Organizing Principles of Design – Evolution of a Growing Church Community
This Texas church was able to create a more attractive campus with GFF Architects to design a project with future-planning capabilities.
GFF Church Works: Under Construction
Many new GFF Church Works projects are under construction! Life Fellowship Church in McKinney held a groundbreaking ceremony in late February to celebrate the start of renovation and expansion of their existing campus. Prosper United Methodist Church broke ground on a brand-new campus to support their rapidly growing congregation Dallas Theological Seminary’s new 500-seat Chapel…
Faculty Offices: A Space Allocation Dilemma
It may not be luxurious or even fully private, but just about every full-time college faculty member has an office where he or she can work quietly, meet with students, teleconference or even record classes for e-learning. Unlike offices, classrooms both general purpose and special function are treated as shared space, scheduled by the department…
GFF Women’s History Month
GFF’s culture of creating memorable places is driven by the talent and hard work of our entire staff. This month, we’re sending a special shout-out to the women of GFF who continually serve our clients and community through their varied roles and disciplines. "I joined GFF in 1997 as a temporary receptionist and over…
Ricardo Maga Rojas Announced as 2021 AIA Award Winner
We're so excited to say that Ricardo Maga Rojas has been announced as an AIA Associates Award Winner for 2021! It's an incredible accomplishment for GFF's "citizen architect" and we could not be more proud of the role he plays in his community. Ricardo is a member of GFF's Austin Office and received a Bachelor of…
Glass Technology that Can Bring Value to Your Building
Developers typically find that one of the most expensive components of a ground up construction is the glazing systems. Natural light gives life to a building. Without it there’s no life and no demand for space. Insulated glazing was invented in 1865, and the technology slowly started to make its way into commercial development in the 1930’s, becoming commonly available in the 50’s. Glass has a major impact on the experiential quality of a space and is often a primary component of the overall design concept. Glass technology has shaped and repeatedly redefined architecture, and its most recent evolution offers a broad spectrum of options.
Learning and Learning Space
For the last twenty-five years, one of my primary areas of focus both in practice and in research has been the ways people learn and the design of environments to facilitate that learning. In the sincere hope that students of all ages will be back on campus soon, the design of learning space is a…
Church Design: SoupMobile Church Food Pantry Gets a Home
Missions-minded architects and contractors help design and build a new worship space and food pantry for the homeless in Dallas.
Locally Sourced Kindness
We have asked our employees which organizations they supported this year and would like to encourage our readers to support them too! In a year when we have often felt powerless to change things around us, we’ve found strength in the work that these organizations are doing (and have been doing for a long time) to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities.
GFF 2021 Promotions
At GFF we are all excited to welcome the start of this New Year (good riddance 2020!) and we are pleased to kick off 2021 with the announcement of 21 well deserved promotions for members of our team. Each of these individuals has made significant contributions to GFF, demonstrating professionalism, perseverance and professional growth through…
Church Design: Materiality in Interior Design — Question 1: Can You Deep Clean It Easily?
“A patio expansion-turned-atrium gathering space at First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Dallas features interior design elements conducive to people congregating and passing through, but not germs.”
Portrait of a GFFer: Noe Flores
Meet Noe Flores. Noe recently graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio with a Master of Architecture. He is currently working on mixed-use and multifamily projects in the Cini Studio. Read below for more about Noe! Growing up I had a German Shepherd mix named Nikko since I was 12 years old. After…
GFF Church Works Design Maxims
As we reach the end of the year, GFF has defined a set of principles that we believe will continue to influence our work for many years to come. We are excited to share these principles, or Design Maxims, and are eagerly looking forward to exciting new ventures in 2021! The GFF Church Works Studio…
GFF CAN(e): A Design Competition for a New Animal Shelter
Ultimately, this building will provide a safe and healthy environment for animals on their journey to finding their forever homes. Before the pandemic took hold, GFF made career offers to six extremely talented graduates around the country. Unable to move to Dallas or begin working in our temporarily closed offices as COVID-19 became a national…
Next Generation Student Spaces
In recent years there has been a growing trend among churches to place extra emphasis on well-designed, impactful space for junior and senior high school students. It makes sense: this is a very vulnerable age group. Teenagers are living through an awkward stage of life and are close to leaving home and navigating the world…
Portrait of a GFFer: Faiza Tayyab
Meet Faiza Tayyab. Faiza graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Professional Bachelor of Architecture and joined the GFF Austin Office in February as a Team Member. Read below for more about Faiza! I was born in Iowa City but (thankfully) have been an Austinite for 20 years now. And yes, I…
Catching Up with Alix Rios
Alix Rios has returned to lead GFF Interiors. We had a few things to ask her.
CANstruction 2020
While it was an unCANventional summer, our interns were able to still participate in a work from home program – GFFCAN.
Post-Pandemic Landscapes
As a lasting result of the ‘Shelter-In-Place’ orders, our greenspaces may possess increasingly vital roles in our daily lives. As outdoor spaces continue to fill expanded roles, they also may adapt and change.
Renovation and Historic Preservation for Education
One of the most common triggers for planning and design projects in K-20 education is that existing campus facilities and resources no longer meet the needs of the institution. As education evolves to meet the needs of the twenty-first century, changes in pedagogy are driving changes in facilities for teaching at all grade levels, as…
Decoding the Effects of COVID-19
A few weeks ago, we asked our clients, consultants, contractors, and friends of the firm to share their experiences during the current pandemic. We are excited to share our findings and some of the excerpts from our generous survey volunteers.
An Atrium of Light
Perhaps most important, this project put us on a path to dream even bigger about how our physical church building can be leveraged to serve an urban mission field in profound new ways. Nicholas McWhirter, AIA GFF Church Works’ Fiedler Atrium project at First United Methodist Church Dallas was featured in the Summer 2020 issue…
Church Design Post COVID-19
GFF Church Works is honored to have our recent COVID-19 discussion on the church re-entry process featured in the following publications. Please follow the links to learn more about strategies for re-entry and contact us if you would like to further discuss specifics for your facility! What Will Church Design Look Like in a Post-Pandemic…
Portrait of a GFFer: Max Nochez
Meet Max Nochez. Max graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies and a Master’s of Architecture. Max joined the GFF team in 2020 and is a Senior Project Coordinator in the Austin Office. See below to read more about Max! 1. I was born and raised…
Post-Pandemic Retail
COVID-19 has dramatically affected how we shop, dine, and are entertained. Retailers, restauranteurs, and theater operators are beginning to reopen in limited capacities and think about what the nature of these functions looks like in the future.
Post-Pandemic Housing
Being mindful of potential cost and spatial implications, these ideas outline and suggest realistic measures which may be taken to, logically but resourcefully, re-shape multifamily communities.
K-12 Schools and the Response to COVID-19
The end of May is usually a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the school year just completed and look forward to new opportunities in the coming year, but this has been a spring semester unlike any other. The rapid transformation required of schools and universities in response to the COVID-19 virus has been both…
Jam With GFF
From time to time, we like to share the music we listen to with our coworkers. New albums and new artists are currency for conversations about creative accomplishment and serve as the mood-shifting push that we need to find our own ideas. Temporarily locked in doors due to COVID-19, we find ourselves listening to music more than we’re used to during a workday. Kitchen tables and home offices have become our new workstations and music is providing the right environmental mask to transform our homes into proper work spaces.
Expansion and Renovation Renew 1960s Dallas Church
After working with GFF Architects on various projects elsewhere on the campus over the previous quarter century, Good Shepherd turned to the firm once again in 2016 to expand the seating capacity of the sanctuary, enhance the sanctuary lighting, replace the sanctuary flooring, add an accessible restroom and a covered porte-cochere drop-off.
Should We Be Specifying Antimicrobials?
Research has shown that while antimicrobials do have some positive attributes, such as their ability to be used as a preservative in building materials, their presence in the built environment may create more harm than good. These days, the emergence of COVID-19 has made this question a more immediate concern. As states and local municipalities…