Modern Luxury 2018 Best Architect: Larry Speck

Modern Luxury Texas has published its 2018 roundup of “Best Of Design” tributes and Page Senior Principal Larry Speck was singled out as Best Architect. The editorial team was particularly taken with the resilience of his designs for the built structures of Buffalo Bayou Park, which was master planned by The SWA Group, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. To learn more about Larry’s impressive background, see below.

Best Architect: Larry Speck

Larry Speck is known for many things, but most of all he's known for his ardent belief that architecture can change the world. The renowned design architect is a senior principal at Page (pagethink.com), a professor and former dean of the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture; a past president of the Texas Society of Architects; and chair of the AIA Jury of Fellows. Speck is also a mentor to other architects. Perhaps none of Speck's achievements though, have resonated more with the unpredictability of the modern world than Buffalo Bayou Park, Houston's 160-acre urban green space completed in 2016. But disaster loomed in the form of last summer's Hurricane Harvey, whose waters submerged most of the park. As the waters receded, it became obvious the park's resiliency wasn't really an accident. When Speck designed its structures, he followed the rules for disaster prevention. The park - its trails, dog park, boat house and other structures, including the Cistern, the ethereal former underground reservoir-turned-art-installation site - became a symbol of the value of architectural design that prepares for the worst and in the process achieves the best.

To read the other 2018 “Bests”, click here.