Rand Elliott Architects

THUNDERED UP, HERE: We’re thrilled that OKC Thunder organization
held its media event for our three new players at Oklahoma Contemporary,
a favorite Rand Elliott Architects project.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C80eM4ouClX/?hl=en

Setting the Curve:

Oklahoma City’s Festival of the Arts is coming up, April 25-28, at Downtown’s Bicentennial Park, and we invite you to soak up the event’s gracious setting.

Today the park’s sweeping Art Deco curves echo design elements seen in the 1930s Civic Center Music Hall and City Hall, two gems of the genre that bookend the park.

For the park’s first 75 years, there were no curves. The landscaping was lackluster. It deserved better.

It was 2012 when Rand Elliott Architects and Tulsa’s PDG landscaping, completed a dramatic redesign. Bicentennial Park at last took center stage, so to speak, tying the two civic landmarks together with an oasis of walkways, pavilions, a water feature, and invitations to experience the views.

The festival has been a cherished rite of Spring since 1967, hosted by the Arts Council of OKC and its army of civic-minded volunteers. Its venue moved from the park to Hudson (the street between the Myriad Botanical Gardens and architectural treasure that was Stage Center) for decades but in 2013, returned to its original location.

Design makes a difference.

For architects, demolition is often a kind of defeat.

And so it is for us at Rand Elliott Architects, learning of plans to do away with the fountains and green space so central to Classen Curve. Reviewed in Architectural Record (Oct. 2012) it was seen as evidence that OKC was maturing, with an emerging appreciation for aesthetics.

Chesapeake founder Aubrey McClendon asked us to create Classen Curve as a neighborhood focal point (signature destination) like Tulsa’s Utica Square. It has become a part of our city’s fabric.

We hope the promises made to Meadowbrook Acres neighbors are given every consideration.

OSU Engineering: Ductwork in Disguise

Pairs of 50-ft brick columns bookend this elegant addition for OK State’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT). They conceal wiring, ductwork and other functional elements that would otherwise clutter the view.

It’s an REA signature: Designing to hide unsightly essentials. From dumpsters in disguise (OKC’s Classen Curve) to countless rooftop mechanical units -- so often left exposed – wholly hidden.

“Eliminating eyesores lets the form speak,” says Rand Elliott, FAIA.

As Engineering South expands the footprint for the future of this renowned program, the 85,000 SF project also restores the much-loved 1938 building.

Completion: Fall 2023

Coming April 26: Eva Schlegel's Multiple Voices! The Austrian artist chose Campbell Art Park to host her first public U.S. sculpture. Drawing inspiration from our new home and that OKC sunshine, the Bright Golden Haze artist's aluminum installation utilizes tempered glass etched with texts from three writers: Joy Harjo, Steve Bellin-Oka and Kimberly Blaeser. The large-scale structure will reflect its surroundings, encouraging visitors to gather, play and learn. 🌤️

📷: Eva Schlegel's Multiple Voices (2023). Rendering: Valerie Messini.

The Urban Land Institute’s Impact Awards go to projects that reflect its mission to shape the built environment and have a transformative impact in their communities.

Heartland Payment Systems won a ULI Impact Award for their new location in Oklahoma City’s bustling Automobile Alley Historic District -- a project of Rand Elliott Architects. It’s hard to imagine impact greater than turning a crumbling, decades-old downtown surface parking lot into a gleaming seven stories that fill a city block.

Read more of this story below.

What won Heartland's ULI Impact Award - Rand Elliott Architects ULI’s Impact Awards recognizes Heartland Headquarters for its transformative impact on the community and on the built environment.

In 1960, MLK Was Here

Martin Luther King spoke at the landmark Calvary Baptist Church in Downtown OKC’s Deep Deuce. It was an early Freedom Rally in a growing civil rights movement. This church was our neighbor, even our client. Today we celebrate MLK’s mighty legacy.

2022 AIA Honor Award: Detailing Folding Light

The centerpiece of the Oklahoma Contemporary campus earned one of three AIA Honor Awards -- the top award for architecture-- at AIA Central Oklahoma’s recent awards gala. Merit and Citation awards were also presented.

The Honor Award was for Excellence in Craft.

The building required craft at the highest level, inside and out, starting with a show-stopping façade made of extruded recycled aluminum. Nine geometric variations interlock to wrap the building with 16,800 “fins.”

While draining rainwater, the building skin holds light (“light-bending,” as Architectural Digest put it). It responds to the Oklahoma sky with an ever-changing palette of colors and moods with a burnished glow.

The AIA Awards Jury:

“The façade is articulated with varying levels of porosity which are evident as a spectrum from exterior to interior. The enclosure responds to the environment with a poetic rhythm, enhancing the tactile quality of the building to humanize the scale of the building and activating the building in a masterful way.

The detail of the facade works at multiple scales, creating kaleidoscopic reflections at a distance to glow at the micro-scale.”

This is the 19th award Rand Elliott Architects has earned for Oklahoma Contemporary architecture.

Watch for more on “Detailing Folding Light.” The Black Box Theater, Ceremonial Stair, classrooms, dance studio and other features. All tell a tale of Excellence in Craft.

REA TEAM: Rand Elliott, Bill Yen, Cody Pistulka, Austin McKiel

What a beautiful day to be celebrating OSU Engineering South's beam capping! Congratulations to the entire design and construction team on this milestone: Wallace Design Collective, Alvine Engineering, Mark Eudaley Engineers, CMSWillowbrook; and of course a huge congratulations to our amazing client – Oklahoma State University

“At one moment the building looks like a faceted silver crystal and at another like an origami sculpture made of light.”

Opened The Wall Street Journal this morning and was absolutely blown away to see a piece by Michael Lewis on the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center. Seeing people truly connect with our work is something we always hope for. Honored for the kind words and for the opportunity given to us by Christian Keesee and Oklahoma Contemporary to design their new home.

Folding Light in Oklahoma City The Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center gets a luminescent new life from prominent local architect Rand Elliott.

You know the day is going to hold great things when you are greeted with this beautiful rainbow pulling into the office. Happy Friday everyone!

With long lead times and market challenges, having the steel deck ahead of time is a testament to the planning and diligence of our project team. Big thanks to Lippert Bros., Inc. and to Pottawatomie County Commissioner Melissa Dennis for your herculean effort on this project!

Stay tuned for updates on the new Pottawatomie County Administration Building as construction gets underway - a new addition to downtown Shawnee and a modern complement to the Pottawatomie Historic Court House.

Sunrise at Heartland

Today we would like to celebrate two truly inspiring members of the REA team -- Ben Butler and Cody Pistulka. Cody is celebrating eight years with our firm today and this year marked Ben's 10-year anniversary. Congratulations to you both! We are grateful to have you on our team!

Such an incredible honor to have Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center selected as the Grand Award Winner (and winner in the Smooth Metal Wall Panel category) in this year’s Metal Architecture Design Awards! Congratulations to a truly amazing client and team that made this project possible!

Follow the link below to read what the judges had to say and learn more about the “Creating of Folding Light” in Metal Architecture's July 2021 issue.

http://ow.ly/rdsh50FnHZF

We're an Architizer A+Awards finalist! Help us become a winner by casting your vote for Oklahoma Contemporary in the PLUS > DETAILS > Architecture +Façades category by June 25th! https://www.architizerawards.com/a/page/vote-now

April 22, 1970 – In celebration of the first Earth Day, students of the Oklahoma State University School of Architecture designed and built a 70’ inflatable man and placed it in front of the Edmon Low Library. We never could have guessed how important this day would become. Congratulations to all of those who were there.