New Mexico architect Antoine Predock, recipient of the prestigious 2007 National Lifetime Achievement Award for Design Excellence, refers to himself as a "portable regionalist." Though Predock is widely recognized throughout the American West for his unique bold structures, he has also achieved international acclaim for his distinctive building projects around the world. From his San Diego Padres Ballpark with its innovative “garden” concepts of what a stadium could evolve to be, to his designs for the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, with its infused sense of spiritual symbolism, Predock's architecture captures the soul. He attributes his early travels as a young graduate student as a very important part of his informal training and a major influence on his architectural style. Like other great artists before him, Predock also finds inspiration from a diverse world of dance, literature, poetry, film, music, art and architecture.
Born in Missouri in 1936, Predock attended architecture school at the University of New Mexico, where he also studied painting with Elaine de Kooning. He later transferred to Columbia University and received his bachelors in architecture. While on a Columbia Fellowship to Spain, Predock cruised throughout the Mediterranean via motorcycle. Upon returning to New Mexico, he continued his travels, exploring various regions of Latin America. In 1967, Predock established his studio in Albuquerque and first gained national attention for his La Luz Community designs. Following his award-winning Nelson Fine Arts Center at Arizona State University, Predock soon distinguished himself as a maverick Modernist architect.
Antoine Predock is well known for his sensitive approach to architecture by embracing the surrounding environment, its history and its culture, and integrating their essence into his designs. The buildings that emerge are indigenous, sublime and powerful.
He cites "the goose bump factor" when asked what key elements make for great architecture. "What is it that really gets you and moves you? It's some feeling that's rather intangible. I don't think there's any formula to make great architecture. I think there's a spirit embedded in great works that communicate very broadly to people, and people feel that, and people respond to it. I think the poetic architecture is more important than the technical aspects. Just like human beings are different and have different inner content and communicate to people in different ways,
buildings can have that. In terms of my search, for me that's a criteria," says Predock.
He further explains that in his work he seeks to explore and grasp "the cultural strata of a place, the culture that's evolved . . . you go to a much deeper geological time and you move up to a contemporary culture to layers of the settlers who have been there. You try to understand the place in a very deep sense, not in terms of some style. I don't think style has anything to do with making architecture great. I think it's what goes into it, what is embodied in it by an artist that is working on it. The artist is a translator. The translator of culture, the translator of place and environment, and the sky, and the earth."
The Nelson Fine Arts Center, which is primarily a subterranean structure, is a great example of Predock's response to the desert environment of the Southwest. "It defends against the climate, and provides escapes from the climate and ways of coping with it," he explains. "You've got to accept climate and think about where the sun is and think about the wind direction, and where the dust storms come from (referring to New Mexico) and then make an architecture that has certain defensive aspects."
Considered one of the greatest American architects, Predock's prolific career has had a profound influence in the world of architecture. He has won the AIA Gold Medal, the Rome Prize, as well as numerous national building design awards over the years. Predock sums his career up best: "What I'm really enjoying is taking what I've learned in the desert...taking the landscapable factors of climate and cultural layers, and discovering them wherever I go. So, in that regard, I can go anywhere." With current commissions in Asia, Canada and the U.S., Predock keeps in motion, pursuing his passion for skiing, motorcycles, travel and architecture.
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