For many years I've traveled, near and far, coming back with pictures of buildings . . . old buildings, new buildings, all sorts of buildings. About ten years ago, I did a couple of self-planned ArchiTours with a friend. They were basically Frank Lloyd Wright trips which incorporated sites open to the public with drive-bys of private residences. After a couple of those trips, I started participating in organized architectural tours. I've loved every one of them, seen many architectural wonders, large and small, domestic and international, known and unknown, and met many wonderful people. However, this past November an opportunity arose that allowed me to plan my own ArchiTour.
It all began when my friend had a timeshare week that she needed to use or lose. After much searching of the obvious locales, nothing had caught our attention or had met our needs, time frame or expectations. The one place we found that fit all of our criteria was Bella Vista, Arkansas.
Now most people don't think of heading off to Northwest Arkansas for a week in November for an architecture trip (You're going to Arkansas?! For an architecture trip?!), but that's where they're wrong.
Having been on an architecture tour to the area nine years ago, I knew I could plan a great architecture tour of the area and that we could even add daytrips to Oklahoma - plus, our timing would put us in the area right after the opening of the new (and spectacular!) Crystal Bridges Museum. What more could we want?
So, with our roomy condo confirmation in hand, we invited another friend to go with us and I started planning our Arkansas adventure . . .
Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas, was the home of the internationally acclaimed architect Fay Jones. I was fortunate to meet Fay in 2002 and consider it to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. So, obviously we would set out to see as many of Fay's works as possible.
The next addition was to be a daytrip to Bartlesville, Oklahoma where we could see Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower and works by the creative and ever unique and interesting Bruce Goff. The second daytrip was to be to Tulsa for its Art Deco wonders.
Next thing to add to the agenda was to research the locations and works of Marlon Blackwell, the current Department Head at the Fay Jones School of Architecture at UArk. Marlon is one of the hot architects of the moment and at the time of my planning and research he was preparing for presentations of two of his recent works - the Indianapolis Museum of Art Visitor's Pavilion and the Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church - at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona. (By the way, the church won the Completed Buildings - Civic and Community Category!! Congratulations, Marlon!)
So, the research and contacting began . . .
Sunday evening, November 13, 2011, we arrived at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville to start our ArchiTour. I had learned that the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista (my favorite Fay Jones chapel!) would be lighted until 8:30 that night. This was quite a special event as the chapel is usually only lighted for the four nights before Christmas. However, in order to celebrate the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum, the chapel was lighted on Friday through Sunday nights. Needless to say, our first stop was Cooper Chapel - and we were not disappointed! We arrived and there were no other cars in the parking lot - we were the only people there! We were immediately greeted by the hoot of a Great Horned Owl. Good sign! The chapel sits back in the woods, hidden, overlooking the lake - it is so congruous with its surroundings it actually surprises you when it suddenly appears in front of you. There it was, lighted, as promised, glowing like an apparition. A spectacular sight to say the least. As beautiful as it was on the exterior, it was surpassed by the interior. I am perfectly happy to just sit in that ethereal space. After some quality time inside we walked the trail around the chapel in order to see it from every side - it's as if you cannot absorb enough of it, as if you can't possibly notice every detail and nuance. We found our evening walk to be a very nice - and unique - experience - but I don't think the goose on the lake would agree with that as our presence seemed to upset her tremendously. After one last look in the chapel, we took the trail back to the parking lot and the owl wished us a fond adieu.
Ah, the trip was off to an amazing start . . .
It all began when my friend had a timeshare week that she needed to use or lose. After much searching of the obvious locales, nothing had caught our attention or had met our needs, time frame or expectations. The one place we found that fit all of our criteria was Bella Vista, Arkansas.
Now most people don't think of heading off to Northwest Arkansas for a week in November for an architecture trip (You're going to Arkansas?! For an architecture trip?!), but that's where they're wrong.
Having been on an architecture tour to the area nine years ago, I knew I could plan a great architecture tour of the area and that we could even add daytrips to Oklahoma - plus, our timing would put us in the area right after the opening of the new (and spectacular!) Crystal Bridges Museum. What more could we want?
So, with our roomy condo confirmation in hand, we invited another friend to go with us and I started planning our Arkansas adventure . . .
Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas, was the home of the internationally acclaimed architect Fay Jones. I was fortunate to meet Fay in 2002 and consider it to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. So, obviously we would set out to see as many of Fay's works as possible.
The next addition was to be a daytrip to Bartlesville, Oklahoma where we could see Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower and works by the creative and ever unique and interesting Bruce Goff. The second daytrip was to be to Tulsa for its Art Deco wonders.
Next thing to add to the agenda was to research the locations and works of Marlon Blackwell, the current Department Head at the Fay Jones School of Architecture at UArk. Marlon is one of the hot architects of the moment and at the time of my planning and research he was preparing for presentations of two of his recent works - the Indianapolis Museum of Art Visitor's Pavilion and the Saint Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church - at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona. (By the way, the church won the Completed Buildings - Civic and Community Category!! Congratulations, Marlon!)
So, the research and contacting began . . .
Sunday evening, November 13, 2011, we arrived at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville to start our ArchiTour. I had learned that the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista (my favorite Fay Jones chapel!) would be lighted until 8:30 that night. This was quite a special event as the chapel is usually only lighted for the four nights before Christmas. However, in order to celebrate the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum, the chapel was lighted on Friday through Sunday nights. Needless to say, our first stop was Cooper Chapel - and we were not disappointed! We arrived and there were no other cars in the parking lot - we were the only people there! We were immediately greeted by the hoot of a Great Horned Owl. Good sign! The chapel sits back in the woods, hidden, overlooking the lake - it is so congruous with its surroundings it actually surprises you when it suddenly appears in front of you. There it was, lighted, as promised, glowing like an apparition. A spectacular sight to say the least. As beautiful as it was on the exterior, it was surpassed by the interior. I am perfectly happy to just sit in that ethereal space. After some quality time inside we walked the trail around the chapel in order to see it from every side - it's as if you cannot absorb enough of it, as if you can't possibly notice every detail and nuance. We found our evening walk to be a very nice - and unique - experience - but I don't think the goose on the lake would agree with that as our presence seemed to upset her tremendously. After one last look in the chapel, we took the trail back to the parking lot and the owl wished us a fond adieu.
Ah, the trip was off to an amazing start . . .