Larry Speck

A month or so ago I gave the kick-off talk at the Building Enclosure Council National Symposium, taking a very quick and dirty look at two kinds of history of building enclosures.  I have had a keen interest in building enclosures since I co-chaired the Technology Conference for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture with Andrew Vernooy in 2001, which we titled “Building Skins:…

When I travel, I love to just hang out and observe urban life – how cities support the predispositions of their residents and how city dwellers embrace their environments.  I’m happy as a clam watching how crowds behave and spying on urban pedestrian life.  Such was this case a couple of months ago when I visited Quebec City.  I kept asking myself: why is it so enjoyable to be in a place that has…

In a March 2014 blog, I discussed the construction and design of the new University of Texas Pan Am Performing Arts Center in the Rio Grande Valley.  Now the building is complete and this spring saw its first concert.  Following a punch list that was accomplished over the summer, the complex has opened full blast this fall.

Several weeks ago, I hosted a reception at my loft in Austin for Jhane Barnes, the very well known fashion designer.  I greatly admire her clothing and sense of design and was delighted to have an opportunity to talk with her for a bit before the event.  Combing through my closet earlier, I had found two outdated, thoroughly worn pieces, among the clothes I had that were designed by her: one a…

I’m always struck by the list of credits in movies.  I love the way that everyone who contributes to the success of the film gets acknowledged.  Making a building requires the same kind of complex collaborative enterprise as making a movie, yet for some reason, we have this crazy convention of crediting only a single architect by name. I’m writing an article for A+U about the Kimbell Museum in…

Recently, I experienced a sort of cosmic convergence of unrelated things happening.   First, an 18-year old undergraduate student came to my office to discuss an essay he’s writing about a building of his choosing that he admires.  He chose the Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW).  Initially, I thought that was a dubious selection, but he explained beautifully what he admired from a lay perspective.…

In a data-driven world, why don’t we, as architects, gather more data about the performance of our buildings—particularly in the form of post-occupancy evaluations?  Wouldn’t it be a potent tool for advocacy of the importance of our profession if we could demonstrate the positive impact of what we do in a language our culture is accustomed to using? Our office recently conducted a post-occupancy…

I had a crystalizing moment at the Texas Society of Architects convention in Houston last week. On Friday afternoon I attended the recognition ceremony for Newly Registered Architects that was held in a lovely historic church a few blocks from the convention center.  I had been part of initiating this  ceremony as president of TxA last year when we did the inaugural event of this sort in a fine…

While in Michigan recently, I paid a visit to two new and strikingly different museums, both designed by well known architects: the Broad Museum by Zaha Hadid at Michigan State University, and the University of Michigan Art Museum by Allied Works. After visiting both, it reminded me why it’s important for architects to find opportunities for work that are sympathetic to what they do. Located on a…

I love to revisit significant architectural projects over and over in their mature years to see how they are working and how people are using them.  Alvar Aalto was fond of saying he wanted his buildings to be judged by how they looked after 50 years.  I think that is a good yardstick. I had that opportunity to do the 50+ year test recently when I spent a morning walking around Lafayette Park in…

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the construction site for our new UT Pan American Performing Arts Center.  We’re using load-bearing masonry walls, and at this stage, with the project half-complete, the building has the look of a modern-day Roman ruin.  I love this stage of construction when the structure is coming out of the ground and turning into interesting forms and spaces.  The whole…

Having started my career with several construction jobs working for building contractors, I have always had a keen interest in how the construction industry works. The movement to construction management a couple of decades ago has certainly changed the way buildings get built. Contractors are often primarily coordinators who self-perform little of the work, leaving the primary job of building to…

As an architecture and engineering firm, how do you step up your game periodically?  In the life of a practice, it's important to take a snapshot and reflect upon various considerations, and that's what we've done in creating the new Page whose name and logo were revealed December 16. It's been a process of renewal, of rethinking our ambitions, our identity, direction, and values to communicate…

Why is it, as architects, we seem to focus exclusively on just one person’s role in the making of buildings?  To read most of our professional publications, you would think a single mind conceives these things, and then they magically happen. Just as the credits roll for several minutes at the end of a movie, the architectural profession should find a way to acknowledge the teams of people…

Several years ago, I visited the Weissenhof Estate, an experimental residential complex built on a hillside outside Stuttgart in 1927.  Some of the most recognizable names in 20th century architecture were contributors to the buildings and the project’s success, including Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Peter Behrens, among others.  Their goal was to provide affordable housing, something…

A recent article by Aaron Betsky in Architect magazine took issue with a New York Times-sponsored program called the Energy For Tomorrow Conference.  Betsky was specifically concerned that the Times had not included any "urbanists, planners, or even an architect" but did include "leading urban expert Jeremy Irons." He queried, "What are architects when we're thinking about the future of the…

A few lines in Nicholai Ouroussoff’s recent article in The New York Times about the new Parrish Art Museum particularly caught my attention: “The design is a major step down in architectural ambition.  It suggests the possibility of a worrying new development in our time of financial insecurity.  It is a creeping conservatism – and aversion to risk – that leaves little room for creative…

I was in Italy recently, visiting one of my favorite cities, Volterra, in Tuscany.  I can't go to Italy without admiring how art and architecture speak to each other there and often integrate beautifully.  This is constantly evident in Volterra where the two have a potent and historic dialog.  One particular example is the Duomo, a Romanesque church completed in 1120.  The architecture is solid,…

Increasingly, I’m more interested in what architecture does than just what it is.  In a previous blog, I wrote about the new office building we designed for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE), in Austin, and the use of thermal mass to control temperature.  We’ve now employed those same sustainable principles for a residence in northern New Mexico.  The rammed-earth structure, located outside…

Architectural Record recently gave Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House its Best Public Project: Honor Award in the Good Design Is Good Business: China competition and published it on the cover. http://archrecord.construction.com/ar_china/China_Awards/2012/Guangzhou-Opera-House/Guangzh...

It is hot and humid as hell in most of Texas at the moment.  The current conditions call into question whether our normal way of dealing with summer heat (using primarily insulation and air conditioning for cooling) is the only economical and ecological approach to these climate extremes. I became interested using high thermal mass as an alternative while traveling in Turkey with my son Sloan…

While in Dallas last week, I took a few minutes to walk from my office to the new Arts District where there are buildings by five Pritzker-Prize-winning architects within sight of each other—Nasher Sculpture Center by Renzo Piano, Meyerson Symphony Center by I.M. Pei, Norman Foster’s Winspear Opera House, Wyly Theater by Rem Koolhaas and, nearby, Thom Mayne’s Museum of Nature and Science.  All of…

I am privileged to serve on the National Advisory Council at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Cranbrook is truly a place like no other—a stimulating, open environment where art, architecture, and design are taught and explored without boundaries. There's a rich dialogue and a consciousness about design that doesn't exist elsewhere.

Designed by the Italian architect, Mario Cucinella, SIEEB is supposed to be one of the "greenest" buildings in China.  It incorporates extensive sunshading, natural ventilation, generous daylighting, solar power, rainwater harvesting, wastewater recycling, ecological materials and intelligent controls.  The energy saving is supposed to be 30% compared to similar buildings.

This is massive--supposed to be the largest airport in the world.  Oddly, however, it is not monumental, just big.  It is relatively easy to navigate given its size, but architecturally it is disappointing.  There is not the variation in spaces that is so memorable at Kansai Airport in a facility of similarly program.  This is just one big statement that keeps going on and on and on.  The…