(Photographer: Whit Preston. Mell Lawrence Architects: Baylor Street House)
Mell Lawrence studied architecture at the University of Texas, Austin. After working with Charles Moore, and in a partnership with Paul Lamb, Mell started his firm in 1991. In 2001 Mell Lawrence Architects was voted AIA Firm of the Year in recognition of its consistent excellence in design and contribution to creating a unique architecture. Mell’s work has been published extensively and the firm has been recognized with design awards at the local, national and state levels. In 2007, Mell was honored as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Recently his firm was awarded an AIA Austin Design Award for the Heron Creek Restroom on Lady Bird Lake.
MA: “Your name is often mentioned by architects in this city as someone whose work is widely respected and admired.”
Mell: “I personally find the architects here friendly and supportive of one another. I think this can be traced to the music industry which, when it started in Austin, was energizing and cross-supportive and people were relaxed and collaborative. I believe this may have set a cultural tone for what a creative community is all about. The more great architects that practice in a city the better for everyone. And there are great architects working in Austin. Burton Baldridge and Scott Specht are just two of many. This raises the bar, and raises demand.”
MA: “That’s a great perspective, that the culture of a different sector is partially responsible for the success of another sector. What is your experience of collaboration?”
Mell: “On a job, it’s less about one particular person and more about the cumulative pattern of the work, picking up things, connecting dots, setting up an environment when craftspeople, carpenters, and contractors are comfortable both technologically and aesthetically. The puzzle in architecture is both the information and the lack of information, the overlapping restrictions, and the surprises, and ultimately leading a group of people through a process that requires a lot of collaboration to achieve a level of success.”
(Photographer: Whit Preston. Wild Cat Hollow: Mell Lawrence Architects)
MA: “Who or what do you think has contributed to your success as an architect?”
Mell: “Early on my parents were influential but I did not realize this until later. I am more and more grateful to them as I get older. My father was an architect, my mother an artist. I realized that they noticed things but did not necessarily articulate what they noticed. They communicated and illustrated conversations, resolving things through drawing.”
MA: “We noticed that your personal office has a large amount of space devoted to drawing.”
Mell: “I draw a great deal, it’s tactile. I like to see designs and drawings to scale, before being transferred to the digital process by our staff.”
MA: “Drawing itself is an exploratory process, would you say? Something, in your case, inspired by the home environment?”
Mell: “Yes, my parents constantly demonstrated a curiosity about all things design, anything visual including the performing arts, and that curiosity was not necessarily intellectual, but observational and for discussion. They were excited by objects in terms of design rather than conceptual art. I enjoyed being in the home. We had furniture by Eames, Knoll along with old, ancient things, such as Japanese tools. These artifacts, from very different cultures, were composed and put together in a very intuitive manner. It was beneficial to me for my parents to have different perspectives as anything that you are exposed to, that doesn’t kill you, ultimately benefits and expands you.”
(Photographer: Ryann Ford. Concrete Studio: Mell Lawrence Architects)
MA: “What was the influence of Charles Moore on your work? (MA: Charles Moore was the O’Neil Ford Centennial Professor of Architecture at the University of Austin.)
Mell: “He was incredibly curious and never stopped learning. He perceived the world as a place full of so many lessons, so many things to explore. His attitude was to take all the lessons and do what you want, as there is so much wonder out there. What he stressed was that in the process of design nothing is precious, and the importance of letting go, and once you let go of something, of an idea, and get used to doing that, you can’t go back. This includes letting go of assumptions in design. As a result, you will not see finished projects in the same way. It’s about knowing what and when to let go.”
MA: “How does this translate to the design process with clients?”
Mell: “I am interested in what humans are drawn to in general, as thinking intellectual beings. We want to group and to categorize, so in a sense dumb down, in a way to make things more understood. There is a tendency in architecture to draw things that are rational, but I am interested in the infinitely more complex set of criteria going on in the head.”
MA: “Would you say that is the emotional content of architecture?”
Mell: “Yes, and few want to talk about it, but it is the emotional content that exists because we are emotional beings. There’s a huge experiential and emotional context in architecture that can’t be compared or categorized. I like projects that push us. I am interested in observing what people react to, what makes them uncomfortable, how they consider intimacy and refuge. An architect creates a container backdrop that is assigned for different lives. We create places into which people bring their possessions and then live out their lives. We need qualitative and quantitative information about how a space is to be occupied, the level of craftsmanship and finish, routines, how light is experienced at different times of the day, of the year, and the plans to occupy the space. How people spend their free time is a subconscious effect of their experience of the world. People spend a chunk of time and money on architects and trust must be established, but people have to be willing to take a chance.”
(Photo: Jacob Termansen. David Peese House: Mell Lawrence Architects)
MA: “Your residential projects cover both renovations and new homes in existing neighborhoods. How are you challenged by these projects?”
Mell: “I firmly believe that you don’t use ‘style’ to fit into a neighborhood, but scale, proportion, texture, and other universal principals. The building has to make sense in a location, to the neighborhood and surroundings. We ask why the area was designed in a certain way, and what rules were being observed or played with, or deviated from. I want to know the predecessor’s sensibilities, ‘what makes it like this’, and ‘how can it be like this’, to understand the hierarchy and breakdown and order of a neighborhood. Older neighborhoods have transitional spaces, with clearly defined areas for pedestrians to provide social information. It is important to fit into the context of the neighborhood, to understand and preserve previous interventions and to introduce a new intervention in a clean modern way. The buildings need to be good friends with one another.
(Photo: Andrea Calo. Wild Cat Hollow: Mell Lawrence Architects)
MA: “Do you have a preference for materials?”
Mell: “I like exposing materials in their natural state. Wood is very forgiving but it is also chaotic in terms of color, design, and texture and we must avoid setting it up to fail. I am drawn to materials that are durable, which is different than sustainable, materials that look good when old or worn or dirty, materials that do not require maintenance and that are in possession of a sense of embodied energy. I like to use locally quarried stone, and concrete, but in a rough and tumble way, although concrete has an environmental toll. Steel recycles itself, in time. I think it is better for materials to be forgiving and have points of clarity than perfect.”
(left to right, Morgan Slusarek, Dan Gruber, Megan Mowry, Mell Lawrence, Krista Whitson, Emily Weigand, Erin Curis, Hector Martell. Photo: Morgan Slusarek)
MA: “Your firm was recently awarded an AIA Austin 2016 Design Award for the Lady Bird Loo (Heron Creek Restroom) on the Lady Bird Lake Trial. How did you experience this challenge?”
Mell: “There were many constraints, including security, visibility, and a matrix of practical concerns, that the structures should be low maintenance and long lasting, yet we needed to provide elegance and grace, and a sense of refuge.”
MA: “How do you relax?”
Mell: “This may sound trite but I love watching the happenstance of nature, watching nature is joyful and fun, but it is also paying attention to feelings. People talk about going to the woods, to get away, because the woods are seen as peaceful, beautiful and calming, they are universally seen as awe-inspiring but in reality, they are an experience of a cacophony of shapes, textures, and angles. There is a parallel in architecture. A kind of happy chaos.”
Georgina O’Hara Callan
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