Off1cial Publication of the TEXAS ARCHITECT The Texas Society of ArchitiiCU TSA IS the off•cu11 organization of the Texas VOLUME 22 / MAY, 1972 / NO. 5 Reg•on of the Amer1c:an lnst1tut10n of Archllecu James D Pfluger, AlA Ed1t0r Taber Ward Managmg Ed110r Banny L Can1zaro Associate Eduor V. Raymond Smith, Al A Associate Ed1tor THE TEXAS ARCH ITECT " published INDEX monthly by Texas Society of Architects, 904 Perry Brooks Buildtng, 121 East 8th Street, COVER AND PAGE 3 Austen, Texas 78701 Second class postage pa1d at Ausun, Texas Application to matl at Harwood K. Sm 1th and Partners second clan postage rates Is pend1ng ot Aunen, Texas. Copynghtcd 1972 by the TSA were commissioned to design a Subscription price, $3.00 per year, In junior college complex w1th odvuncc. initial enrollment of 2500 Edllonal contnbut1ons, correspondence. and students. The 245-acre site w1ll advertising material env1ted by the editor Due to the nature of th publlcauon. editorial ultimately handle 10,000 full-time conuulbullons cannot be purchoscd students. Pub11sher g•ves p rm1ss on for reproduction of all or part of edatonal matenal herem, and rcQulllts publication crcd1t be IJIVCn THE PAGE 6 TEXAS ARCHITECT, and Dllthor of matenol when lnd•C3ted PubiJcat•ons wh1ch normally The Big Thicket - a wilderness pay for editon I matenal are requested to grvc under assault. Texans must ac­ conStdcrat on to the author of reproduced byhned feature matenal cept the challenge of its surv1val. ADVERTISERS p 13 - Texas/Unicon Appearance of names and p1ctures of products and services m tither ed1torlal or PAGE 11 Structures. Inc. advertising does not constitute an The Pierce. Lacy Partnership p 14 - Coerver Industries endorsement of same by e ther the Texas Socltlty of Ardutecu or the American recerved a F~rst Honor Award for p. 18 - Electric Utility lnst1tu11on of Architects design of a " mini" terminal for Companies of Texas Branrff International at Dallas' p 19 - San Valle Tile Kilns TSA OFFICERS FOR 1972 Love Field. Capitol Marble and Granite Preston M. Geren Jr , Fort Worth • President Jay W Barnes, AuStin • Presld nt PAGE 15 p. 20 - Mosher Steel Elect Surrounded by a large. modern p. 20 - TexStar Constructron Ben E. Brewer, Houston . • • V1cc President Charles Harper, Wichita Falls • Vice Pr111ldent housing proJect. the old Magoffin p 21 PPG Glass John Olson, Corpus Christi • Vice President Home still stands m El Paso It Howard Parker, Dallas . Secretary Treasurer p 22 Sonneborn Building Damel Boone, Ab1lene AlA Reg•onal D~rector remains a symbol of the Products Thomes A Bullock, Houston P•st President sprawling international city of Don Edward Legge, Austin Execut1vc p. 22 - Walter delima Meyers D~rcctor which it is the very origin. p. 23- United Sprinkler TSA DIRECTORS FOR 1972 R1chard Buzard Ab lane Chapter D111111 Graeber Austm Chapter M 0 Lawrence Brazos Chapter .bck Solka Corpus Chrlstl Chapter Dave Braden Dallas Ch pter George Staten El Paso Chapter Paul Wharton Fort Worth Chapter Harry Golemon Houston Chapter Marv1n Boland Lower R1o Gr nd Valley Chapter Bob Mes rsm1th Lubbock Chapter Ann Bmthll Northeast Texas Chapter Ed Mok San Antoneo Chapter .bck Stansbury Southe3St Texas Chapter J1 m Bailey • Panhandle Chapter Douglas Hearn • Waco Chapter Oaryle Hoh rtz . West Texas Chapter Joe Roberts •. Wichita Foils Chapter Tony Balderrama Anoc•ntcd Student Chllpters/ A I A Houston 2 TEXAS ARCHITECT HARWOOD K. SMITH & PARTNERS ARCHITECTS DALLAS, TEXAS Architects were comm1ss1oned to through visual communication as The building complex provides des1gn a JUnior college complex well as classroom instruction. an mstrument as well as a w1th fac1llt1es for a learning and to stimulate participation 1n background for learning, ac­ resources center; drama, f1ne the college as a community cen­ complished by a variety of arts . music and physical ter. educat 1on departments: a flowing 1nformal spaces for general mstructional cluster. and study. observation and in­ areas for adm1n1strat1on and Solution was to create an struction. All materials and student act1v1ties. Initially plan­ "educational village" of f1ve low­ colors are selected to render a ned for 2,500 students. the rise buildings moulded among palette of earth tones and tex­ fac1lity will ultimately handle a newly created earth forms Ex­ tures. Warm exterior finishes are 10.000 full-t1me enrollment. pansion will be provided by ad­ earned inside to create the total ding instructional clusters background while color IS S1te IS a 245-acre area of virtually around the learning resources provided by furnishings and flat land located at the in­ center. Parkmg areas for 1.900 people. Matenals used were con­ tersections of Interstate High­ vehicles are provided, crete and steel frames, redwood, ways 20. 30 and 635. It IS penetrated by pedestrian islands surrounded on all sides by and peninsulas. All parking bnck, textured cement coat1ng , res1dences. Oes1gners were areas are serviced by a perimen­ clay tile, bronze glass, v1nyl asked to mcorporate learnmg ter road. asbestos t1le and carpetmg. The Bag Thacket. a umque and beautiful Wilderness covermg some 350,000 acres of Southeastern Texas has become the center of a maJor nat1onal conservation debate. The 1ssue IS not a Simple 'Should the Th1cket be preserved? Rather. 1t poses numerous questaons com­ mon to all wald areas threatened by man s encroachment; questaons such as 'How many t acres are necessary for 'preser­ vataon? · In thas book A Y. "Pete" Gun- 9 ter, Presadent of the Big Thicket Assoc1ataon. descrabes the history and nch daversaty of the region and calls for ammedaate actaon on the part of con­ servatlonasts and polatecaans ahke before notheng 1s left to conserve Roy Hamnc s superb photography contrasts the remaenang solitude and beauty of the Thacket w1th those sectaons now lost to careless exploetateon and development In an effort to save the Thacket from the bulldozers of real estate developers and lumber com­ panaes whech are destroyang thousands of acres yearly, con­ servatlonests have pressed legeslatlon for a Big Thicket Nateonal Park Yet an the face of many urgent appeals, congresseonal acteon has been blocked by lobbyasts whele spon­ sors of the balls desagree among themselves as to the seze and shape of the proposed park The Beg ThiCket IS a book WhiCh • must as expressed by Walter J Heckel an has Foreword 'help awaken 200 melhon Amencans to the fact that they are stockholders an the ·company we call the Uneted States and It 1s up to every one of us to ensure that our resources are not abused MAY 1972 The helicopter rose over Kountze, courthouse The lumber interests m Texas called the process town of Hardin County. Around us the land spread " reforesting." And In truth, they would return to under the morning sun, hazy and green to a flat their new clay prairies to endow them with rows of horizon. We angled out, following Village Creek slash pines. In time also they would return again down to the Neches River and the Neches River to spray the rows of pines with chemicals to keep over to Pine Island Bayou, making a big loop that the hardwoods-the oaks, magnolias, hlckones, would take us north again on three long trips over tupelos. elms, birches, maples, beeches-from the Big Thicket. It would be nearly sundown ever growing there again. In the meantime lumber before we returned from the last trip. trucks strained to the highways in record num­ bers. The big hardwoods disappeared from the I had hiked the Big Thicket before, following its once dense backwoods, and those trees that the game trails and sluggish bayous, listening to its companies did not want to bother with were piled silences. its birdcries and leafsounds, watching up In windrows and burned. for orchids, ferns, mushrooms in the black shade of its forest floor. From the helicopter it was en­ Not all the damage was being done by the lumber tirely different. Up there you had to take the long companies. In one area selected for inclusion In view, to see things as a whole. You could only the park (the" triangle" country, south of conjecture about what lived down there under the Saratoga) the bulldozing was being done, ap­ dense forest canopy. But about what was hap­ parently, by rice farmers and cattlemen. And, of pening to the forest as a whole, you could not course, real estate promoters had been drawn by help seeing. That was why we went up there. conservationist publicity to put in " red flag" sub­ divisions where they could cheaply buy a scrap of It started out well. The lower Neches River flood­ land. plain and the Pine Island Bayoo country are two of the least timbered, least civilized parts There was one lumber company, Temple In­ remaining of the Big Thicket. From the air the dustries, that was not rooting out hardwoods in­ country looks like the jungles of Southeast Asia: discriminately from its lands. It was locally lush, dense, gnarled, with bayou water glittering owned. But the other companies had head offices in the sun in short stretches between tree In New York, Chicago, Toledo, and it was there overhang. Vines cling to treetops, herons sun on that the decision to clearcut the Big Thicket was dead branches, magnolia blossoms blaze white made: there, in the Enlightened North. Probably against dark green. there also was coined the phrase " reforestation": a semantic triumph masking an ecological Only when we lost the glittering thread of bayou disaster. From the air " reforestation" had the look and wandered out over pulp pine plantations did of a last determined rush to pillage a wilderness the country change. In the plantations there were before It could be protected in the National Park straight lines of trees, mile after mile, with System.