Dispatch from Temple Shipley: Marfa, Texas

Over the course of the late 1970s through early 90s, Donald Judd managed his artistic practice from the remote west Texas town of Marfa. Working as an architect, furniture designer, critic, and rancher.

We tout the Arts District as the largest collection of buildings by Pritzker Prize winning architects. In tours and marketing materials, docents and building owners are eager to communicate that a famous architect has designed their building. But are the most prominent and highest profile architects always the better choice?

The average person already has too much on their mind. Between work, socializing, and family, people don’t care about the musings of the urban obsessed. To get people interested in good city design, we have to connect their work life, social life, and family life with positive experiences in the chaos of an urban environment.

A glance at the City of Dallas GIS zoning overlays clearly illustrates the pathwork of interlocking and overlapping areas. Despite all these regulations with the supposed goal of creating a functional, cohesive city, Dallas is left in a situation not unlike Houston. A city with no zoning regulations, comprised of disconnected patchworks held together by the loosest of connections.

As a landscape architect, I look to even broader spatial context to determine the best use or the best design for a specific site. What are the regional transportation connections that could be enhanced by building at the site, or how does this park fit into a larger system of parks and open spaces in the city?