Christmas 1994 & the Cistercian Chapel by Gary Cunningham

Christmas 1994 found me alone (but not lonely) in Texas, where I was then living, in Fort Worth. I gave myself a local road trip for Christmas. The day started with Christmas morning mass at the Cistercian Abbey Church on the outskirts of Dallas, designed by Gary Cunningham and completed not long before. The low winter sun was bright on the facade of the church.

I went on to the Solana office park, designed by Legorreta Arquitectos. The campus was adorned with bright red decorative balls in reflecting pools and across the landscape.

Next stop was Decatur to add to my collection of county courthouses. There was recorded seasonal music playing around the courthouse square. This was Texas so the temperature was plenty warm for Christmas, compared to upstate New York.

It is nearing Christmas 2022, twenty-eight years later. Today's mail brought the November-December issue of Texas Architect, one of the magazines I index for the Avery Index. Imagine my delight to find that the Cistercian Chapel has won the 25-Year Award from the Texas Society of Architects. There are more professional pictures in the article, including one with a healthy layer of snow and three interior views.

Life and reading always chase their own tails. I am presently reading Lotharingia by Simon Winder. We are in the 15th century so it is lots of Burgundy and plenty of Cistercian stuff.