On Nov. 10, the Texas Society of Architects presented the Moore/Andersson Compound with its 25-Year Award, adding the Austin complex to a list that includes Renzo Piano, Hon. FAIA’s Menil Collection and Louis Kahn’s Kimbell Art Museum.
In 1984, when AIA Gold Medalist Charles Moore moved to the city to teach at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture, he and Arthur Andersson, FAIA, began constructing a complex on a site next to a freeway in the city’s Tarrytown neighborhood. Already populated with a 1930s bungalow and addition, the site evolved into the two-house, one-studio complex where Moore lived until his death in 1993. "A leading figure in American architecture and architectural education for three decades, Mr. Moore strove to celebrate a sense of place with a collagelike mix of pop, historical and modernist motifs," wrote Herbert Muschamp in The New York Times. Today, the compound houses the Charles Moore Foundation, which offers residencies and by-appointment tours.
“One of Charles Moore’s last works, it is an outstanding representation of his approach—bold, with a strong sense of urbanism despite its modest size,” wrote Robert A.M. Stern, FAIA, in his nomination letter. “The swing of its great room in plan and section makes for one of the most memorable interior spaces of our time.”
