reflection caused by the sculpture center is still something they have not been able to solve. Any solution will be costly and difficult. The Nasher people have recommended louvers covering the tower’s south face. The tower people say that this will require a computer-generated engine for every window, about two years to study, even more time to install. And it may not work. More information after the break.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science / Morphosis
Architects: Morphosis
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Director Of Technology & Bim: Synthesis
Associate Architect: Good Fulton & Farrell
Structural Engineer: Datum Engineers
Consulting Structural Engineer: John A. Martin Associates, Inc.
Mechanical Electrical Plumbing Engineer: Buro Happold
Civil Engineer: URS Corporation
Area: 16,722 sqm
Year: 2012
Photographs: Iwan Baan, Courtesy of Morphosis
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge / Santiago Calatrava
Architects: Santiago Calatrava
Location: Dallas, USA
Completion: 2012
Lenght of Bridge: 367,6 m (1,206 ft)
Height of Pylon: 136 m (446 ft)
Photographs: Alan Karchmer
Dallas’s Disputed “Hot Spot”
The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas designed by Renzo Piano and the neighboring 42-story Museum Tower are embroiled in a dispute revolving around the adverse effects of glare reflecting into the Nasher’s interior gallery and garden. Currently in mediation over possible solutions, the topic certainly brings to light the implications involved in highly glazed high-rise construction and the surrounding buildings. More details after the break.
Thousands celebrate Santiago Calatrava’s new Dallas Bridge
Thousands gathered Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of Santiago Calatrava‘s Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge that connects east and west Dallas seamlessly over the Trinity River. A parade of builders, including everyone from those to poured the concrete to Calatrava himself, were the first to march across the new Dallas icon, followed by nearly 16,000 other people. Although the bridge is still not quite ready for vehicular traffic, the city celebrated its commencement with an impressive display of fireworks. Continue reading for more.
AD Classics: Rachofsky House / Richard Meier & Partners Architects
The most satisfying part of the Rachofsky House is that it is not a museum. There is no real reason why it shouldn’t be, considering the multitude of visitors and school fieldtrips that frequent the 11,000 square-foot, three-story building week in and week out. But the House remains a 100% private residence, still owned by Mr. Rachofsky and operated by a small staff. This all lends to a very unique and personal experience for the visitor, because not only does the intimacy of a house enrich one’s interaction with the art, but the lessened formal pressure allows for greater exploration of space and more appreciation to the architectural detail.
Urban Reserve 22 / Vincent Snyder Architects
Architects: Vincent Snyder Architects
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Project Team: Vincent Snyder, Jon Geib
Structural Engineer: Lobsinger & Potts Structural Engineer Inc.
Contractor: Urban Edge Developers
Project Year: 2007
Project Area: 3900 sqf
Photographs: Chuck Smith Photography
Texas Society of Architects’ 25-Year Award Presented to I. M. Pei & Partners’ Fountain Place
Each year the Texas Society of Architects recognizes a building that was completed 25-50 years ago which they believe has “stood the test of time by retaining its central form, character, and overall architectural integrity”. This year, the prestigious honor is awarded to Fountain Place, designed by Henry Cobb of I. M. Pei & Partners and completed back in 1986 in Dallas, Texas.
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts / Allied Works Architecture
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a building that supports the production of young artists. Where the school excels in the academic preparation of its students, it aspires to forge rigorous, creative thinkers and makers in spaces that inspire ideas and provoke experimentation and production. The 200,000 sqf expansion to the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, designed by Allied Works Architecture, includes areas for the core programs of music, dance, theater, and visual arts, as well as spaces for assembly and traditional academic instruction. The expansion is organized as simple loft spaces of concrete, brick and glass that rotate around and extend outward from an open-air central amphitheater, known to students as the ‘Green Room’. The program clusters are contained in distinct volumes that provide individual identity yet overlap adjacent disciplines in plan and section. Project description, images and drawings following the break.
Architects: Allied Works Architecture
Location: 2501 Flora St, Dallas, Texas, USA
Project Team: Brad Cloepfil (Principal), Chris Bixby (Project Lead), David Suttle (Project Architect)
Project Area: 202,000 sqf
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Jeremy Bittermann and Vicky Sambunaris
The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center / Overland Partners
Architects: Overland Partners
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Project area: 75,000 sq. ft.
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of Overland Partners
Architecture City Guide: Dallas
Dallas is hosting both the Super Bowl this coming Sunday and this weeks Architecture City Guide! If you are heading there for the big game be sure to take a look at our list of buildings featured after the break. We want to hear from you, so take a minute to add your favorite can’t miss buildings in Dallas in our comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: Dallas list and corresponding map after the break!
Dallas Public Library Lochwood Branch / Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle
The site for the Dallas Public Library Lochwood Branch, is bound by a strip mall, apartment complex, and residential neighborhood, which presented significant contextual opportunities. The design centers on addressing each context, as well as the library’s programming needs, through directing and screening views and considering varied levels of scale.
More photographs and drawings of the library designed by Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle following the break.
Architects: Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd.
Location: Dallas, Texas, USA
Associate Architect: FKP Architects, Inc.
Mechanical and Electrical Engineers: M.E.P. Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Structural Engineer: Datum Gojer Engineers, LLC
Civil Engineer: Pacheco Koch Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Talley Associates, Inc.
General Contractor: J.C. Commercial
Project Area: 20,000 sqf
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Charles Davis Smith
Winspear Opera House / Foster + Partners
Location: Dallas, USA
Architects: Foster + Partners
Team: Norman Foster, Spencer de Grey, Stefan Behling, Michael Jones, James McGrath, Bjørn Polzin, Laszlo Pallagi, Morgan Fleming, Leonhard Weil, John Small, Ingrid Sölken, Hugh Whitehead, Francis Aish
Client: AT+T Performing Arts Center
Collaborating Architect: Kendall Heaton Associates
Main Contractor: Linbeck Construction
Acoustician: Sound Space Design
Theatre Consultant: Theatre Projects Consultants
Structural Engineers: Buro Happold, Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers
Services Engineers: Battle McCarthy, CHP & Associates
Dallas Cowboys Stadium / HKS
The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium, designed by the HKS Sports & Entertainment Group opened June 6 for it’s first public event. The new venue, located in Arlington, Texas, is the home of the Dallas Cowboys, one of the National Football League’s (NFL) most watched teams in the USA.
At over 3 million-square-foot and a capacity of up to 100,000 fans it is the largest NFL venue ever built, and maybe one of the most spectacular stadiums worldwide. You can read more key highlights after the break and more images of the stadium.
Museum of Nature and Science / Morphosis
A few days ago, Thom Mayne unveiled his $185 million museum design for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science at Victory Park in Dallas, which is set for groundbreaking later this fall. ”As instruments of education and social change, museums have the potential to shape our understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live…As our global environment faces ever more critical challenges, a broader understanding of the interdependence of natural systems is becoming more essential to our survival and evolution. Museums dedicated to nature and science play a key role in expanding our understanding of these complex systems,” explained Mayne.
More about the museum after the break.
All about the construction of the Wyly Theater
The folks at Art & Seek published a video with interesting insights on the construction of the Wyly Theater in Dallas, TX designed by REX | OMA, which is almost complete.
You can see interesting details on the facade and the engineering behind one of the most innovative contemporary theaters. Follow the link to see to whole video.
