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Sunday, October 7, 2001
Sea cues subtle in addition
New building to feature low-key nautical symbols
By Neal Falgoust
Caller-Times

Contributed photo

Renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta’s design for the expansion of the Art Museum of South Texas includes stylized blue ‘wave’ skylights.

   To one observer, the tile triangles atop the proposed expansion to the Art Museum of South Texas might look like large blue waves rolling along the roof. To another, they could be large sails swept along the bayfront by swift breezes. Either way, they are meant to induce seafaring dreams and to tie the building to the city's dependence on the bay, architects said.
   That was all part of the approach for the design team led by world renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta - to use the local environment in a design that would also address the space needs for the museum. But designers said they also had to take care not to overstate the obvious landscape and fall into cliches.
   "It's becoming something where water is playing a part," said Carlos Vargas, the project manager who worked with Legorreta. "We wanted to respect local conditions and local material."
   The museum's 22,000-foot expansion will include space for new offices, performance areas and galleries. The $5 million expansion, being paid for through donations, is set to be built on the museum's north side, near the ship channel. Officials hope to begin construction by next year.
   'Mystery of art'
   The expansion will be the third new project along the bayfront to incorporate nautical themes.
   Local architect Raymond Gignac and his team of designers unveiled plans for the new arena late last month. That building's large glass façade is meant to open the building's view to the water.
   Robert Perless, a Greenwich, Conn., artist, is building three 50-foot stainless-steel wind vanes mounted on 20-foot columns that will be placed outside the new federal courthouse. The sculptures will move in the breeze.
   While the city's presence on the bay plays a key role in the landscape, it could become gaudy if designers don't use care, said some in the art community.
   Roy Smith, vice president and creative director for the advertising firm Morehead Dotts & Associates, said areas with powerful landscapes run the risk of overstating their environment in their architecture.
   "Good architects find original ways to reference the environment they are working in," he said. "Not all of those buildings will be done by good architects. There will be a lot of silliness."
   He said the arena design and the museum's expansion avoid falling into stereotypes by using creative approaches that delight the eye and challenge the intellect.
   "The individual architect or artist has that ability or he doesn't," Smith said. "The definition lies in the mystery of art."
   It's the freedom of artistic expression that will bring forward great designs and inspire future architects to do great work, artists said. And Ronald Sepulveda, Multicultural Services manager for the city, said similarity in architecture could lead to a boring landscape.
   "I don't think everything has to match," he said. "If you look at a painting or drawing, you don't like it because it's all the same."
   'Colorful and playful'
   Victor Legorreta, the architect's son and design partner, said nautical symbols played a role in the building from the beginning, but they never supplanted good design principles.
   "We used mainly blue to blend with the sea and to make it more playful," he said. "I think that the use of the building is a little more informal, so I think that means we should make it more colorful and playful."
   Functionality also took a high priority. Originally, designers had thought of using more metal, but the corrosive environment convinced them to move to tile and concrete, which would be easier to maintain. They also would help the designers tie the expansion to the original building, which was designed by the famous modern architect Philip Johnson.
   "We didn't want anything that would minimize the Johnson building, but rather to complement it," Legorreta said.
   Designers tried to avoid the obvious maritime themes by starting with the building's function, said John Dykema, an architect and member of the museum's building committee.
   "We did not start this with, 'Let's make it look like a ship,' " he said. Instead, the planners looked at the museum's needs, and that led them to creative solutions.
   For example, the large triangles may look like sails or waves or whatever, but they also allow natural light into the building that will blend with indoor illumination to create a higher quality of light.
   Dykema said the designers used the environment like a painter uses a brush or a sculptor uses a chisel.
   "We used it as a tool," he said. "We didn't design it around the tool."

   Contact Neal Falgoust at 886-4334 or falgoustn@caller.com

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