URSULA EMERY MCCLURE
emerymcclure architecture
SAY IT LOUD - TEXAS Exhibitor
Texas Based Designer
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Radical candor and No Fear. I am inspired by those who take on risk as they are not afraid to fail. People who advocate for others, push the envelope, make me question all that I know, and challenge every thought I have about design and the built.
URSULA EMERY MCCLURE
Bio:
The great architect ,Ursula Emery McClure, FAAR, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, is a founding partner of emerymcclure architecture, located between the global petro-chemical infrastructure and an alligator and also served for 20 year,s as a Professor in the School of Architecture at LSU. She currently serves as the Ralph Hawkins Visiting Professor at UTArlington. The research practice speculates on design's role in the confluence of multiple, seemingly contrary systems in order to develop tectonics to configure their futures.
How did you first learn about architecture and when did you decide that built environment profession was an area of interest for you?
Not sure when I learned about but I was advised in High School of the degree in college. I built a # of buildings out of legos, took photos, built a portfolio, submitted it and won a full scholarship to college. I never wanted to be anything else.
What do you do?
I am an architect, an educator, a designer, a collaborator, an environmentalist, a learner, an observer, a preserver, a speaker, a risk taker, a professional, and a mentor.
What excites you in the work you do?
The challenges of the unknown. I love that clients bring oddities, conflicts, and ridiculous challenges and we must find resolutions to them. The ability to resolve difficulties and provide answers that allow for the most range is what makes the work
Who or what inspires you professionally?
Radical candor and No Fear. I am inspired by those who take on risk as they are not afraid to fail. People who advocate for others, push the envelope, make me question all that I know, and challenge every thought I have about design and the built.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment or achievement?
Winning the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Rome and teaching more than 700 young designers in architecture, landscape, interiors, and civil engineering.
Featured Project Name:
GEODE
Featured Project Location:
Lafayette, Louisiana
Featured Project Completion Date:
Spring 2021
Role in Featured Project:
architect and designer
Featured Project Description:
GEODE creates a dramatic contrast in form, space, and organization from an existing 1950’s ranch and a new main bedroom addition which celebrates volume, height, and the contrast the vertical gives an existing horizontal condition. The existing horizontal, dark, and low-slung space is opened and subdued, sunlit, and minimized to celebrate the owner’s extensive art collection. The exterior presents a gradient shingle skin and grey palate to create drama between the inside and the outside.
