Definitely the Kimball Art Museum by Kahn and The New Modern Art Museum by Ando.

Ando is my very most favorite architect of all times.
BUT for some reason, when I think of Texas, I think of cows.

Dallas has a skyline that not many cities can beat. Ft.Worth is more of a Cowtown while Dallas is full of 100,000 dollar millionaires. Ft.Worth Downtown nightlife happens right in the middle of the business district, while Dallas nightlife occurs in the old warehouse district and now art district of Deep Ellum. The Trinity River is the new focus for future improvement and development. The DART rail is continuing to grow and expand north. Vacant office space in the downtown Dallas area is readily available and fairly cheap. Meanwhile, the idea of urban living has caught on in the last few years resulting residential lofts and condos popping up all around downtown. Traffic is pretty insane, and has recently resulted in a rash of road rage shootings. I’m eagerly awaiting the planned calatrava bridge. IM PEI's work has added a great deal architecturally to the city. I just visited Renzo's Nasher Sculpture center and was slightly disappointed. Kahn's Kimbell is outstanding as is the Ando's Modern across the street.




Are you working on a project in Dallas? Or just curious?

i'd like to hear your rational for disapointment at the Nasher? in relation to your liking of the kimbell the nasher is an architectural equivalent, oppossed to Ando's new musuem which features a commercial exterior, an entry foyer devoid of any scale or function, his lantern gallery's get blasted by low east sun making the large overhangs completely useless. ando could have taken a few more moments to ponder the briallance of the kimbell, much like Piano obviously has.

Well, I haven’t visited the Modern since it has been completed... no comment there.

There is no way the Nasher is an architectural equivalent to the Kimbell. I agree Renzo may have taken some cues from the Kimbell however, he didn't improve on anything. While the layout of the Nasher may minimize sun exposure the ceiling is ridiculous and impractical. When I visited it had just rained so there was rain and wet leaves all over the place. How they clean that I don't know. I was annoyed with the circulation and felt the staircase to the lower level had a lot of wasted space and did not display the work well. Both the indoor and outdoor theatre was a +. Perhaps it’s just me, but I was disturbed by the mats at the main entrances. You step off of a hard concrete surface to a squishy fiber then back on to hardwood. The water feature in the courtyard was enjoyable. I especially liked how the pavement slowly broke up as it went into the pool. I feel more seating places to take in the work could be appropriate. The bamboo looks nice now, but it’s beginning to shoot up throughout the rocks which will eventually destroy the controlled environment that is currently there.

Overall it’s not bad. I'm not a fan modernism in most cases, especially in current architecture. So my opinion is biased. Anyhow, I only spent an hour or so there and looked mainly at the sculpture. I'd need to do some more research to form a better opinion. The Kimbell is far exceeds the Nasher on multiple levels.

thanks, your correct in all your observations, i was just trying to test this discussion thing out and see if i could get some valid responses.
as far as im pei's work you say it has "added a great deal architecturally to the city" do you mean he has built many buildings in dallas or that you like this form of modern architecture.

added note: the head of my school and another current faculty member worked for im pei when they graduated. now your impressed!
sarcasm is a beautiful thing.

"you are" not "your", i'm an idiot

One of the worst professors we have at my school also worked for im pei as an intern. Anyhow, I hope that some day my greatest achievement isn't... "One time, I worked for so and so big shot starchitect."

Fountain Place adds a tremendous bit of character to the Dallas Skyline. The Myerson, and Dallas city hall have added some flavor to the architecture of Dallas. What flavor, well that could be debated.

was it the 'perl' of texas tech?

Dallas-FtWorth International Airport is perfectly Texan. Its big, sprawling, and totally automobile oriented - has a freeway running through the middle of it, every terminal has its own set of on/offramps and parking garage, and the terminals are so large that the only effective way to get from gate to gate is to drive (on one of the little courtesy carts) or ride ridiculous tram that constantly breaks (which is like Mr Toads Wild Ride at Disneyland). Just don't take a late flight - you will find it almost impossible to locate an open bar to nurse a beer if you have a late layover - the entire place closes down by 10:00pm.

Check out Las Colinas near DFW. Its a weird, monumentally huge and ambitious new city. The mustang sculpture plaza is neat.

Fountain Place (I guess is the name): the water garden under an IMPei skyscraper is the most civilized place in Dallas downtown.

and not architectural - the 6th Floor Museum (JFK Memorial). One of the most powerfully curated and moving museums in the US. A must see.

"was it the 'perl' of texas tech?"

I could possibly be bob the builder.

I meant "it could possibly be bob the builder"

I am most defiantly not bob!

You have to experience the Dallas High Five, the most massive freeway system I have seen being constructed. Ah, the car culture of Texas Dallas, Houston, etc.

what's up with painting the Mix Master's concrete green and tan. It looks stupid. Why paint the concrete at all?

The tan would blend into the air. They needed to differentiate it.

They are fixin' to start on another "High Five" in Arlington at 360 and 30. They'll really need that when the Cowboys move to Arlington.

Why would the color tan blend into the air? If the air is color tan, I wouldn't be able to apprciate any colors anyway.

guys and gals thanks for the great feed back. mainly i was just curious. Im a recent graduate from an undergraduate program and im currently working here in dallas, in an office, and i just began wondering what it is that other persuing architects or architects view dallas/ft. worth as. Its definitely very spread out with sprinkles of great architecture here and there.

Who are you working for?

Ft worth? I think bird shit. Last time I was there, the streets were littered with bird poop. Often trees have hundreds of birds in them, and they are everywhere. I also think people there have an inferiority complex against Dallas. They're always bad mouthing Dallas and saying how great their little city is, even though their city is pretty much vacant except for business during the day and bars during the night. Finally, the lights on the buildings are silly, but to them it's no more silly than their big hair and cowboy hats.

I spoke to a CEO of a real estate mongul company there that owns a large proportion of Ft. Worth (the rest is owned by the Bass family), and he said they're having trouble attracting good employees in Ft. worth, so they headquarter in Dallas....

But whether in Dallas or Ft. Worth, the Texans think of themselves as Texans more so than Americans. Their lone star is everywhere: in hotel carpets, on street pavements.... Kinda creepy, I thought.... Sort of like a French Canadian speratist attitude. The Texans are the only ones to have left the Union (though California almost did before).

Urban-wise, Ft. Worth is one of the most spread-out motropolis in the U.S.. So is Boston, believe it or not. But Ft. Worth has none of the "central city" charm that Boston has....

there is a place in deep elleum on main st. a block east of Monicas Aca y Alla that is pretty phat.. i think it is a house, but am not sure, maybe a gallery... the street facade is simply a curved stone wall embededd into a massive piece of corteen steel.. peek through the opening in the wall for an architectural delight..TEJAS, do you have any comments on 'good' architecture in Dallas? Another nice area is lakewood/white rock /lower greenivlle area.. nice historic homes, unfortunately people are buying the historic homes, demolishing them, and building McMansions.. how can this happen!! TEJAS, how is working in an office vs. school??? whish i could tell you, maybe you can hook a brotha up...