Tirana East Gate

During my three years working with Pablo Laguarda FAIA at Laguarda Low in Dallas, I spent the most time on the Tirana East Gate project. It's located in the capital city of Albania, a place that I spent much time and truly enjoyed. Pablo recently had the project photographed and he was kind enough to share some of the images with me. The project embodies the dynamic qualities that make Laguarda Low's work in demand around the world.

Arrival sequence

I receive many positive comments about the sculpture that hangs in our entry. It's a piece that I fell in love with upon seeing it for the first time at William Campbell Contemporary Art in Fort Worth. The owners, Bill and Pam Campbell, are great friends and luckily for me (if not them) it remained "in inventory" until I was able to acquire it for my previous office space, where it hung in the conference room. When we recently moved I designed the entry with the piece in mind.

The artist is Tom Hollenback; many of his sculptures use acrylic and steel or wood elements to interact with light. This one is mercurochrome and green acrylic mounted to a frame of standard galvanized metal studs, and thanks to lighting by Jill Klores, it creates beautiful halos and shadows. I especially like the effect when viewing the edges, which glow brightly.

You can follow this link to hear him speak about his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uddNv63Sj6M

Or stop by to see it for yourself...

Our new studio

We have relocated our studio two blocks north on Main Street (third floor of the building on the left above). Like our previous home in the Sinclair Building, our new location in the Western Union building is also in a "Cowtown Moderne" landmark completed in the early 1930's. The interior of our space is still a work in progress- lot's of boxes and some missing lighting- but we're happy to be finally moved in. Our new address is 314 Main Street, Suite 350, Fort Worth TX 76102.

Craft and Modernism

Thanks to my friend Robert Meckfessel FAIA, I was alerted to an absolutely stunning exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on The Venetian Glass of Carlo Scarpa. I was able to see the show last week during a trip to New York. Scarpa was a widely-admired Italian architect responsible for contemporary buildings infused with spirituality. But I was unaware of his innovations in glass-making at Murano, where he "created over two dozen styles, in the process pioneering techniques, silhouettes, and colors that thoroughly modernized the ancient tradition of glassblowing" (quote from the Met's catalogue). It is a reminder of the role of arts and crafts in early Modernism (notably at the Bauhaus), much of which seemed to fall by the wayside during later eras. The exhibit is simply stunning. If you find yourself in NYC before it closes on March 2nd I recommend that you see it for yourself.