Douglas Newby Insights - Page 32
Squint of Sunlight
West sunlight in Texas can make one squint. Here the home designed by Max Levy in 1988 does the squinting for you. Slivers of glass between bookshelves allow light but does not allow harsh sunlight to overpower the person or the room. Here is a delightful detail that makes a major impact on the home visually and environmentally.
#Bookshelves #Sunlight #Texas #TexasArchitecture #TexasModern #ModernArchitecture #Modern #Design #Architecture #Architect #Dallas #CityHouse #art
Agrarian and Urbane
In 1988 Max Levy designed a modern home with agrarian influences. Gabled roofs reflect Texas as does the front porch. The trellised front porch creating a transition to the landscape is a Max Levy interpretation of this classic form. Regarding the design, Max Levy suggests, “Urbane detailing, like an Aaron Copland piece of music, acknowledges the city.”
#MaxLevy #HomesThatMakeUsHappy #TexasModern #DallasArchitecture #DallasArchitect #TexasArchitecture #Architect #Architecture #Design #Trellis #FrontPorch #PrestonHollow #Modern #ModernArchitecture #Dallas #CityHouse
Max Significance
Max Levy has emerged as a link to the great architects of the past, i.e., Bud Oglesby and Frank Welch, and those younger architects joining him in winning awards now. My first thoughtful exploration of Max Levy, FAIA, and his work came when I chaired the Dallas AIA 50th Anniversary, 50 Significant Homes project. Discovering and reviewing significant homes in Dallas built in the 20th century, I came to see Max as an architect that embraced and was inspired by the nuance and broad strokes of nature, while loving the city and designing the homes for Dallas. My appreciation of Max’s work and approach has only grown as I have watched his work over the last 25 years. This Preston Hollow home provided my first Max revelation when it was selected as a significant home. It made me much more aware of Max’s architectural affection for sunlight and the effects sunlight can have in a house and on a house. In Texas, diffused light has always been important. Max illuminated this aspect of architecture by distinctly emphasizing sunlight and shadows. The play of light is a constant theme in the homes he has designed over the 30 years since this Preston Hollow home was built. While each home is distinctly different, reoccurring themes appear in his work. I will be doing a series of ten city houses Max has designed the last 30 years. In addition to sunlight, we will see houses that submit to the landscape and houses that define a featureless lot; homes that are respectful of the neighborhood and simultaneously advance design; we will see homes that redefine a neighborhood and increase its value. Finally, we will see how Max accentuates the brilliance of another architect’s design, further complimenting that design when renovating and adding onto an architecturally significant home.
Dallas has many extraordinary architects whose work can be seen regionally and across the country. These architects have been influenced by many of the same influences and each other. Max Levy’s always probing and evolving work will continue to have impact on architects and architecture for decades and, I am confident, for generations.
#MaxLevy #Architecture #Architect #Modern #Dallas
SMU Backyard
For years we have thought of a beautiful SMU campus as being entered by Bishop Boulevard and surrounded by Highland Park and University Park. The surrounding perimeter was equally beautiful, made up of architect-designed homes and churches. These included the Mark Lemmon designed, architecturally significant, Normandy style home on Mockingbird, the elegant Methodist Church architect Mark Lemmon designed on Hillcrest, and the University Park neoclassical and Georgian homes on the other side of SMU continuing the look of the SMU sorority houses close by. Now all of that has changed. Rather than from Highland Park, entering SMU on Bishop Boulevard, looking at the domed Dallas Hall at the end of the vista, one now enters SMU Boulevard from Central Expressway or Greenville Avenue and continues through a corridor of athletic fields, stadiums, arenas and operational plants before the academic buildings begin. The shift in the organization and physical layout of this growing campus also means SMU is now surrounded by a much different environment than Highland Park homes. SMU is now adjacent to bars, commercial buildings, mass transit tracks, power plants, mid-rise apartments, and an urban edge. An academic sanctuary has penetrated the bubble and becomes an urban campus with an urban edge!
#SMU #SMUCampus #SMUParkingLot #UrbanEdge #Dallas #KatyTrail #PathToTrinityGroves #CampusPlan #Architect #Architecture @SMUDallas #urbanplanning #urbanuniversity
Spirit of Dallas
When one thinks about a city- artists, writers, poets, architects, critics, academics, and art enthusiasts come to mind. Salons, studios, galleries, talks, readings also come to mind. In contrast, Dallas is often perceived as a slicker city where finance trumps fashion and corporate headquarters trump collective gatherings, and sport trumps art. Scratch this glossy view of Dallas and one finds culture, street and high fashion, all deeply and intimately imbedded in Dallas. It has been this way for almost 100 years, from the early gathering in the 1930’s that included architects like O’Neil Ford and society writer Margaret McDermott, to the Art Happenings in the 1960’s, to the parties hosted by James Surls and the Tremont Artists in the 1970’s. In the 1980’s, Dee Mitchell and a couple of his friends began a New Year’s Day celebration that became a tradition every year including this year, January 1, 2019. One walks into this party to start the year and is exhilarated by the setting of a Ron Wommack architect-designed home in a hidden part of Old East Dallas overlooking the Santa Fe bike trail. The space is filled with guests that range from edgy artists in their 20’s to equally edgy artists that might be characterized as seasoned. While many people on New Year’s Day are cheering on their favorite football team playing in bowl games, here I find myself cheering Dallas. What fun it is to see cultural icons from the 1960’s to the present. Artists that came to Dallas from around the world, gallery owners, art patrons, architects, writers, photographers, tastemakers, and those that add cultural vibrancy to the city. Every year the party is fresh and evolves. Every guest is welcome to extend an invitation to their friends. The result is a diverse group with a passion for art and culture. Even better than a New Year’s resolution is a reminder that it will be a better year if we are thinking about art.
#deemitchell @charlesdeemitchell @WommackRon #Artist #NewYearsDay #Dallas #Architect #Architecture #Design #SantaFeTrail #PathToTrinityGroves #DallasNeighborhoods #portraitphotography #patron
Dog Espresso’d
While not an enthusiastic admirer of coffee shots, I cannot resist posting this single origin espresso pour of a dog by Neal at HoundsTooth, one of his last at the Henderson location. He and Natalie, who have graciously energized, engaged, and charmed their clientele, have moved to the HoundsTooth Walnut Hill location where I am sure the coffee continues to be great and Natalie continues as a face of HoundsTooth as the shopkeeper.
#Espresso #HoundsTooth #Natalie #EspressoDesign #CoffeeDesign #CupOfEspresso #HoundsToothHenderson #HoundsToothWalnutHill #Dallas #Design #Dog #Neighborhood @nataliehasty
Allée to Art
I love the shaded mystery found in formal or informal allées. As a final approach to the Kimbell Art Museum, I love how this allée is delicate, modern, light, and inviting. It stimulates the senses and enhances the exhilaration of entering the museum.
#Art #Allée #Approach #Trees #LandscapeDesign #LandscapeDesigner #Landscape #Museum #ArtMuseum #KimbellArtMuseum #FortWorth #LouisKahn #LandscapeArchitect #Architect #Architecture #Path #design
Barrel Vault and Water
We see barrel vaults everywhere, but the only barrel vault so firmly etched in my mind are those at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth designed by Louis Kahn. It is hard to think of a barrel, even when it is above us, and not think of wine, whiskey, water, or a cask of some sort. There is a resolution to this barrel vault as we get to see water alongside it, as if this barrel vault actually contains the water, even from its inverted position.
#BarrelVault #LouisKahn #Design #Architecture #Architect #KimbellArtMuseum #KimbellMuseum #Museum #Water #FortWorth #Art #landscape #landscapedesign #landscapearchitecture
Groomed Texas Prairie
What a nice approach to the Louis Kahn designed Kimbell Art Museum with the Renzo Piano designed addition to the museum at one’s back. So often museums have esplanades of concrete or stone, or they are ceremoniously overplanted. The Kimbell Art Museum may be the only museum that transcends the traditional rivalry between Dallas and Fort Worth because both cities take such great pride in this destination museum and cultural landmark. I love that one is immediately reminded we are in the plains of Texas, not the hill country of Austin, or in the canyons of Amarillo. Just as plains go dormant and a horizon becomes endless, this approach provides no distraction to the anticipation of seeing the architectural genius of Louis Kahn and the wonderful permanent art collection inside the museum.
#LouisKahn #Landscape #LandscapeDesign #MuseumApproach #Architect #Architecture #Texas #Plains #Horizon #Design #FortWorth #Museum #KimbellArtMuseum #design
Balenciaga Custom Fitting
What a surprise to see me in this reflection at the Balenciaga in Black Exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum. I have stood for Savile Row suit fittings and this is what this shot reminded me of. The entire exhibit was a bit of a surprise as it exceeded my expectations. I have an even greater appreciation of black. Exhibited side by side were two Balenciaga-designed dresses of the same design, one in color, one in black. The one in color looked bulbous and overwrought. The one in black looked sinuous and modern.
#Balenciaga #Fashion #Dress #Reflection #Fitting #Bespoke #FortWorth #Design #Museum #Exhibition #Exhibit #KimbellArtMuseum #PeriodFashion #portrait