Perhaps now more than ever before, we are all aware of the built environment that surrounds us, and of the impacts it has on the health of individuals, communities, and the planet. The Architecture of Place series brings together the established and emerging voices working to create a better built future.
From February through April 2024, the ICAA, INTBAU, and The King's Foundation will co-host The Architecture of Place: In Conversation with..., a series of interviews featuring three architects from different backgrounds and points of view: Austin Tunnell, Mamdouh Sakr, and Joachim Tantau. Over the three-part series, each speaker will have the chance to play the role of both interviewer and interviewee. In each installment, one of the three architects will be interviewed by one of the others about the influences, experiences, and projects that have led to their design perspective on the architecture of place. At the end of each session, students from partnering university departments will pose additional questions to the speakers, followed by an open Q&A with attendees.
The programs are free and open for public registration, and recorded versions of the programs will be made available to all.
In this iteration of the series, Joachim Tantau will interview Austin Tunnell about his work, background, and design perspective.
After a brief stint as a CPA at KPMG and 2 years in the Peace Corps, Austin’s path into building began in the jungles of Panama where he was first introduced to the idea that how we build shapes how we live. Captured by the idea, he went on to apprentice for a master mason and timber framer. He taught himself design along the way, his drawings informed by understanding of the mediums he was working with, and inspired by the simple act of studying buildings he found beautiful. He sharpened his design and construction chops in Carlton Landing— winning 2 national awards in the process—before, in 2022, bringing Oklahoma City its first new structural brick masonry home in generations—with many more to come.
Austin is a relentless innovator, always experimenting with better ways of doing things. He plans to expand Building Culture to include apprenticeship programs, R&D, manufacturing, education and resale of traditional materials and methods—aiming to build a culture that expresses its ideals in a multi-century architecture: a whole new Building Culture.