The Wall Street Journal just published a lengthy article discussing the unbearbly hot summer we’ve been having here in Austin and included some statistics to put it all in perspective:

The protracted heat wave — Austin on Monday recorded its 64th day of 100-plus degree weather since June 1 — has pushed electricity demand up to record levels, as air conditioners run overtime.

…

The average, around-the-clock temperature in San Antonio this summer has been 87.9 degrees, beating the old record set in 1980 of 86.2 degrees. Houston, at 86.6 degrees, averaged over a 24-hour period, is slightly above the old record of 86.4 set in 1980. In Austin, the average temperature has been 88.6 degrees — the hottest since records began in 1898 — beating the prior record of 86.7 degrees in both 2008 and 1998.

The average household in Austin consumed 2,157 kilowatt hours of electricity last month, costing $235. Roughly 8% of households are delinquent with utility payments. Austin Energy is rolling out a plan to let residential customers pay 25% of their bill immediately and spread the remaining 75% owed over a six-month period.

And as if that wasn’t enough, it looks as though this whole ‘global warming’ theory might actually lead to the weather being warmer:

One source of those impacts, hellish heat waves, will become commonplace in the coming decades if we don’t reverse greenhouse gas emissions trends sharply and soon, as the figure above makes clear (see “Definitive NOAA-led report warns of scorching 9 to 11°F warming over most of inland U.S. by 2090 with Kansas above 90°F some 120 days a year — and that isn’t the worst case, it’s business as usual!“). By 2090, it’ll be above 90°F some 120 days a year in Kansas — more than the entire summer. Much of Florida and Texas will be above 90°F for half the year. These won’t be called heat waves anymore. It’ll just be the “normal” climate.

Based on two recent studies: By century’s end, extreme temperatures of up to 122°F would threaten most of the central, southern, and western U.S. Even worse, Houston and Washington, DC could experience temperatures exceeding 98°F for some 60 days a year. Much of Arizona would be subjected to temperatures of 105°F or more for 98 days out of the year–14 full weeks.

There seems to be a revival of residential developments with a collection of houses with notable designers and architects, some complementary or even intentionally provocative. Starting with the “Commune by the Great Wall” outside beijing in the late 90’s, and the Sagaponac project in the Hamptons. There is currently a supersized version of this concept being realized in Ordos, Mongolia, curated by Ai Wei-Wei and Herzog & De Meuron.

This type of development could probably be traced back to the 21-architect Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart for the Deutsche Werkbund, which Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier both contributed to in 1927.

This is an interesting iteration of that idea on the Northeast coast of Taiwan with 10 international architects and 10 local architects, including Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, Toshiko Mori….etc.

The Urban Reserve project in Dallas is probably the closest thing in Texas which approximate this development typology. Bercy Chen Studio won 1st place in an international open competition for a prototype design at Urban Reserve. The Murphy Residence was a subsequent design for a site at Urban Reserve. There are also other highly refined examples of modern residential architecture currently being realized by Todd Williams & Billie Tsien of New York, and Max Levy of Dallas, just to name a few.

It is interesting to note however that in general at the Urban Reserve there is a preference for restrained, tried and true modernism versus a more thought provoking or exuberant exploration of 21 century modernism. The Sagaponac project turned out to be a very curious mix with established names like Lord Richard Rogers versus younger talents such as Marwan Al Sayed ( with a very poetic proposal, we need more guys like him in America ).

Texas has proven to be a surprising (for people outside of Texas) but consistent incubator for great modern architecture. If one look at some of the most relevant projects in the last quarter century internationally, chances are the architects had at some point earlier in their career practiced and tested their ideas in Texas. Consider I M Pei’s pyramid at the Louvre, his activity in Dallas includes the Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas City Hall, & Fountain Place Tower.

There are also tragic losses for Texas, considering Herzog & de Meuron’s failed attempt for the Blanton Art Museum. Even though they went on to complete one of the most notable modern wonder of our time, the Beijing Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium, and museums for London, San Francisco, Minneapolis & Miami.

Considering Steven Holl’s Eco landmark Linked Hybrid in Beijing, and the new Copenhagen Gateway project in Denmark, one could see the conceptual germination in his proposed Spiroid Sectors for Dallas-Fort Worth from 20 years ago, ( as well as the Spatial Retaining Bar, which still hold great relevance for American cities, and deserve to be re-examined). Holl’s first major residential commission which demonstrated his poetic mastery with space was the Stretto House by Turtle Creek in Dallas.

This brings up the painful realization that Dallas/Fort Worth has left the other Texas cities in the dust in terms of their commitment to great architecture. Take Houston for example, with the exception of the MFA’s recent Rafael Moneo addition, and the current Asia Society building by Yoshio Taniguchi, there is disproportional paucity of quality architecture for America’s 4th largest city. Compare the wealth of today’s Houston to Chicago a century ago, Architecturally Chicago had the accumulation of Louis Sullivan’s oeuvre carried on by Wright’s creative fury, add Burnham & Root’s Columbian Exposition, and the arrival of Mies into this dynamic mix & design legacy.

Rice University seems to have managed to commission a collection of architecture better than its larger municipal or state counterpart in creating a quality urban environment. For example the latest addition of the Thomas Phifer pavilion. The other cultural gem of Houston, the Menil Collection by Renzo Piano was mostly a private initiative courtesy of Schlumberger’s resource.

we remain optimistic that Texas will continue to be a hotbed of architectural experimentation and innovation.