My 17 yo topped out this 6’ tall structural stone wall he’s been building today. He and his brother and sister gathered the rock from the surrounding countryside. Doesn’t get more local than that. Proud papa moment.
The work of journeyman Austin Tunnell who apprentices with us for two years before embarking on his own as an independent, structural masonry, design builder.
The Apprentice House.
It’s still difficult, even for me to take in, that four young men, who came to us with no masonry experience, built this.
Let building incite wonder and celebrate possibilityーthen call it Architecture.
We are builders. This is a building we are currently building. We have tools. We know how to use them. This is what happens when we use our tools. We build things to last a very long time. For something to last a long time it has to be structurally resilient..
This was the little brick shed/studio/garden chapel, I built in my yard back in Atl, that ignited the Hope for Architecture concept. We’ve been in hot pursuit of permanence for more than a decade now. And it all started with a pile of random brick and not a single page of plans.
A few of our masonry envelopes. Note that these are already architecture. The goal is to create a vernacular fabric that lives many lives. At any point these bldgs can be reduced back to this distillate state with no loss of identity or cultural significance to their region.
Recent stone wall project completed by my 18 yo with locally gathered rock. When you’re working from the knees down, the back gets no relief which is why the early stages of structural masonry are the most taxing.
Changing elevation and vernacular fountains at nearly every turn. Walking thru this place at night makes me feel like a Roman 2000 years ago. Las Catalinas, founded 2006.
Roundabout portal built some years ago back in rural Georgia, USA. A lot of heavy lifting can be done by strategically placed, monument-like features of the public realm.
So I use to build horse stables. I started in college during Summer break bldg hay barns and run-in sheds. This was profitable enough to get me thru school. I was a fine arts major back in the day, but finished with a teaching certificate in art, K-12.
The Vertical Prairie. 4 young, masonry apprentices built the primary, 3 story structure of this residence over the course of 12 months. Members of the New Urban Guild also came out for a weekend retreat to lay brick on this structure.
Current progress at the Prichard project in Krebs, Oklahoma.
Prewar, triple wythe, common bond, structural, load bearing, clay brick, mass wall masonry.
Mud cabinets coming along. Good to camp out on these ‘daily living’ projects. Building on-site and head scratching at 100% scale leaves a particular mark. In no way opposed to manufactured elements, but prefer it not dominate the spirit of the house.
The work of Patrick Lemmon and Wesley Stiner, two journeymen who apprenticed with us for a number of years, and are now out on their own as independent, structural masonry, design/builders.
Drove out to the Monastery yesterday morning to have a look at the chapel we built a few years ago. Spent some time with the monks and had an especially nice visit with 94 yo Methodious who came to this Trappist community in 1949 and helped build the Abbey.
When short cuts become the measure, the piling on of more and more short cuts becomes the fashion. Tricks to extract more while providing less become canonized. Eventually, the avoidance of going strait at a thing becomes the longer, less defined and more costly ーpath.
This is my house just after the mass masonry phase was completed. Note that it’s already architecture.. with only two materialsーbrick and mortar. One of eight cottages in The Borough pocket neighborhood; a micro village in the DPZ town of Carlton Landing, Oklahoma.
The Apprentice Project 2021 Carlton Landing, Oklahoma
The building and the know-how continuing to grow; good progress all round.
Note the beveled window openings: This technique allows more light to enter the house, and provides greater visibility looking out;
Secret garden. This one is mine. I do not build for others what I cannot build for myself. I do not teach ideology, but the execution of realistic goals. I do not get lost in idea land, but seek a strait forward solution that is both evidence based and evidence generating.
Taking kids to school this and am came across this hour or so old mishap. No matter what I see dead on road, there’s always a bit of shame to push thru. But sometimes it makes sense to do more than just acknowledge it. I like to think there’s some honor in this. 10 min later..
Another fun image from the Pierce Lee House where the curvilinear potential of clay brick masonry was so liberally expressed. May do a series of posts on this early aughts project. This was the first house I’d ever built, and the pics bring back a lot of hard won, fond memories.
Most greenery here is volunteer. A redbud sprouted by the front steps & owns the entry now; a blizzard killed our gardenias, but elms filled the vacancy; wild ivy, cloaks the n gable & is fire red in Fall. I love it when a house says, ‘we can take this as far as you want to go.’
Austin came to us in his late 20’s as a certified CPA with no construction experience. He has now established precedence for our mass wall model in Oklahoma City.
Hope for Architecture is a structural masonry revival fusing the best of the old with the best of the new to create an authentic, cost effective built environment that will last multiple centuries, and is profitable to build.
This is new construction:
Oak beams and iron work accompanying
45° structural arches at Pierce Lee House in Rome, Georgia. I’ve always thought of brick as an incredibly expressive sculpting medium that is remarkably under-realized by the building industry and veneer jockeys of our day.
We built this 8 cottage microvillage, it’s common green (with shared fire pit) and parking on a third of an acre. Triple wythe, solid brick walls will deliver these living bldgs deep into an uncertain future.
Another post of ‘six month apprentice’ Rob Fox (
@TheTimelessTown
) with his Romanesque arch project. Rob did a couple of tours in Afghanistan and is a devil dog marine thru and thru. His wartime logistics brings an interesting scaling skill set to the Hope for Architecture table.
Living quarters built above the horse stalls at the Strickland Stable back in 1999. This was also my first timber frameーoak at that. The joinery took 5 months to complete, and was raised in a day with 50+ volunteers.
The Vertical PrairieーIteration II. This structure is the thesis project for apprentice Rob Fox.
Rob graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2010, and he served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps until 2015, including tours of duty in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Meet the new class of Hope for Architecture apprentices as they dip their toes in a bit of timber framing. After this orientation project, these guys will begin a mass wall house and take it to completion. Great things are about to happen! Stay tuned..
Noble materials are always beautiful. Even in the midst of decay. As time peals it back, what do we find? The reality of that which is real, a path physical people share with physical buildings. Both can age gracefully if their lives are not lived and defined by deception.
When we pull back the curtain, or the gown falls to the floor.. what stands there? What suddenly speaks a language only moments before we didn’t know, and didn’t know we could know?
So it was seeing ‘time’ on steroids that led me to bldg solid brick, euro style stables and I have a horse to thank for
turning me into an old world mason.
Create an architecture that dares you not to love it. Make it strong and durable; a friend to time that needs few favors.
This is a structural masonry revival fusing the best of the old w/ the best of the new to determine a profoundly lasting & meaningful built environment.
Texture. Timeless. Unapologetic. Real.
Hope for Architecture is a structural masonry revival integrating the best of the old with the best of the new to create a lasting, inheritable built environment that is both profitable to build and affordable to own.
Daulton House, completed 2011. Great to stop by for a glass of wine with these folks during our short Atl stay. The house is living well, and I can think of no better compliment than to be received so warmly by clients who’ve called this place home now for almost 10 years now.
Japanese design is wonderfully subtle and nuanced. Weaving the restraint of such a simple sensibility can be profoundly effective. This is one of our current projects in Carlton Landing, Oklahoma. The brick massing here is a nominal 13.” The stone walls are 20.”
This is the basement ceiling of a friend’s house in Usèz, France. The subterranean rooms were created during the quarrying of limestone used to build the house above. There are many of these remarkable spaces, utterly forgotten by time, all over (or under) Europe.