GFF Co-Founder Larry Good will be honored by AIA Dallas at the Impact Dallas Gala on November 4th. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor given by the organization.
At 7:00 PM on November 4th at the Thompson Hotel in Downtown Dallas, AIA Dallas will recognize Larry Good with the highest honor it bestows to Architects within the city. We will pass through several city parks and by many great buildings that Larry helped shepherd and design as we arrive at an event that will celebrate a lifetime of achievement.
We in the design community cherish leaders like Larry Good who have given us a roadmap for achieving lasting impact through a career that balances civic service and professional contributions to the city we love. The example he set out for us reminds us of what is possible when we set our hearts and our minds to making our world a more memorable place. He is an inspiration, a friend, and we have only gratitude towards his family for letting us take so much of his time since he cofounded GFF in 1982.
His biography reads like the cliché dream we had for ourselves when we entered design schools as he did in Austin during the late 1960’s. He is the cofounder of his own firm, leader within the greater design community of Dallas where he played a role in so many of its most important civic projects, an AIA Fellow, and a published author, among other achievements. Yet, despite the dedication to his work and his craft, Larry is better known at GFF as a career family man, who was always generous in creating opportunities for his team and one with an extraordinary gift for lighting up the whole room wherever he goes. His stories stick with us and his Texas flavored charm remind us that we can always stay true, never pretending to be anyone other than who we are.
We encourage our clients, consultants, and friends of the firm to take part in this event, the Impact Dallas Gala, not only because it’s an opportunity to see Larry surrounded by what he loves most (friends, family, and design) but also because the Gala will elevate awareness of the impact of architecture and design on the community and help to improve daily life, address the needs of the community, and unlock the economic potential of the city.
Join us and the greater design community of Dallas at this fantastic event.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4
7:00 PM – 11:00PM; VIP ENTRY AT 6:00 PM
THE THOMPSON HOTEL
205 N AKARD STREET, DALLAS, TX 75201
LARRY’S BIO: A founding principal and now retired Chairman of GFF, Larry Good enjoyed a focus on strategic issues of urban design and land use planning throughout his 45-year career. For public and private sector clientele, Larry successfully led the firm’s efforts in campus planning, urban design, land use planning, zoning assistance and project site planning. He is a lifelong Dallas resident with a passion for the city. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from The University of Texas in December of 1972, he returned to marry his high school sweetheart Barbara, build a career and raise his family in the city he loves. Among his greatest pleasures is seeing his three adult children thriving in careers related to architecture and watching GFF’s continued success in the years following his retirement. The firm was AIA/Dallas’s Firm of the Year three times and received the TxA Firm Award in 2019.
Mr. Good served as President of AIA/Dallas in 1986, served on the National Board of Directors for AIA from 1990 to 1994, and has received the Dallas Chapter’s Young Architect of the Year Award and President’s Medal. Based on an early career record of leadership in service to the profession and public service, he was elevated to the AIA College of Fellows in 1989 at the age of 38. Larry carried the AICP Certified Planner credential for more than a decade and was a LEED-Accredited Professional. He was the recipient of the 2008 Kessler Award, the highest honor given by the Greater Dallas Planning Council and the 2011 Chairman’s Award from Downtown Dallas, Inc. In 2016, Larry received the Michael McAuley Lifetime Achievement Award from the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors (NTCAR) and in 2018, received two additional Lifetime Achievement Awards, one from CoreNet Global and one from Dallas Business Journal.
Good enjoyed civic and industry activities which followed the same orientation toward planning and urban design in Dallas as did his life within GFF, with a particular focus on restoring the vibrancy of Downtown Dallas and its surrounding districts. He served as long-time board member and Chairman of Downtown Dallas, Inc., President of the Greater Dallas Planning Council, Chairman of the Dallas Urban Design Advisory Committee, Chairman of the two Downtown Dallas TIF District Boards and sat on the Management Team for Parks for Downtown Dallas. He served on the Board of Directors of The Dallas Plan, Uptown Dallas, The McKinney Avenue Trolley, The Real Estate Council, Urban Land Institute, Episcopal School of Dallas and Preservation Park Cities. He was a member of the Leadership Dallas Class of 1980.
Larry enjoys writing more than most people do. While chairing TxA’s Publication Committee and serving for several years as a Contributing Editor for Texas Architect, he co-authored Dallasights for the 1978 AIA National Convention and The AIA Guidebook to Dallas Architecture for the 1999 Convention. In 2020, he designed and authored a book for Preservation Park Cities titled A House for Texas, which ultimately helped save the treasured Elbert Williams house from impending demolition.
Among Larry’s favorite projects at GFF were those master plans, urban design studies or zoning cases which had a role in creating, revitalizing or transforming Dallas’s most vibrant urban districts, including CityPlace/West Village, Bishop Arts, Oak Cliff Gateway, Old Parkland, Farmers Market, the Design District, the Trinity River Corridor and Victory. He directed GFF’s participation in the Inside the Loop report, the Downtown Parks Master Plan, and the CBD Comprehensive Transportation Study and campus master plans for UT/Dallas, UT/Pan American, Texas A&M/Central Texas, Texas A&M/Commerce, Ursuline and Jesuit.
In retirement, Larry spends almost half the year at the home he designed for his family in Santa Fe, NM. His volunteer activities there include serving on the Board of Trustees for the Santa Fe Botanical Garden and the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, and informally advising the School for Advanced Research on their architect selection process and review of the school’s new campus master plan.