Dallas Masterplan
PEDESTRIAN OASIS
Dallas, Texas, is one of America’s most car-dependent major metropolitan areas, with some of the biggest highways around its downtown. Pedestrians are a rare breed. But does that mean people don’t want to walk? In designing the mixed-use complex Dallas Alpha West, DF&A wagered that not having to use a car would actually come as a relief. The firm adopted the Dutch concept of the woonerf, or shared street, to create a 14-acre dynamic mixed-use plaza that prioritizes the pedestrian.
Since this mixed-use complex was anchored by a specific hotel brand, we wanted to leverage the brand equity of the hotel to give identity and specificity to the rest of the complex. Here the balcony configuration of the office building, in which the corners are carved out in wood-clad tiers, mirrors that of the hotel.
NETWORK & CHILL
Office lobbies are the worst: stale chilly spaces you have to cross to get from where you don’t want to be to where you have to go. But they don’t have to be. This lobby was Inspired by the coworking culture, which takes as its organizing principle the realization that work doesn’t happen necessarily framed by a cubicle. In creating this livable, inviting collection of spaces, we increase the possibility that coworkers will congregate and collaborate.
ALOFT HOTEL
In Dallas DF&A had the honor of designing one of the first new Aloft hotels constructed under the brand standards that we ourselves created. We treated them like all the brand standards with which we work: as guidelines not just to follow, but to exceed. And when it came to the exterior, our brief was only to enhance the architectural landscape of the city in a way that also burnished the Marriott brand.
Although the objects of our daily life can be rich in history and meaning, they rarely command our attention. The Budapest Museum of Ethnography designed by DF&A celebrates those very objects, while itself becoming a well-loved part of daily life. One of our favorite elements of the design is a visible storage tower called a Cabinet of Curiosities, a heightened version of the cabinets in our homes that are stuffed with treasures. From inside the museum, the Cabinet allows visitors to appreciate artifacts in their uncurated state, as a kind of beloved jumble. From outside the museum, the Cabinet of Curiosities extends beyond the street-side facade, both a symbol of critical inquiry and an object of curiosity itself.
When entrusted with bringing a world-class resort to the Shinnecock Nation land on Long Island’s Peconic Bay, DF&A knew that our first job was to respect the integrity of the land and the legacy of the people, on a site that has formed the fabric of the Shinnecock Nation identity for thousands of years. We designed the 20-acre, 13-building complex in collaboration with the tribe, in a way that complements the land’s natural beauty while leaving as much as possible in a natural state. We grouped the buildings—including a convention hall, recreation space, wellness center, longhouse, and residences—close together to preserve open space, but we insisted that every building we designed enhance rather than diminish the landscape. The resulting Resort at Westwoods is designed to be a source of cultural pride for the Shinnecock Nation and an expression of the tribe’s renowned hospitality. A modern manifestation of the Shinnecock Powwow, it celebrates the tribe’s traditions and values while welcoming visitors from around the world.
Designing the Seychelles Islands Center began almost as a philosophical conundrum: How do you create a visitors center for a place people cannot visit? The people of Mahé in the Seychelles Islands are the custodians of a remote natural wonder located 750 miles away: the island atoll of Aldabra. Few humans are allowed to go there, since they would pose a threat to the delicate ecology. Our task was to create a visitor center to help them imagine Aldabra, even experience it, in some tangential way.
