Like many architects before him, Turan Duda initially wanted to be an artist.
He went the architecture route instead, which he views as an art form. As a Partner with the Durham, N.C., firm Duda|Paine Architects, Duda, FAIA, has made it his mission to include an element of art in every project his team gets involved in.
The relationship between art and architecture is as old as history. But lately, clients and businesses seem to be catching on to the connection linking art and design, employee productivity, social responsibility, and customer satisfaction.
A recent survey conducted by ICM, a London-based research firm, and Art & Business, a non-profit network that builds partnerships between businesses and the arts, found that 73% of employees polled want more art in the workplace, stating that it both motivated and inspired them.
“The inclusion of art in the workplace is not a decorative gesture,” wrote Harlan Levey, a lecturer, art consultant, and owner of Harlan Levey Projects in Brussels; and Denis Maksimov a cultural critic and associate curator at that gallery. “It is not the same as buying some new plants. On the contrary, it can have several positive impacts and play an important role in your business. Art in the workplace can encourage employees to think creatively. It can create conversations amongst them while actively constructing an image of corporate culture, values and ambitions. It can also create revenue and diversify the company portfolio.”
Duda says this connection began to resonate with him when he was a student at Yale, where he recalls a “wonderful” studio with Peter Eisenman, a Principal with Eisenman Architects. “He asked us ‘what is architecture?’ and described it as a building with multiple readings that do more than one thing.”
After nearly two decades with Cesar Pelli & Associates, Duda and Jeffrey Paine, AIA, launched their firm in 1997. Over the years, Duda|Paine has built a reputation for using art to help clients express their vision.
Duda says that art is now “almost expected” in civic and public works. He speaks admiringly of the water walls at Millennial Park in Chicago as examples of the communal aspect of art. He has also seen art being included in new buildings in Austin and Asheville, N.C., “which are centers for creative folks.”
But for many nonresidential building clients, art “is an afterthought” that gets moved to the forefront of projects only when “it’s integral to the architecture.” Duda paraphrases the artist and MacArthur Fellow James Turrell that the most beautiful thing about art is when it doesn’t look like art.
The criteria for using art in nonresidential settings are site-specific, he explains. “We think of our work experientially; what is the experience we want people to have as they arrive at the building.” And it’s much easier to have discussions about art and budgets at the beginning of a project, “when we can make art part of the design of the building.”
One of Duda|Paine’s first noteworthy attempts at incorporating art into its designs was a commission by Bank of America in 2000. The architect, working with the artist Ned Kahn, developed “Wind Veil,” 80,000 small aluminum panels that covered a 260-ft by six-story-tall façade of the parking garage at Gateway Village in Charlotte, N.C. The panels were hinged to the building to move freely in the wind, “creating an impression of waves in a field of metallic grass,” according to Kahn’s website.
Last year, owner-developer Boston Properties opened 601 Massachusetts Avenue, a 650,000-sf, 11-story building with offices and retail in Washington D.C. In the lobby of that building, Duda|Paine installed a 30-ft stone travertine curtainwall supplied by the Italy-based artisan Henraux, which Duda describes as “a piece of art.” Also gracing the lobby is a freestanding stone sculpture called Le vie della luce (“the ways of light”), created by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Balderi.
Huge glass walls, backlit by LED fixtures, are prominent art elements in the lobby of Colorado Tower in Austin, Texas. Image: Courtesy Duda|Paine
Another recent Duda|Paine-designed project is the Cousins Properties-owned Colorado Tower, a 29-story, 650,000-sf mixed-use building in Austin that opened in January 2015. Colorado Tower’s lobby is distinguished by huge glass walls that Duda|Paine developed in collaboration with the glass artist Kenneth von Roenn. Jr., who was a classmate of Duda’s at Yale.
On the Kaiser/von Roenn Studio website, von Roenn states that the objective of the glass walls—which are visible from the street—is “to create a soothing/calming effect” by referencing the Colorado River, which is only three blocks from the building. LED lighting illuminates the walls, which were painted in colors that create the appearance of undulating water.
Ultimately, says Duda, what his firm is attempting to achieve by including art in its designs is to “control the view, control the experience.”
Related Stories
Projects | Apr 17, 2017
BD+C's 2017 Design Innovation Report
Façades that would make Dr. Seuss smile, living walls, and exterior wall space that doubles as gallery space are all represented in this year's BD+C Design Innovation Report.
Healthcare Facilities | Apr 13, 2017
The rise of human performance facilities
A new medical facility in Chicago focuses on sustaining its customers’ human performance.
Laboratories | Apr 13, 2017
How to design transformative scientific spaces? Put people first
While most labs are designed to achieve that basic functionality, a transformational lab environment prioritizes a science organization’s most valuable assets: its people.
Hotel Facilities | Apr 12, 2017
Hotels embrace place
Today’s hospitality environments emphasize unique, localized experiences to attract and engage guests.
Green | Apr 11, 2017
Passivhaus for high-rises? Research demonstrates viability of the stringent standards for tall residential buildings
A new study conducted by FXFOWLE shows that Building Teams can meet stringent Passivhaus performance standards with minimal impact to first cost and aesthetics.
Curtain Wall | Apr 11, 2017
Masters of geometry
Three firms that specialize in façades that curve, twist, and turn see themselves as artisans of the unthinkable.
Office Buildings | Apr 10, 2017
Innovation lab makes developing eye care solutions a collaborative affair
The Shop East innovation lab presents 13,500 sf of workspace across two floors with an emphasis on collaboration.
Architects | Apr 10, 2017
New Bjarke Ingels documentary gives a peek behind the curtain
The movie takes a slightly darker tone than previous projects chronicling the starchitect’s rise to prominence.
Architects | Apr 4, 2017
Architect Howard Elkus dies at 78
Cofounder of Elkus Manfredi Architects, his career spanned five decades, and included a spectrum of major design projects.