Mack Scogin Merrill Elam
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Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects is an American architecture firm based in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. The two principal architects are husband and wife Mack Scogin and
Merrill Elam Merrill Elam is an American architect and educator based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a principal with Mack Scogin in Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects where their work spans between buildings, interiors, planning, graphics and exhibition desig ...
. The firm was first founded in 1984 as Parker and Scogin, and later, from 1984 to 2000, as Scogin Elam and Bray, and from 2000 as Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects. The architects are well known for their
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
buildings, often playing on polemical themes. The architects have received numerous architectural prizes and awards for their works.


Background

The firm was founded in 1984 as Parker and Scogin. It later became Scogin, Elam and Bray (with Mack Scogin, Merrill Elam and Lloyd Bray). It became Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects in 2000. Mack Scogin studied architecture at
Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
and became Professor of Architecture at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
Graduate School of Design, where he was chairman of the Department of Architecture from 1990 to 1995. Merrill Elam first studied architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology, completing a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1971, before completing a master's degree in business administration at
Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...
in 1982. She has held several positions in schools of architecture in the USA and Canada.


Critical response

The buildings of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects have received much critical interpretation in architectural journals. But they have also attracted clients with avant-gardist aspirations. "Unusually extroverted" was what magistrates asked Mack Scogin Merrill Elam to deliver for the design of a $63 million federal courthouse in Austin, Texas. ''
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'' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff wrote that the building exhibited a tension "between the desire to uphold core democratic values and a growing sense of instability". The building is conceived as an eight-story cube, its interlocking forms resting on a concrete base. Deep recesses set into the building create a play of light and shadow. The visual game continues inside, where the walls and walkways enclosing a lobby atrium dissolve into a cubist composition of intersecting planes. The lightness of the forms recalls the theoretical structures of
Frederick Kiesler Frederick Jacob Kiesler (September 22, 1890 – December 27, 1965) was an Austrian-American architect, theoretician, theater designer, artist and sculptor. Biography Kiesler was born Friedrich Jacob Kiesler in Czernowitz, Austro-Hungarian Empir ...
, the utopian who imagined weightless buildings suspended in air. But if you circle around to the back of the model, the upper floors begin to shift, setting the entire structure off balance.


Notable works

*
United States Courthouse Following is a list of United States federal courthouses, which will comprise all courthouses currently or formerly in use for the housing of United States federal courts. Each entry indicates the name of the building along with an image, if avai ...
, Austin, Texas (2012) *Carnegie Mellon University Gates and Hillman Centers (2011) *One Midtown Plaza Lobby, Atlanta, Georgia (2007) *Yale University Health Services Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (2006) *Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center and Davis Garage,
Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...
(2006) *Ernie Davis Hall,
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
, Syracuse, New York (2005) *Harvard University Allston Campus and First Science Buildings — Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2005) *Gates Center for Computer Science,
Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2005) *Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center,
Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...
, Greenville, South Carolina (2004) *Zhongkai Sheshan Villas,
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, China (2004) *Jean Grae Hargrove Music Library,
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
(2004) * Knowlton Hall, Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture,
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
(2004) *Bailey HouseStudio (2003) *Mountain Tree House, Dillard, Georgia, (2003) *Willow Street Residence Hall,
Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
(2003) *Lee B. Philmon Branch Library (2003) *U.S. Federal Courthouse, General Services Administration,
Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
, Texas, 2003 *Nomentana Residence (1999) *Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries (1996) *Don and Sylvia Shaw Salon and Spa (1996) *John J. Ross – William C. Blakley Law Library,
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
(1994) *Buckhead Branch Library (1993) *Turner Village at the Candler School of Theology,
Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
(1992) *House Chmar (1992) *Carol Cobb Turner Branch Library (1992) *Clayton County Headquarters Library (Scogin Elam and Bray Architects, 1988) *High Museum at Georgia-Pacific Center (1988)


Awards

*Mark Scogin and Merrill Elam, Shutze Medal, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013 *Mark Scogin and Merrill Elam, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture with Mack Scogin, 2012 *Mark Scogin and Merrill Elam, Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters with Mack Scogin, 2011 *Mark Scogin and Merrill Elam, Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1995


Publications

*Mark Linder, ''Scogin Elam & Bray''. Rizzoli, New York, 1992. *Jason Smart (ed.), Mack & Merrill: The Work of Scogin Elam and Bray Architects, Michigan Architecture Papers, no.7, University of Michigan College of Architecture + Urban Planning, 1999. *Todd Gannon, Teresa Ball (eds), Mack Scogin/Merrill Elam: Knowlton Hall, Chronicle Books, 2005.


References


External links

*Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architect
website
{{Authority control Architecture firms based in Georgia (U.S. state) Architecture of Atlanta Companies based in Atlanta Design companies established in 1984 1984 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) American companies established in 1984