Conversation with Tom Hurt

(9th Street. Photo: Ryan Farnau)

Tom Hurt Architecture provides full services for building design and master planning including interior finish selection and exterior hardscaping. Having worked as a general contractor, framer and carpenter on various projects, Tom Hurt, AIA, approaches design with a builder’s view of details and work sequencing, and with his office has pursued, through design, uncommon beauty in common materials. A graduate of UT Austin, Tom earned his Master of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated top of his class. He worked in Germany before settling in Austin, working for Page Southerland Page before opening his own practice. Tom has taught as a Studio Adjunct Professor at both MIT, School of Architecture, and the University of Texas School of Architecture.

MA:  “Speaking about ‘modernism’, what are your thoughts?”

Tom:  “Modernism can sometimes be viewed as harsh, even anti-urban, in that it makes assumptions about how people live. Modernism has come to be associated with smooth and clean, geometrically pure, often spare of ornamentation and richness of texture. There’s a tendency in architecture to eschew historical cultural grounding while being caught up in a current cultural ‘style’ of modernism itself. ‘New Modern’ is something of a knee-jerk phrase to offset those assumptions. Modernism is richer than some of its current enthusiastic adopters may realize. Who is to say it has clean lines and simple, pure geometric shapes? Floor to ceiling glass and smooth surfaces, and simple geometric shapes—what one may think of as contributions to modernism—are really nothing if they are not achieving something specific that is providing a qualitative experience for the user.”

MA:  “Was this always your view?”

Tom:  “I am less rigid than when I was younger. Architecture, in general, should not get in the way. It is necessary to be critical of one’s own work. I interpret Modernism today as something more sophisticated with warmer materials, more wood, greater use of color and a juxtaposition of materials. I think of ‘modernism’ now as warm, neutral, white and in context with the environment, so a ‘warm modernism’ you might say.”

(Annie Street. Photo: Jett Butler)

MA:  “In your work, there is great emphasis placed on materials both as expression and as points of connectivity.”

Tom:  “Part of the beauty of architecture, is not unlike the fundamental beauty of art; it is a discovery of what is valuable and meaningful among the sensory overload and the abundance of the environment. Part of designing is discovering that you like things you didn’t know you liked and don’t especially like some things you previously assumed you did. We try to find the raw materials that are essential, but which change over time, inevitably and hopefully in a fulfilling way. Accepting the fact that materials change patina, even if subtly, almost as soon as they are installed is enriching and is one of the bases of our natural love of older buildings. But it can also be the basis of our love for a new building.”

(9th Street. Photo: Ryan Farnau)

MA:  “You worked in Germany with renowned architect Gunther Behnisch. How did he influence your work?”

Tom:  “Gunther Behnisch was my studio Professor at MIT in my second year. He became my mentor and eventually my boss when I went to work for him in Germany. Professor Behnisch was a free-thinker in that he liked to leave all options open on the table until the very end of the project. His approach was to reject the idea of being boxed in and to allow an open process that permitted seizure of things that were revealed in the design process. The office was very inclusive. He believed in the idea that young people didn’t know what they couldn’t do. An architect’s office is something like life itself, finding a way through a tangle of objects.”

MA:  “What type of tools do you use in your office to realize your work?”

Tom:  “Conceptual thinking, talking and sketching are the best tools, but they are time-consuming. We still use models, although software is expeditious, and we like to look at the drawings of models which sometimes lose scale on a computer screen. We are looking for something to react to.”

(Canyon Edge. Photo: Ryan Farnau)

MA:  “There’s often a perception of risk when a client approaches an architect on a project. How do you address this sensibility with a client?”

Tom:  “Our basic role as architects is to avoid solutions that won’t function or wear properly. Some clients look to us to help make their lives simpler, more meaningful, part of their evolution in life. We see it is therapeutic to take care of your stuff, how and where you live. It’s part of a healthy psychological environment to love your home. In designing, we see our task more as a force that enables our clients to fulfill something remarkable with their investment in building materials – often the same materials that might otherwise have gone into a more predictably designed building.  Something that is put together thoughtfully, artfully, so that the materials themselves get elevated to a value, or to their greater potential. Think about the work of Corbusier, or Tadao Ando using concrete, or Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright, or Donald Judd using wood. There is always a natural fear of the unknown but because we are working with smart and engaging people, the process usually results in something remarkable and better than we imagined.  I believe that generally speaking, life prompts us to be adaptable to an unknowable future. Designing and building is no exception to this.”

 

Georgina O’Hara Callan