Powers Brown Architecture: Commodity and Virtue in Architecture

This in-depth monograph spans the entire 25 years of Powers Brown Architecture's practice, and includes projects not previously covered in earlier publications, suhc as the Hillel Student Center in Washington, D.C. and the Transit Terminal in Galveston, Texas on the historic Strand.

You’ve heard of the “Starchitects.” Now meet the “Marketects.” This monograph spans all twenty-five years of Powers Brown Architecture and evinces why all clients deserve good design.

The “Marketect,” a term coined by Powers Brown Architecture as an antithesis to the “Starchitect,” is a market-driven strategy for striving for the best design solutions for all clients. Through this bottom-up approach, Powers Brown seeks cutting-edge solutions that elevate a seemingly mundane building type beyond client expectations. Its dedication to working with clients to develop cost-effective, market-driven buildings without sacrificing good design has resulted in a broad range of commercial projects that respond to everyday pragmatics while still exhibiting strong architectural ideas and developing new technologies along the way.

In Powers Brown Architecture: Commodity and Virtue in Architecture, the firm presents a curated collection of work that spans its entire twenty-five years in practice and includes projects not covered in earlier publications. The body of work evinces the disciplined structure of the practice itself over a predominant style or form.

Projects such as Hillel Student Center in Washington, D.C. and the Transit Terminal in Galveston, Texas showcase the firm’s approach to public work. Frank’s International and Seismic Exchange explore the possibilities of corporate architecture to create place as much as to make a statement. Arabella showcases the potential for variety, rather than repetition, in a condominium building, and the Thompson Hotel & Arts Residences in San Antonio navigates pedestrian scale in a twenty-storey tower. POST covers the commitment to resiliency and the future of the planet, while MEDDNet™ transforms urban design tactics into a national-scale disaster relief strategy.

The introduction is by journalist Stephen Sharpe, who has covered Powers Brown’s work for nearly twenty years. An extended essay by principal Jeffrey Brown, FAIA, situates the firm’s position at the conversational threshold of scepticism about “Starchitecure” and the reality of everyday architecture, or “Marketecture.” Architecture professor and author Donna Kacmar, FAIA, interviews Brown to reveal the details behind the firm and its work.