Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Steve Chambers, AIA, studying stairwell of new museum

Built in 1967, the university’s first art center was designed by A. Hays Town modeled after the 1812 Hermitage Plantation, an antebellum building in Darrow, Louisiana.  The building is completely surrounded by 24 Doric columns, laid in the Greek Revival manner with bricks covered by plaster, the columns narrowing slightly toward the top.

Town Museum in front of new Hilliard Museum

Originally, this building was a pale pink, an authentic reproduction of a color popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in colonial Louisiana, made by crushing old bricks and mixing the dust with paint.  A. Hays Town used bricks salvaged from Martin Hall, the university’s administration building demolished in 1963, for the costruction of the Art Center, as well as its color.   Mr. Town also utilized the ‘embodied energy’ of the Martin Hall staircase railing and newel post, as well as recycling cypress flooring from a New Orleans convent and slate tiles used as ballast in New Orleans sailing ships for use in the Center.  Whether or not this effort in sustainability was intentional, it was certainly a cutting-edge design decision by Mr. Town.

Original museum reflected in the new museum's exterior glass wall

Contrasting with its predecessor is a modern response designed by Eskew + Dumez + Ripple Architects.  The new building is a steel-frame structure with precast-concrete walls on three sides and a glass curtain wall on the side facing the original Art Center. Depending on time of day and angle from which it is viewed, the glass alternates between reflective and transparent.  Sometimes the viewer sees the old antebellum building in the glass; other times, we see the contemporary ‘bones’ and art of the new museum.

Of particular interest to me on my recent visit there was the stairwell of the new building.  As one ascends to the contemporary art of the second floor, perforated metal walls and cathode tubing cast clean, white light and strobing images. From public spaces on the second floor, visitors can see the outdoor water feature and sculpture garden, as well as the original museum from an unusual vantage point.

When visitors look back at the old building they see the roots of Louisiana’s past. In the new design, they see the creativity and possibilities of its future.  Both A. Hays Town and architecture firm of Eskew + Dumez + Ripple are to be commended for their vision and gift to Lafayette’s diverse cultural landscape.  While the two buildings differ radically, they enhance rather ignore each other.

Town's original museum as seen from second floor of new museum

Eastern exterior view between old and new museums

Outdoor waterwall as seen from inside new museum gift shop

Second floor glass and metal corridor in new museum allows unusual vantage point to view antebellum museum from overhead

Texas’ Most Endangered Places for 2010

San Jacinto Battleground Monument at night

Stephen B. Chambers Architects, Inc. salutes Preservation Texas for the compilation of an annual list of Texas’ Most Endangered Places (MEP).  This program focuses attention on, encourages appreciation of, and generates support for designated significant threatened properties and is vital to preservation.  Many extraordinary schools, missions, courthouses, inner city neighborhoods, and “main street’ communities fall victim to commercial development and neglect.  By creating an ongoing list of endangered places, Preservation Texas manages to fulfill its mission to care for the legacy and built environment of the Texans who lived the rich and varied history of our diverse state.  The MEP program calls attention to and articulates compelling reasons to act while there is still time to save significant places that have the highest probability for positive action.  Chambers Architects remains committed to the belief that preservation of our remarkable built environment is essential to education and lays the foundation for thriving commercial and aesthetic development in all communities.  Preservation Texas is the only private, nonprofit membership organization in Texas that is dedicated to being a full-service statewide preservation organization.   Here is their 2010 List of Texas' Most Endangered Places:

Austin Woman’s Club, also known as Chateau Bellevue, Austin, Travis County
Brazos Drive-In Theatre, Granbury, Hood County
Herff Farm, Boerne, Kendall County
Downtown’s Austin’s Historic Assets, Austin, Travis County
Old Llano County (Red Top) Jail, Llano, Llano County
San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, LaPorte, Harris County
Swenson Swimming Pool and Bathhouse, Spur, Dickens County

To read more and see pictures of these historic properties, go to:
http://www.preservationtexas.org

 

Travel: The McNay Museum, Successful Remodeling Over Time

Steve Chambers at entrance to doors of modern wing of McNay

A forward-thinking Ohio artist, Marian Koogler McNay, provided her San Antonio home, art collection, and considerable endowment to establish the first modern art museum in Texas.  Her Spanish Colonial Revival  house designed in 1927 by the renowned architect, Atlee Ayres, became its core. Today, the meticulously preserved original structure includes additions by O'Neill Ford and a recently completed strikingly modern wing designed by Jean-Paul Viguier.  The McNay provides us with a successful model of how a structure can grow over time through the visions of various architects and still remain honest, expressive, and relevant.  Each addition reveals the character and period of its implementation while maintaining overall integrity and function as a repository of significant modern art, a world-class theater arts library, and an educational facility.

Calder mobile hung in Viguier-designed addition to McNay

Column and arches located in original Ayres Spanish Colonial Revival home design

Hand-stenciled beam and ceiling designed by Marian Koogler McNay in the original Atlee Ayres home

Wrought iron gates in original Ayres-designed Spanish Colonial Revival residence

Detail of solar screens whose design is based on aerial photography of a logjam, located in Vigiuer modern wing

Art Nouveau-inspired floor tiles designed by Marian Koogler McNay

Kusari-Doi, Rain Chains Rediscovered

Rain chain on modern home in Dallas, Texas

Softly falling rain and the distinctive fragrance of rain-soaked air is a delightful experience, appreciated by all cultures.  Our enjoyment of rain has increased with our growing awareness of the limited nature of freshwater as a resource.  This awareness has led to a renewed interest in an ancient Japanese architectural feature, the kusari-doi, or the “rain chain,” in modern architectural design.

The chain functions as a downspout, allowing the water to run down the outside, as opposed to running on the inside of typical pipe.  Functional as well as aesthetic, these devices provide an alternative to closed systems typical used with gutters and are more like water features.  Given their decorative nature, rain chains are often placed where they can be observed and heard during rain events. The chain-gutter increases the enjoyment of seeing and hearing water rhythmically cascade from the rooftop into a barrel, cistern, or decorative splash-block. 

In their simplest, most traditional form, a rain chain is just that – a chain commonly constructed of copper, brass, or steel. The styles range from simple links to elaborate, multiple interlocking links, funnels, and cups. 

In the strictest Japanese tradition, a kusari-doi is considered a “kinetic sculpture” and provides water music which promotes peace and tranquility, as do all of the other Zen arts.  For this reason, rain chains were often used in Buddhist Temple design. 

For more information about sustainable design, please go to our contact page and write or call us with your questions.

Rain chain in front courtyard directs water from roof

Kusari-doi on Japanese building.

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