2012 Member Slideshow: Laban Wingert, New Mexico
April 12, 2013
Member Slideshows are created each year for the Spring Conference to illustrate the recent work of the attendee’s firms. All COD members are welcome to participate. Attendees have 6 slides and 60 seconds to present their projects, or whatever is on their mind. Many of the 2012 Member Slideshow slides are posted on the COD Pinterest page.
Laban Wingert, AIA presented his slides.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
Dwan Light Sanctuary, United World College, Montezuma, NM. Collaborative effort with Virginia Dwan and Charles Ross.
In addition to the other projects we will visit in Palm Springs during our Regional Modernism Conference, May 9-12, we will also be visiting the Marmol Radziner Prefab Desert house.
Photos courtesy of Megan Lawler.
Take a look at this 2 1/2 minute YouTube video of the designers talking about their work:
Other projects we will visit in Palm Springs include:
Menrad Residence by William Krisel
Edris House by E. Stewart Williams
Desert One by Jim Jennings
Steel Houses by Don Wexler
Grace Miller House by Richard Neutra
Abernathy House by William F. Cody
Hotel Lautner by John Lautner
L’Horizon Hotel by William F. Cody
Southridge Residence William F. Cody
There is still time to register! Click here for more information. And don’t forget to submit your images for the 2013 Member Slide Show.
We toured the building with two of the architects from the local architecture firm who collaborated on the project. The project was more complex, and the central atrium space that has been so widely published, was warmer and more inviting than I expected. The site plan was the key to winning the project according to the local architects.
The simple box of performance and convention spaces fronts onto the central business district. The now familiar fish-shaped atrium sits tight against a rail line on one side and on the other side creates an outdoor gathering space between this atrium and the performance house. Enclosed bridges connect the ‘fish’ atrium to the performance venues.
The ‘fish’ is a tour de force of structure and light and is truly beautiful to walk through. It is curious that it is so disconnected from the theaters and convention spaces; not really serving as a lobby for either. Its prime role appears to be as an atrium for a small group of people to pass through to get to the narrow band of small conference rooms bordering the rail tracks. It also functions as a dramatic light fixture in the city. The quality of this light-filled space running alongside the entire outdoor gathering space is what makes the experience so special day and night. The local architects noted that Tadao Ando had suggested the ‘fish’ be filled in with glass floors to make the large atrium more useful–and profitable.
The theaters are another challenge. With an understandable desire to have their public entries overlook the central business district on one side and the outdoor courtyard on the other, the entry sequence up to the theaters contorts one way, then another. Ultimately, this sequence is a regrettable let-down compared to the marvelous ‘fish’. The same can be said for the theaters themselves, though I suppose one goes to the theater for the show more than the quality of the space. In the end, the lasting memory is of the grand spectacle of beautiful architecture in the atrium space. As a visitor to an event, it is conceivable one might miss this tour de force and wonder what all the architects are excited about.
Jim Childress, FAIA
(Photos courtesy of Jim Childress and Ann Thompson)
