What does contemporary American architecture look like as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary? In Out There: New Architecture Across America (Merrell, $85), a trio of architectural heavyweights — Robert Ivy, former director of the AIA; Cathleen McGuigan, former editor of Architectural Record; and Peter MacKeith, dean of the architecture school at the University of Arkansas — provide an authoritative overview. The book, a chunky block weighing nearly 7 lbs., surveys some 170 projects by 50 firms from across the country.
Texas is well represented, though Gary “Corky” Cunningham is the lone Dallas architect included. His work is represented by two projects, the All Saints Anglican Church of 2019, which occupies a refurbished industrial building on the southern edge of downtown, and the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center in Cedar Hill, of 2012. A thoughtful entry celebrated Cunningham’s “humility and reverence for origins” and his philosophy of “favoring transformation over spectacle.”
So what exactly characterizes the best American architecture today? The breadth of the country, with its diverse climates and places — from the rural to the megalopolis — makes it hard to find a clear through line or defining style. But there are some factors that seem common. For one thing, the best architecture is mostly built by smaller, independent practices, and not large corporate firms. There is, as well, an emphasis on pragmatism, sustainability, resilience and integration with the local environment. As McGuigan writes, it is an architecture that is a “bulwark against the homogenization of global culture, a sensibility that respects wide-ranging, diverse communities everywhere, by both fitting in and standing out.”
We could use more of that in Dallas and elsewhere.