Articles
DesignIntelligence, March 2010
“Rescuing the Next Generation”
Written by Larry Speck
If architecture is to stay fresh and progressive, it needs a continual infusion of new professionals. Although it’s difficult to conceive of hiring during this era of layoffs, we can’t afford to lose the talent that the next generation has to offer.
Architect, November 2008
“A Higher Education”
Written by Larry Speck
The narrow, politicized ivory towers of yesterday have been replaced by architecture schools that value diversity of thought and practice.
Urban Land, October 2008
“Houston’s New Park: Discovery Green”
Project: Discovery Green
Written by Larry Speck
Discovery Green, a $122 million, 12-acre (4.9 ha) park with a lake, a restaurant, and a cafe located amid commercial and residential towers in downtown Houston, is the product of efforts by civic leaders who envisioned a new kind of urban park – one that would draw together the city’s diverse, cosmopolitan population.
The park, which [...]
The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 20, 2008
“An Architect Asks: Should Colleges Erect ‘Buildings of Our Time’?”
Written by Larry Speck
I love old buildings. There is nothing I like better than puttering around in a Gothic cathedral or climbing through Inca ruins in Peru or even reading in my all-time favorite library — a hundred-year-old Cass Gilbert building on my own campus. Part of what I love about these old buildings is that they connect [...]
Tribeza, October 2007
“Seeing Is Believing”
Written by Larry Speck
Think Like an Architect is a refreshingly personal book. Though it clearly fulfills its intention to “communicate ways to give the necessary care to designing buildings that’s needed to enhance the quality of life for the people who live with them as well as the environment around them,” it is also a warm and intimate [...]
Tribeza, October 1, 2003
“Perspective”
Written by Larry Speck
Two-and-a-half years ago I wrote a short piece for the first issue of TRIBEZA describing briefly the potentials, challenges and immediate outlook for architecture and urban design in Austin. Those were heady days in early 2001 when this City seemed ready to accomplish anything it set its mind to. Ambitious new museums, performing arts venues, [...]
Architecture, November 2002
“Elevated Study”
Written by Larry Speck
A quiet home addition provides space for contemplation
Architecture, September 2001
“Cool Jazz”
Written by Larry Speck
Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam riff on historic New Orleans architecture in their design for a new dormitory at Tulane University.
Architecture, May 1, 2001
“Taft Architects”
Written by Larry Speck
Taft Architects develops a new take on the postmodern sensibility that made the firm famous.
Architecture, January 1, 2001
“Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse and Federal Building, Beckley, West Virginia”
Written by Larry Speck
CRITIQUE The new Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Beckley, West Virginia, is an unapologetic homage to the architecture of another era. The General Services Administration jury that selected its design in a 1995 limited competition lauded its reference to 1930s WPA style, which they considered to produce “an extremely successful [...]