I didn’t believe it at first, but I find the architecture in Dallas, Fort Worth to be extremely timeless. Granted that I know which time period each are from, I still really really enjoy seeing them attain a certain level of timelessness. They are so well preserved and the language of what the architecture was going for are super clear.
Images here include:
Fort Worth Water Garden by Philip Johnson / John Burgee, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth by Tadao Ando, Kimbell Art Museum by Louis Kahn, Amon Carter Museum by Philip Johnson, an Perot Museum of Nature & Science by Tom Mayne Morphosis, Nasher Sculpture Museum by Renzo Piano
Philip Johnson’s Water Garden is very engaging. It makes you want to climb and look around the corner. There are 4~5 very distinctive zones in this park that made me few very differently about water. Some were in the form of waterfalls and other were in the forms of a still ponds and some were just elegantly designed spray fountains. I did hear that a few people drown here, but like all things in life, water is dangerous in almost all settings. In fact the more shallow the more dangerous.
The Modern Art Museum amazed me the most in the set. At first, I would not imagine a starchitect designed it. It was amazingly clean and the roof solution was quite elegant. I’ve never seen such heavy roofs represented so lightly. Also the the touches of water in the pond area really magnifies the size of the building allow you to really appreciate the simplicity of that roof line. The shear walls inside the building Frames the garden area reinforcing the importance of the world outside and bringing it into the building. Lastly, the simple arches on in the building ceilings inside the building nods at Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum Next door.
Kahn’s Kimbell Art museum was unfortunately covered up by the renovation and addition to Renzo Piano’s Extension. Kahn’s Details are absolutely Gorgeous here. The barrel arch roofs and the simple cuts in them that allow light to pour in along with the diffused light fixtures that reflect natural light back on the ceiling is just jaw dropping.