The best new building in Dallas hits all the right notes
Architecture critic Mark Lamster says the Singing Hills Recreation Center is a welcome new icon for southern Dallas.
A view of the windows and columns on the back portion of The Singing Hills Recreation Center in far south Dallas.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)
10:04 AM on May 6, 2021 CDT
Like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, the new Singing Hills Recreation Center is one of my favorite things, and the finest work of public architecture produced in this city during the pandemic. An unapologetically modern design, it joins the rigid discipline of an Austrian naval captain and the optimistic warmth of a nun-turned-governess with a taste for the outdoors.
How a McKinney clinic merges lessons from Texas and Rwanda
Architecture critic Mark Lamster examines how the well-designed Family Health Center on Virginia brings community health care to the underserved.
The Family Health Center on Virginia in McKinney.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)
8:18 AM on Apr 29, 2021 CDT
If you’ve driven through the Medical District recently, you may have noticed that UT Southwestern has expanded Clements Hospital with a new wing. It is a seamless addition to the 2014 facility, such that the zig-zagging hospital now looks like an enormous W laid on its side. Like the original to which it is attached, it is a scalpel-sharp composition of concrete and glass planes designed by the Dallas office of CallisonRTKL. The new space pushes the hospital’s bed count to 750 and increases its emergency room capacity by 50 percent.