Archinect - News

In the face of post-pandemic habits, U.S. cities turn to vernacular design traditions for answers

2024-09-12T07:00:00-04:00

Gone are the days when the easiest way to make an architectural splash was with a shimmering and photogenic stand-alone building, fancy forms torquing this way and that. Along with exploring new takes on regional or vernacular design traditions, the field’s top talents are taking on projects that reimagine existing institutions or public spaces — or forge new links among them.

In a new piece for The New York Times, Yale School of Architecture senior critic Christopher Hawthorne explores how architects are striving to rejuvenate downtown areas across the U.S., where hybrid work schedules and negative perceptions have led to reduced vibrancy.

While converting commercial buildings into residential spaces is a popular strategy, it's not always feasible due to structural constraints, Hawthorne argues. Architects are therefore exploring strategies to entice activity downtown by reimagining existing structures and incorporating regional aesthetics.

Related on Archinect: Foster + Partners' Three Transamerica redesign wins approval in San Francisco. Image credit: dbox, courtesy of Foster + Partners/SHVO

Throughout the New York Times piece, Hawthorne cites examples such as the Seattle Aquarium's Ocean Pavilion by LMN Architects which reconnects the city to its waterfront, the revitalized Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco by Foster + Partners aimed at attracting ...

Frank Lloyd Wright’s stately Westhope home lists for $8 million in Oklahoma

2023-04-21T12:56:00-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright's historic 1929 Westhope home has just hit the market in Oklahoma.

Sage Sotheby’s has the property listed for $8 million in Tulsa, with local real estate investor Stuart Price as the seller.

According to the listing, the 5-bed, 4.5-bath home is 10,405 square feet, making it one of the largest residential projects designed by the architect. It joins two other in Carmel, California and the Phoenix area as Wright designs to have come on the market since the new year. The home is one of only three Wright commissions in Oklahoma between 1929 and the Price Tower in 1956 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 following a 1965 renovation.

Image: Sarah Strunk Photography/Sage Sotheby’s International Realty

Local publishing magnate Richard Lloyd Jones envisioned the home as a “symbol of Tulsa’s future.” The structure features the same “textile blocks” system seen earlier in the Enni...

Tulsa's unique 'Jetsons House' flew off the market faster than Elroy could blink

2022-07-13T14:46:00-04:00

Tulsa hosts a building that looks a lot like George and Jane Jetsons’ home in the cartoon, or perhaps a squat version of Seattle’s Space Needle – shaped like a wheel on its side perched on a stick. The house recently hit the market, with an asking price of $415,000. But unfortunately for any time travelers, it has already been snapped up.

The brainchild of local duo Joe Damer and Jeremy Perkins (who is a licensed architect) has only been on the market since the last week of June and was reportedly purchased by someone looking to convert the 17-year-old home into what promises to be one of Airbnb’s many unique short-term rentals.

Interior image via the realtor listing, courtesy Chinowth & Cohen Realtors.

The 1,386-square-foot Googie design features a 44-foot lift and contributes to the eccentric architecture of the otherwise Art Deco-rich region, which includes other unique designs like the Cave House and BOK Tower, in addition to figures like late University of Oklahoma professor Bruce Goff, who now has his own dedicated annual festival.

A new $51 million Tulsa Arts District proposal will turn a parking lot into a boutique destination

2022-05-27T15:28:00-04:00

Tulsa, Oklahoma’s ongoing transformation into the premier cultural capital of the southern Midwest region may about to get a useful new addition as local news outlets are reporting that Palm Spring-based architect Chris Pardo will design a $51 million mixed-use development located on a blacktop space in the city’s burgeoning Arts District.

“We really do specialize in urban-core redevelopment projects,” a spokesperson for developer Pivot Project recently told the Tulsa World newspaper. “We saw this opportunity for this site right in the middle of the Arts District. … We like to try to effect positive change on the buildings that we renovate, the blocks that we develop on, the neighborhoods we develop in. This site just fit right in our core values as a company.”

enders courtesy of Chris Pardo Design via Tulsaworld

Renders courtesy of Chris Pardo Design via Tulsaworld

Tulsa is in the process of redefining its historic downtown area with a host of major arts and cultural projects that in...

Gilcrease Museum begins demolition ahead of two-year expansion effort

2022-01-27T13:00:00-05:00

An expected temporary closure for the oldest art museum in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area has many vying for the not-too-distant debut of what promises to be an instant architectural icon.

The Gilcrease Museum began demolition of its existing building Tuesday in order to make room for a new 91,300-square-foot facility designed by SmithGroup. The museum closed to the public on July 5th and will reopen again sometime in late 2024.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Philbrook Museum of Art (@philbrookmuseum)

The Gilcrease is undergoing a major expansion project funded by a publicly-supported $65 million capital project called Vision Test. The 73-year-old institution also received an additional gift from a private donor that brought the total to $75 million for the ambitious multi-year effort.

Previously on Archinect: Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum unveils upcoming expansion plans that will connect visitors to the natural world

Tulsa as a city is in the process of addin...

Goff Fest kicks off in Tulsa honoring the life of its late architectural native son

2021-11-04T08:58:00-04:00

The living memory of one of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s biggest drivers of the city’s noteworthy contributions to the visual landscape of 20th-century America is getting its due this weekend in an awesome way.

Goff Fest is about to descend on one of the city’s most important historic landmarks. The Tulsa Club Hotel will host the inaugural edition of a four-day festival honoring the life, work, and legacy of its architect, the late Bruce Goff.

Goff was an architectural prodigy who went on to become one of the Midwest’s most prominent practitioners of Modernism. Most of his extant early buildings were realized in the Tulsa metropolitan area, including the Boston Avenue Methodist Church and Riverside Studio, which are both on the National Register of Historic Places.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by GOFF FEST (@goff_fest)

Organized by Tulsa’s Goff Center of the Continuous Present (GCCP), the festival is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based artist Karl Jones. Jones was...

Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum unveils upcoming expansion plans that will connect visitors to the natural world

2021-06-24T19:18:00-04:00

The Gilcrease Museum has unveiled designs for an expansion of the 72-year-old Tulsa institution as part of a redevelopment plan meant to give its 350 years of collected history an upgraded 21st-century relevance.

The plan will add improved exhibition space for the city-owned museum founded by collector Thomas Gilcrease, a member of the Muscogee tribe who amassed a fortune in Oklahoma's early oil boom.

Aerial view overlooking the new Gilcrease Museum toward downtown Tulsa. Courtesy of Gallagher & Associates and Gilcrease Museum

“We need a space that provides a visitor experience to match the strength of the collection” explained Gilcrease Executive Director Susan Neal.

The soon-to-be razed museum holds a number of Indigenous artifacts and boasts the world’s largest collection of art of the American West in addition to a collection of over 100,000 manuscripts, photographs, and rare books housed by the Helmerich Center for American Research.

SmithGroup is responsible for the design th...

More than a meeting space: Moody Nolan to lead the renovation of Greenwood Cultural Center

2021-04-13T20:19:00-04:00

The importance of rebuilding and reclaiming America's Black communities is essential to honoring and understanding how social justice and design reform can improve the systemic and racial histories of cities across the nation. The Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is no exception.

On June 1, 1921, the deadly and destructive events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is still to date a tragic example of racial violence and domestic terrorism in U.S. history. While the tragedy and loss should not be forgotten and the lives lost continue to be honored, the Greenwood District persevered and rebuilt its community. Now, in 2021 the historic district announces its plans for the renovation of the Greenwood Cultural Center.

On April 12, 2021, the City of Tulsa announced the selection of award-winning architecture firm Moody Nolan to lead the Greenwood Cultural Center's renovation. If you visit the Center's website, it's the following statement that amplifies...

KKT architects envision tornado-shaped tower for downtown Tulsa

2015-03-11T21:34:00-04:00

An old two-story warehouse on 202 S. Guthrie may appear as just another underdeveloped property for people driving through the streets of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. But for locally based Kinslow, Keith & Todd architects, the current 28,000 sq.ft parking structure has enough potential to become the base for a funnel-shaped tower dubbed as the "Tornado Tower."

Considering that Tulsa has a fairly long history of tornadoes, a tornado-shaped tower may not seem so outlandish. KKT architects conjured up the Tornado Tower for Tulsa People magazine's recent "Reimagining downtown" article, which states that KKT wanted to design an iconic Oklahoma-themed building that would open up people's perspectives on buildings and of Tulsa. While some may see it as an ideal space for weather forecasting and research purposes, the tower would surely attract plenty of tourism to the city.

And rightly so. Located near the BOK Center and Cox Business Center, the 250-300 feet tall mixed-use tower would consist o...

Tulsa Mayor Hasn’t Ruled Out a Sidewalk Next to New Flagship Park

2014-12-12T13:54:00-05:00

Earlier this week we reported on Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s decision to prevent construction of a sidewalk on Riverside Drive that would provide walking access to a major new city park. Local advocates say the lack of a sidewalk will make the park harder to get to on foot, and they don’t buy the mayor’s explanation that people will be safer if there’s no sidewalk tempting them to walk.

"Residents who want the sidewalk have charged that the mayor nixed it after wealthy homeowners complained that it would attract “undesirables.”"