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
| Nov 8, 2013
S+T buildings embrace 'no excuses' approach to green labs
Some science-design experts once believed high levels of sustainability would be possible only for low-intensity labs in temperate zones. But recent projects prove otherwise.
| Nov 8, 2013
Net-zero bellwether demonstrates extreme green, multifamily style
The 10-unit zHome in Issaquah Highlands, Wash., is the nation’s first net-zero multifamily project, as certified this year by the International Living Future Institute.
| Nov 8, 2013
Walkable solar pavement debuts at George Washington University
George Washington University worked with supplier Onyx Solar to design and install 100 sf of walkable solar pavement at its Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Va.
| Nov 6, 2013
PECI tests New Buildings Institute’s plug load energy use metrics at HQ
Earlier this year, PECI used the NBI metrics to assess plug load energy use at PECI headquarters in downtown Portland, Ore. The study, which informed an energy-saving campaign, resulted in an 18 percent kWh reduction of PECI’s plug load.
| Nov 5, 2013
Net-zero movement gaining traction in U.S. schools market
As more net-zero energy schools come online, school officials are asking: Is NZE a more logical approach for school districts than holistic green buildings?
| Nov 5, 2013
New IECC provision tightens historic building exemption
The International Energy Conservation Code has been revised to eliminate what has been seen as a blanket exemption for historic buildings.
| Nov 5, 2013
Living Building Challenge clarifies net-zero definitions and standards
The Living Building Challenge has released the Net Zero Energy Building Certification to provide clearer definitions regarding what net zero really means and how it is to be achieved.
| Nov 5, 2013
Oakland University’s Human Health Building first LEED Platinum university building in Michigan [slideshow]
Built on the former site of a parking lot and an untended natural wetland, the 160,260-sf, five-story, terra cotta-clad building features some of the industry’s most innovative, energy-efficient building systems and advanced sustainable design features.
| Nov 4, 2013
Architecture and engineering industry outlook remains positive on all major indicators
While still below pre-recession levels, all of the key indicators in the latest Quarterly Market Forecast (QMF) report from PSMJ Resources remain in positive territory.
| Nov 1, 2013
CBRE Group enhances healthcare platform with acquisition of KLMK Group
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG) today announced that it has acquired KLMK Group, a leading provider of facility consulting, project advisory and facility activation solutions to the healthcare industry.