Architecture

  • Zero net carbon buildings are possible now. An industry game changer describes how Architecture 2030’s ZERO Code is a pathway for architects and clients.

    Ed Mazria, FAIA, is an architect who has been called “game changer” since the early 2000s. That’s when he saw, in energy data, just how much buildings were contributing to emissions. He recognized then the leadership opportunity for the architectural profession. Mazria is still crunching numbers and pushing the industry toward greater, faster impact. Today,…

  • A Step Up

    Old East Dallas is a mix of historic homes, mid-century and newly built multifamily buildings, and empty lots. A great deal of empty lots. For now, the lots at the corner of Burlew and Scurry streets are relatively empty as well. In some places, they’re even prairie-like. But development signs stipple the landscape, some of…

  • Houston Endowment Headquarters International Design Competition

    Houston Endowment (HE), a leading Houston philanthropic organization, and design competition organizers Malcolm Reading Consultants, recently launched the global search for an outstanding design team of architects and landscape architects for HE’s new headquarters. The center, circa 40,000 s.f., will be HE’s new public face and will provide dedicated space for the organization’s team and community…

  • Gensler Designs Texas’ First Full Mass Timber Building in Fredericksburg

    The first full mass timber structure in the nation to use southern yellow pine cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels is set for completion in September 2019. Designed by Gensler’s Dallas office, the First United Bank in Fredericksburg has the distinction of being the first full mass timber construction project to be completed in Texas as well…

  • House Bill 4342 Moves Ahead

    Following an April 16 hearing, House Bill 4342 was approved by the House Public Education Committee the next day. HB 4342 now advances with the committee’s full support. HB 4342 would add a licensed architect to the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC) Board of Directors. TxSSC is the official, university-supported research center at Texas State whose mission is to…

  • Let’s Keep it Complicated

    Equity. Diversity. Inclusion. I heard these powerful, complicated words reduced to the acronym “EDI” for the first time last week at a meeting — and while this signal of ubiquitous discussion encourages me, I felt the abbreviation packages them up a little too neatly. What does it mean for an organization to value diversity? How…

  • Five ways architects can protect their data

    As data privacy concerns make headlines, architects should consider how much they share when specifying products Building products have always made up a significant portion of construction project budgets, and the specification of those materials takes up a large amount of architects’ time. But while product selection was once generic and took place in a…

  • Form and Function: Fort Bend County Library System’s New Mission Bend Branch

    About AUTOARCH AUTOARCH Architects, LLC is a comprehensive, woman-owned and Houston-based architectural and planning firm with more than 28 years of experience. In close to three decades, they have successfully focused on designing buildings for education and institutional clients, with projects in K-12, higher education, career and technology. Through their emphasis in their approach on…

  • Reach peak performance by embracing your inner engineer

    To design for optimal energy efficiency, architects must embrace early collaboration with engineers and energy modelers. As architects, we can design our buildings in a way that celebrates sustainability and energy efficiency and best leverages the skills of mechanical engineers and energy modelers. We can find opportunity for strong aesthetics and sensitivity to users while also celebrating…

  • Six services architects provide on residential projects

    Many prospective homeowners remain uncertain as to how an architect can influence and benefit a residential design project. The following are six distinct and valuable services your architect will typically provide. Programming The initial phase in which the architect and homeowner discuss the goals, needs, and function of the project; design expectations and available budget;…

  • Austin Gets Its First Composite Cross-Laminated Timber Structure

    The site on East 6th Street just one block east of Interstate 35 is one of many patches of dirt undergoing rapid development in Austin today. Once occupied by an unpaved auto lot and an automotive garage, nearly half a city block is in the midst of a transformation that will bring five stories and…

  • Texas Bullet Train Moves Forward, Triggering New Round of Station Proposals

    In August 2017, TCP announced that Fluor Enterprises and The Lane Construction Corporation had been added to the project, pooling their expertise in civil infrastructure to refine and update the rail line’s construction and sequencing; provide scheduling, cost estimates and procurement; and engage in other design and engineering activities. In December 2017, after nearly four…

  • Understanding technology’s role in an uncertain construction economy

    Construction growth remains sluggish; for architects, embracing technology’s role in the numbers, as well as in design, can make a difference The economy continues to be strong overall, yet construction continues the two-steps-forward-one-step-back momentum it has seen for most of the recovery. According to the latest data analyzed by ConstructConnect, the overall economy weakened in the first…

  • Blending art and science: How automated design saves AEC projects time and money

    From Arup to SimpsonHaugh and Partners, architects are reaping the efficiencies of automated design. AIA partner Bentley Systems explores what’s happening and what’s to come. As most designers know, architecture is a blend of art and science. The architectural design process requires the designer to synthesize a lot of varied information and evaluate all possible ideas. Automated…

  • Seven ways small firms can help change the world

    According to the US Energy Information Administration, buildings account for 44.6 percent of United States CO2emissions. As the architects who design those buildings, how can we continue to protect the world we care about? And what can architecture firms do to help? Thomas Jacobs, AIA, has been working on those very questions. As the past chair…

  • Innovative ventures highlight opportunities and pitfalls for newer firms that can be mitigated with help from the AIA Trust.

    Last fall, AIA held a two-day summit called the Practice Innovation Lab (PIL). Hosted by the Young Architects Forum, emerging professionals from around the country met to develop new models for architectural practice in intensive team-based charrettes that yielded surprising results. Chief among the conclusions was that the next generation of architects will not be content to settle for…

  • Rios Clementi Hale Studios Selected to Redesign Houston’s Jones Plaza

    Houston First Corporation has selected Rios Clementi Hale (RCH) Studios to redesign downtown Houston’s Jones Plaza, unveiling one of the first specific transformations proposed by the 2015 Theater District Master Plan. The Los Angeles-based RCH Studios prevailed in a two-stage selection process, beating out a group of finalists that included Hood Studio (Oakland, California); Office…

  • Dallas Center for Architecture Moves Downtown and Rebrands as “AD EX”

    In 2009, the newly established Dallas Center for Architecture was featured in Architectural Record. The article, by former TA editor Stephen Sharpe, Hon. AIA, discussed the challenge of attracting people to the space. The solution was a faceted glass wall facing the storefront and lit by an “enigmatic sequence of intense colored light.” The center…

  • Morphosis Tapped to Design Texas Tech Universiteum

    With the exception of Marfa, it’s a tall order to find modernist architecture gracing the vast horizon of West Texas. However, an announcement from the Museum of Texas Tech University indicates that will change, at least in Lubbock to start. Museum leadership has selected one of the most innovative architecture firms in the country —…