Photo: Cara Vannelli
I am in the process of preparing to moderate a symposium on contemporary architecture. Some would argue for context. Others for sensibility. When does architecture approach the condition of art? A 100-foot curve of glass curtain wall reads from the inside like a history of dental records. And the analogy’s not that far off. For what inspired Antoine Predock, the design architect for this town center without a town at Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol, was the geology of bone and fragment wrought on the sere yellow plains.
It wasn’t good news for development, though, in early March. Developers Forest City Covington laid off half, or 9 people, of their 18-number Albuquerque office. I overheard a conversation in which the actual number put as layoffs was 14. When these photos were taken around the last week of February the glass surface was being tested as a projection screen. I love the idea of a drive-in in the desert. And this is a grand building. A standalone.
Antoine Predock Building Photos: Cara Vannelli
