“The brick said it wanted to dance,” exclaims Michael Rotondi, FAIA, when asked about the veneer on the new Art and Architecture Building at Prairie View A&M University. Designed by Rotondi’s firm, RoTo Architects in Los Angeles, the 105,000-sf complex adds a dramatic presence to this rural campus located 50 miles west of Houston. Yet, while the exterior drapery of red brick appears to undulate rhythmically and playfully, the energy of the building actually emanates from inside the cavernous three-story-tall space animated by crisscrossing bridges, a central staircase, and tensioned netting of metallic mesh. The complex, prominently sited on the southeast corner of campus at a T-junction of the main entry road, encapsulates the schools of architecture and art, classrooms, studio spaces, and a library, along with the Center for Community Urban and Rural Extension Services (CURES) and the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture. Facing north toward the campus core, the building respectfully reflects the scale, massing, and setback of neighboring structures that constitute an amalgam of architectural styles—historical revivals built in the early twentieth century, some mid-century modern, uninspiring remodels from the 1970s, and recent post-modern insertions. Red brick, varying in shades, serves as the common language that links the newcomer to its colleagues. However, at the same time the new building honors the campus’ aesthetic traditions, it demands to be noticed as a singular and dynamic work of contemporary architecture. At the central glass entry of the north facade, waves of brick seem to peel away in six regularly spaced intervals, an effect reminiscent of the entrance to Phillip Johnson’s Chapel of St. Basil at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Small horizontal and vertical windows punctuate the curving brick curtain to illuminate interior office spaces. The rhythmic placement of openings, according to Rotondi, was inspired by study sessions with students and derived from the distillation of popular music down to its African roots.
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project
Prairie View A&M University Architecture and
Art Building client
Texas A&M University System
architect
RoTo Architects with HKS
contractor
Bartlett Cocke
consultants
Cay Cooke (landscape architect); Bovay Engineers
(MEP); Walter P. Moore (civil/structural); Randall-Joiner Consulting (audio/visual, acoustics) design team
Michael Rotondi, FAIA; Clark Stevens, AIA; Tom Perkins;
Jess Corrigan, AIA; Tom Holt; Gerald Ward photographer
Assassi Productions
(opposite page) The new Art and Architecture Building incorporates the campus’ requisite red brick in a fashion dramatically different from any other structure at Prairie View A&M. (above) As viewed here along its southern elevation, the cylindrical form at the far left houses the Texas Institute for the Preservation of History and Culture.
t e x a s
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