Larry Speck

Architect and educator Larry Speck writes "Increasingly, I’m more interested in what architecture does than just what it is." He's not alone; there are many who are trying to build houses that by their very design, do something to keep themselves comfortable. It is the opposite of a passive house (not in the passivhaus sense) just sitting there waiting for the thermostat to click on. It's…

Today, outside the small, Oklahoma town of Ada, stands a tight compound of buildings that, at a distance, shimmers like a mirage of some modern native pueblo within the verdant panorama.

The word many architects dread is “renovation”–it usually signals an arduous process of undoing problems another architect either created or didn’t solve.

For an architect, the revitalization of Austin's Waller Creek presents a rare and thrilling opportunity to change and uplift the heart and soul of a city with a lasting and permanent impact. Among the architects vying for a chance to design the new urban space is local architectural giant Larry Speck, an Austinite and UT professor whose handiwork can be seen in such Austin icons as the Town Lake…

The American dream is owning a home, but today developers dream about rentals. In response, architects are creating new concepts in leasable living.

One aspect of a sustainable lifestyle involves becoming more connected to the natural environment. As we have come to depend on conditioned air, we have become separated from the outdoors with its natural sounds, smells, light shifts, breezes and other sensory stimuli. Is it possible to re-inject those phenomenological experiences in our everyday lives by integrating outdoor spaces into the…

The professional portfolio of architect Larry Speck, principal at PageSoutherlandPage, boasts several Texas landmarks, including the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Austin Convention Center and Discovery Green, a new 12-acre park in downtown Houston. Over the last 25 years, his design work has won 33 national design awards, 21 state and regional design awards, and 63 local design awards.…

In designing the largest public facility supported by the Chickasaw government, the architects were charged with treating the hospital as a communal, civic space as well as a medical one.

A secondary glass façade provides sun shading and softens visual boundaries.

The WAN Effectiveness Awards is the first major international competition of its kind, aiming to find the best in architectural design that has profoundly impacted society, transcending the requirements of the client brief and aesthetic appeal. Entrants were asked to demonstrate the ways in which their building has benefited its users, the surrounding community and beyond, in relation to one or…

GSA Field Office - Texan Building Development

The Grove Discovery Green - Texan Landscape

Discovery Green - Texan Building Development

Texas Courthouse Building Development - design by PageSoutherlandPage

Larry Speck, FAIA, the University of Texas-Austin architecture professor and former dean renowned for combining teaching and practice in ways that make architecture accessible and vital to a wide community of students, is the 2011 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education recipient.

Universal healthcare remains a dream for a lot of people in this country, but for the Chickasaw Nation, a Native American tribe in Ada, Okla., it is in effect a reality.

A park cultivates new life in downtown Houston.

Governmental services and agencies can have a very formal and secluded connotation among the public. So when the General Services Administration (GSA) decided to build its new offices in the Houston metro area, it wanted to be a symbol of strength and security for the community, rather than have an ominous presence.