modciti.dallas - issue 03 | november 2019

nov. ‘19

// the philos house by bauhaus modern homes // photo: costa christ media

1019 Dragon Street | Dallas | Design District | 214.350.0542 | www.sminkinc.com

the Philos House

by J. Claiborne Bowdon

// photos: costa christ media and justin clements

The Philos House is remarkable. It’s impressive in its size and grace, but with a number of clever features that give it a sense of fun and a unique personality. Marc Kleinmann of Bauhaus Modern Homes is the designer, and his team managed to deliver different design iterations by utilizing real-time “playable” models of the structure within a three dimensional computer program. “Our team was able to advance what would otherwise be a monumental task in a matter of months. Combining the architectural, interior and landscape design allowed us to propose and experiment with design options that would otherwise be difficult to communicate.” All of the elements were to scale, so it was immediately clear how everything would function and come together in reality. The design of the privacy screen at the front of the home really came together with the help of the computer model. “Designing an 8’ semi-transparent screen with steel slats for the front

of the property was a true challenge. Without the ability to communicate such a design in 3D, this feature of the project would have probably not happened.”

The entry of the home features asymmetrical concrete stairs that go from right to left with bands of light along the lower edges. This approach, rather than a straight stairway that would have demanded a steeper pitch, creates a more nestled look for the home overall, but also works in tandem with the massive cantilevered awning to give it a sense of weightlessness despite it’s scale. The front door soars upward at 12 feet tall and mirrors the warm wood underside of the awning, which is also repeated on the interior with the exposed flying staircases. Once inside the space around you is defined with pristine white walls and light stone tile floors. Floor to ceiling windows welcome in the light and the landscape. It’s a serene environment

You Dream It, Becky Finds It.

Becky Frey 214.536.4727 beckyfrey.com 


that feels bright and warm and is a perfect backdrop for anything within it, but of course you can’t have just anything in a home like this.

The interior and exterior furniture and art were all selected and created by SMINK Art + Design. Jennifer and Autumn Smink balanced variety and continuity within the home, but also maintained a focus on how everything would function in day-to-day living. Jennifer notes “In this project we considered the family room as the main living area in tandem with the kitchen. It had a fireplace and a large screen telly, so we kept the seating unit as simple as possible and added two rotating chairs to open the views

from the kitchen into the seating space. Naturally we used fabrics and finishes that would hold up under continued use by a family with small children. The Freeman Sectional is in Oxford fabric and grey leather, the swivels are Gubi Stay Chairs and the various tables and furniture are by Minotti. Porro Cabinets tuck into base of the bookcases and the painting is by New Mexico artist, Dara Mark. The downstairs of the home flowed from the kitchen past the living room to the dining room. Since the space was very open, the palette of finishes needed to work together but still keep some sense of the ‘rockstar identity’ that the client stipulated.

Jennifer describes the dining room as “an abstract ode to the garden” that sits just outside the wall of windows at one end. “It has an enormous white lacquer- topped Van Dyck dining table with Leslie chairs in a handmade ultrasuede fabric by Iona Crawford Atelier for Donghia, featuring printed x-rays of a Kingfisher repeated on the fabric.” More than just a remarkable source of inspiration, Autumn Smink adds that “The client loved birds and the subtle geometric winged bird repeated in the fabric on the chairs brought a delightful surprise to any guest that caught the winged motif.” For her, “The dining room was so much like a garden during the day surrounded by glass windows floor to ceiling on three sides, so at night it was hard to create the same mood when the sun had set.

To create the garden feel we designed a custom Bocci fixture with 30 pendants in vivid colors to feel the inspiration of flora & fauna. The Gary Faye photographs of Huntington Gardens (shot with a Leica Phase One camera) on the walls let you believe you were in the garden anytime.”

You don’t have to believe that you’re in garden though.

You can actually be in it. The house is designed to have a fluid interplay between the indoors and the outdoors, which perfectly fit the lifestyle of the family. Autumn notes that “The patio was a particular favorite of the client. They do a lot of entertaining and the sexy S -shaped Florida sectional was a custom design by SMINK. It allowed everyone to mix and yet have separate activities and conversations to occur in the festive atmosphere of the

pool and grilling area. We added small movable tables that could be flexible with the seating and a variety of single chairs or settee to cozy into for the relaxing occasion.”

There’s no end to the amount of thought and care given to this home, and it shows in ways big and small. Too often you find a great house with an underwhelming interior– either comically spare furnishings in the guise of minimalism, or a room whose entire identity falls apart with the removal of a pillow-but every piece of it is so well selected everything stands on its own. The home itself has a remarkable amount of character, which can be difficult to achieve with so many clean lines, but everything makes sense without needing to be entirely symmetrical. It is undeniably the product of the personalities of its makers and the family that calls it home.

Kendall Morgan Morgan by by Kendall

flora

the LINE & the SHAPE

FINDING

// oil derricks 2019

// mill bridge reflection 2018

Precise and occasionally poignant, the works of painter William Steiger refine the concept of “less is more” at Holly Johnson Gallery.

In his latest group of canvases entitled “Inventor,” Steiger remains fascinated by barren vistas and maps. What is portrayed is as important as what is not—the artist revels in the empty spaces that cradle his roller coasters and covered bridges.

“It was a gradual evolution like I’m making a minor discovery every day,” Steiger explains of his process.

“I’ve always been drawn to minimal art and abstract art, and I wanted to figure out how much I can say with as little as possible. When you see them in person, there’s a large portion of the paintings that are not painted—it’s all just gesso. White is representing all of these different things, and the viewer’s brain fills in the image.”

Even in his more frenetic layered collages, there’s still a sparseness to Steiger’s oeuvre—but the works are never lacking. There’s a complex series of inspirations underneath his flat graphic style.

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NEW YORK 200 Lexington Ave. #1058 New York, NY 10016

MORTEN LØBNER ESPERSEN Morten Løbner Espersen “Horror Vacui #1688, 2013

// center pivot 2019

Admitting he has “an obsessive collecting personality,” the artist fills flat files to the brim with old maps, magazines, and diagrams. His passion for paper naturally lends itself to pulling different elements of an image together into one thought-provoking piece.

“The collages are very recent, and they’re a little more playful,” he says. “I was using the medium almost as (a) drawing to explore new ideas. I could put two different pieces of paper together that are from completely different sources. It’s interesting to combine these elements into one image.”

Steiger comes by his obsessions organically—raised in the flat plains of the Midwest just outside Chicago, he road-tripped from Colorado to California to Oregon with

his family, absorbing landscapes along the way. The silos, highways, and telephone poles that peppered those long journeys engaged his growing imagination.

Trained at the University of California at Santa Cruz with a master of fine arts from Yale, Steiger refined his inspiration post-graduation. Suddenly, the idea of creating landscape paintings evolved into an aesthetic that was far more spacious and timeless than he anticipated.

“When I started to do landscape painting, I guess I’d seen mostly paintings of hills and trees and things, and I thought that’s what (landscapes) were,” Steiger recalls.

“Then I realized, it could be whatever you wanted it to be, so I started to isolate and work with the imagery that inspired me the most. I don’t really depict people, but for

// mill river bridge 2018

the most part, it’s very clearly man-made imagery—it’s all about mankind, yet in our present, (portraying) how we’ve altered the planet.’

“You can’t necessarily say what time of day it is or what year it is when you look at my work. It could be contemporary or not—it’s larger than a single moment.”

Having worked with gallerist Holly Johnson over the last decade, “Inventor” is only Steiger’s second solo show in her space. Johnson culled her favorite pieces from his recent output, some of which contain subtle references to Dallas’ former status as a railway hub. One work of a water tank topped with a windmill uses a local gas station from the 1960s or ‘70s as source material. But—like most of the Steiger’s pieces—the canvases in “Inventor” purposefully exist out of a place and time.

Steiger admits he’s heavily influenced by the post-Industrial structures in his current home of New York, as well as New England mills, lighthouses, and other structures off the Maine coast (where he spends summers with his wife and two children). Yet it surprises him how universal his subjects ultimately turn out to be.

“When I had my work installed in a gallery in Tokyo or Seoul, people would come up and say, ‘That looks like a cable car in this part of Japan, or that looks like a river

TKO Associates – Dallas Design District 1617 Hi Line Drive, Suite 230 Dallas, Texas 75207 USA 214.741.6060 / TKOassociates.com

// manufactory II 2018

bend in this area of Korea.’ People really did relate to the work, even though I thought it was so American.”

Ultimately, what thoughts or emotions the art in “Inventor” recall is entirely up to the viewer. Everyone is allowed to fill the white spaces around Steiger’s objects with as much meaning as they desire.

“I would love (viewers) to look and linger and wonder. I don’t want things to be completely explained, but I hope that there’s something that would make them want to look at it again and again. It’s not a completed story, but there’s they can bring something to it and want to continue the story in their head.”

“It was a gradual evolution like I’m making a minor discovery every day,”

“William Steiger: Inventor” runs through December 21 at Holly Johnson Gallery.

FineArtEstates.com FINE ART

At Estate Sale Prices

MODERN

XMAS

TREE

by J. Claiborne Bowdon

// all photos: jc buck

Christmas is a season of light. This phrase comes with several meanings, but it’s most literal signifier is the Christmas tree. Whether covered in the warm glow of candles or electric bulbs large and small it’s a welcome presence in a season that brings darker and colder days that will carry us into the new year. Lights are not necessarily a must, some do just fine with ornaments and garland, but it’s a tradition many cherish and enjoy.

the aluminum Christmas tree, which debuted in 1955 from, appropriately, Modern Coatings, Inc. of Chicago. It kept the shape and look, but came in a new silvery reflective material that was perfect for the Space Race era–standing there gleaming like a rocket ready to launch. It had its limitations though. The aluminum made it a fire hazard when strung with lights, so its surface could only delight by means of a rotating projection of colors from a fan-shaped lamp.

Modern, of course, has always had a complicated relationship with tradition. Often a modern Christmas tree is not really a modern Christmas tree, but is rather a Christmas tree covered in modern decorations or a single, focused color palette. The classic modern alternative is

The aluminum Christmas tree tics a lot of modern boxes, having been produced until the 1970s anchors it in place, and it has a kitsch-factor that is hard to get around. It’s not the only option though.

“The modern Christmas tree” offers a brilliant display for the home that like many of its forbears captures the shape of a Christmas tree with tiered rings that form a cone-like shape, but also, cleverly, offer a place to hang whatever baubles you like from its metal boughs. The most magical and unique feature it brings is the fabulous projection of light, not just from its sides, but onto the ceiling. It’s a truly stunning way to bring light to your home, and to the season. modernchristmastree.com

MODERN SPACES

9026 Groveland Drive // $1,195,000 JACOB MOSS c. 214.335.1719 jacob.moss@compass.com

4677 Christopher Place // $1,849,000 BECKY FREY c. 214.536.4727 becky.frey@compass.com

1430 Junior Drive // $1,445,000 FAISAL HALUM c. 214.240.2575 fhalum@briggsfreeman.com

1535 Stemmons Ave // $1,495,000 RYAN STREIFF c. 469.371.3008 ryan@daveperrymiller.com

by Kendall Morgan

PARTNER SHIP AN ARTISTIC

// semosmauldin: jen mauldin + mk semos

// artist: hugo urrutia

“We just bypassed the wine walk and started a business!�

LILY HANSON BEFORE I FORGET

NOVEMBER 23–JANUARY 18

KIRK HOPPER FINE ART

DALLAS

// artist: sara cardona

Two creative Dallas women add meaning to public spaces with SemosMauldin art consultancy.

Sometimes, merely sharing a passion can lead to an entirely new career.

So is the case with SemosMauldin. Formed just over a year ago by interior designer Jen Mauldin and gallerist MK Semos, the company grew out of a casual conversation regarding a Bishop Arts wine walk.

Having launched her artistic journey in ‘90s New York City, Dallas native MK Semos returned to her hometown in the mid-2000s. She quickly met her soon-to-

be husband, Hugo Garcia Urrutia, who was already running the successful Decorazon (“From the Heart”) gallery in Oak Cliff.

Meanwhile, Jen Mauldin had spent years creating bespoke rooms and winning awards for the luxury resorts, casinos, and private homes she created all over the world. Originally hoping to become an artist herself, she had recently fulfilled a dream when she opened her eponymous gallery in Bishop Arts alongside her husband, James.

“When we started our gallery in 2017, MK started coming in and was really rooting for us,” Mauldin

recalls. “We started getting together and having coffee, and we talked about how we could do an artist wine walk.

As we started to have a conversation about that, we started seeing a bigger picture.”

Adds Semos with a laugh, “We just bypassed the wine walk and started a business!”

The pair’s complementary skill sets proved an ideal match—Mauldin cites her ability to align interiors with art and Semos’s vision and deep Rolodex of artists as their personal superpowers. The duo quickly garnered their first client, helping to transform the former NYLO on the Southside into the Canvas Hotel. Designed by the Dallas-based firm Studio 11, Canvas needed a group of works to compliment the jewel-toned palette and cozy interiors Studio 11 was devising for its spaces.

“Our website was barely live yet when we got the job,” says MK Semos. “That was a dream—it was better than anyone could script it, and they’re an amazing client and partner to work with. You feel like you’re growing with their vision.”

For Canvas, SemosMauldin curated the best of the best of local talent for the hotel’s permanent collection, including a portrait by Haylee Ryan of a woman adorned with a crown of red tulips for the lobby, a textural work by Urrutia behind the check-in desk, and pink neon proclaiming “The Show Must Go On” (also from Urrutia) in the Chef’s Palette Restaurant.

In addition, the two have reinvented the hotel’s upstairs lounge into a gallery space that shows new works thrice yearly. Currently on view are Corey Godfrey’s yarn-based paintings, with Frank Garcia III curating and co-producing // artist: hugo urrutia

// artist: derek nemunaitis

a show of local talent in February. The partners are also sourcing unique works for the hotel’s 76 guest rooms and offer a special “Curator’s Package” consultation session for anyone looking to leave Dallas with a commemorative canvas.

When not running SemosMauldin, MK Semos takes a more peripatetic approach to dealing art—traveling with her husband to art fairs across Europe and Asia to show their stable of work and manning a space in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. After closing her gallery, Mauldin still keeps her calendar full pulling together interiors in such locales as Puerto Rico and New Mexico. // artist: kartel bowie

Engage Educate Experience Enjoy

The Dallas Architecture Forum is for everyone who wants to experience inspired design. The Forum presents an award-winning Lecture Series that brings outstanding architects,interior designers, landscape architects and urban planners from around the world, as well as Symposia, Receptions at architecturally significant residences, and Panel Discussions on issues impacting North Texas.

ď‚‚ď‚

dallasarchitectureforum.org

2019-20 Lectures All are welcome, Forum Members Attend for Free.

More information & join at dallasarchitectureforum.org Michel ROJKIND Founder and Principal Rojkind Arquitectos

3 December 2019 Tuesday, 7 pm Horchow Auditorium, DMA

Kevin ALTER Founder and Partner alterstudio The Frank Welch Memorial Lecture

29 January 2020 Wednesday, 7 pm Horchow Auditorium, DMA

Mary Margaret JONES President and Senior Principal Hargreaves Associates

11 February 2020 Tuesday, 7 pm Horchow Auditorium, DMA

Frida ESCOBEDO Founder and Principal Frida Escobedo Architects

Jason LONG Partner OMA New York

Dirk DENISON Founder and Partner Dirk Denison Architects

25 February 2020 Tuesday, 7 pm Horchow Auditorium, DMA

25 March 2020 Wednesday, 7 pm Horchow Auditorium, DMA

7 May 2020 Thursday, 7 pm Angelika Film Center, Dallas

L // artist: corey godfrey R // artist: riley holloway

The duo may think globally in their daily duties, but they definitely act locally when it comes to their side hustle.

Sourcing art close to home is essential to the partners, who anticipate their growing relationship with Canvas will allow them to discover talent in Fort Worth, Florida, and other locales the hotel chain is due to expand.

“Canvas hopes to be a brand throughout the U.S.,” says Mauldin. “And, as they open, we’ll be the art consultants and bring the right artists and curators to the table. I

want to prove there’s great work in any city—I’m a huge celebrator of local scenes. I feel artists really leave a different mark on every city that’s unique to that place, and people should celebrate that more.”

“Our dream for 2020 and beyond is to continue to transform guest experiences with our visionary curation,” adds Semos. “We’re thrilled to be working alongside partners who share such a great passion for art.”

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calendar your modern

Modern events and activities make for fall fun around the Metroplex.

Michel ROJKIND Dallas Architecture Forum // December 03

Soundings: Carolin Widmann / Works for Solo Violin Nasher Sculpture Center // December 04

AD EX Walking Tours, IArts District Walking Tour // December 07 West End District Walking Tour // December 07

Bark + Build Dog Houses benefiting SPCA of Texas North Park Center // through December 08

Buildings of Texas - Lecture + Book Signing Preservation Dallas // December 10

AD EX Walking Tours Main Street District Walking Tour // December 14

John Currin + Alicja Kwade + Jessica Vaughn Dallas Contemporary // through December 22

Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures Nasher Sculpture Center // through January 05, 2020

Sheila Hicks: Secret Structures, Looming Presence The Dallas Museum of Art // through January 12, 2020

modern

art galleries

Modern art, exhibits, around the Metroplex.

IRIS CINQ Gallery // through December 28

Charlotte Smith + James Watral Cris Worley Fine Arts // through December 28

Dennis Koch + Arden Bendler Galleri Urbane in Dallas // through December 28

Heather Gorham + Win Wallace + Maria Ziegler Craighead Green Gallery // through January 04

Lily Hanson Kirk hopper Fine Art // through January 11

John-Paul Philippe & Peter Ligon Barry Whistler Gallery // through January 11

Elisi Eeraerts Cydonia Gallery // through January 26

Orna Feinstein + Mckay Otto Geometric and Madi Art // through January 26

Corey Godfrey SemosMauldin // through February 12

by David Preziosi

211 North Ervay Homes

Lost & Found

// all photos: michael cagle, assoc.

Azure and aquamarine are colors you don’t often see on office buildings today. However, in the 1950s, color panel buildings were all the rage and downtown Dallas had its fair share of them, including the 18-story office building at 211 North Ervay St., completed in 1958.

At only 50 by 200 feet, the lot size did not give developer Leo Corrigan much room in which to work for creating his fourth downtown office tower. Thomas Stanley of Hedrick & Stanley designed a sleek and slender building to fit on the small lot fronting North Ervay Street and spanning the block from Elm Street to Pacific Avenue. The highly visible location and its distinctive blue panels made the building

stand out—then, and still today—among its granite and glass neighbors.

The office building retains its original porcelain enamel steel panels between ribbon windows. The slightly different shades of blue form a checkerboard pattern on the facade. That pattern is mimicked above the storefront in small, one-inch square mosaic tiles in the original belt course. The blue panels were manufactured locally by the Texlite sign company. The firm created many of the neon theater signs in the 1930s and 1940s, the Pegasus on top of the Magnolia Building, and panels for other 1950s buildings, including the Statler.

Over the years the building was home to law firms, insurance companies, and travel-related offices. By 1995, the building was vacant, rundown, and not many people appreciated its colorful façade. In 2004, Mayor Laura Miller called it an eyesore and the Dallas Downtown Parks Master Plan that year called for its demolition and replacement with a park. In response, Preservation Dallas put the building on its endangered list. Mayor Tom Leppert, four years later, claimed it to be a threat to health and safety. Thankfully, it survived the calls for demolition and hung on until the current owners, Alterra International, purchased the building in 2012.

When Alterra acquired the building, it was a mess, according to Nile Tuzun, creative director of design and branding for Alterra. Brown shag carpet, 4-foot-wide hallways, and small individual offices made the building dark and depressing. However, they saw the great possibilities for this mid-century gem. Alterra’s team visualized it as a modern work environment geared to the “community office,” vastly different from the offices of the 1950s. Alterra got to work cleaning out the building and opening up the floor plates into what Tuzun called “a blank canvas where colorful, playful, whimsical, and social spaces could be created for the tenants.”

The idea of the social work space is a growing trend and 211 was adapted specifically for that purpose. Many of the new tenants are young entrepreneurs and risk-takers wanting to work in a collaborative environment without traditional walls and offices. Each floor is specifically designed with the tenant in mind and everything is customized for their needs. Included in the building are engaging colors and furniture, large breakrooms which function as public gathering spaces with bars and televisions, shuffle board and hop scotch courts, and a tire swing. Even though there are many new features in the building, touches of the original remain, including the glass mail chutes on each floor, ceramic water fountains in the elevator lobbies, door hardware, marble walls in the lobby, and the elevator panels.

Today, 211 North Ervay is a great example of how to repurpose an historic building for a new modern use while still keeping its charm and uniqueness. More and more young people entering the work force are shunning bland and boring office spaces. They want to work in an environment that is different with loads of character that helps inspire creativity. The 211 fits that bill. After all, how many people can say they work in a blue office tower with a tire swing?

Author David Preziosi is the executive director of Preservation Dallas. All photos by Michael Cagle.

Originally published in Columns, a publication of AIA Dallas.

// shm architects // photo: nathan schroder photography