Fort Worth Camera / Ibanez Shaw Architecture

Architects: Ibanez Shaw Architecture
Location: Fort Worth, TX, United States
Area: 9800.0 ft2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Dror Baldinger, FAIA

Text description provided by the architects. The project sits on Montgomery Street, a commercial corridor that lies between the Arlington Heights Neighborhood and the Museum/Cultural District. The Museum of Science and History by Legorreta +Legorreta is directly across the street. The District is also home to the wonderful concrete Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth by Tadao Ando, and the masterwork Kimball Art Museum, designed by Louis Kahn.

The Fort Worth Camera building houses photography classrooms, studios, and a retail area. The hole pattern in the concrete screen wall depicts the graphic proportionality of seven standard apertures that restrict how much light is allowed to enter the camera.

The openings in the wall are conically flared to increase the visual transparency and graphic presentation. The upper-level walls and aperture wall were poured on the ground and lifted into place, while the lower level walls were cast-in-place. The yellow box holds the children’s area and pays homage to the lantern of the Legorreta +Legorreta building across the street.