I was reading over some e-mails and listening to the Left Field Project interviews of the world renowned architect and my dear friend Antoine Predock. He is truly an inspiration. I stop by his website once a week to view his portfolio. His visual and structural accomplishments are diverse in size and geography. His ideas are remarkable. What it would feel like to leave your mark on the world in such a manner. Today this particular home caught my eye:

More about Antoine:

Predock is the 62nd AIA Gold Medalist, joining the ranks of such visionaries as Thomas Jefferson (1993), Frank Lloyd Wright (1949), Louis Sullivan (1944), LeCorbusier (1961), Louis Kahn (1971), I.M. Pei (1979), Cesar Pelli (1995) and last year’s recipient, Santiago Calatrava. In recognition of his legacy to architecture, Predock’s name will be chiseled into the granite Wall of Honor located in the lobby of the AIA headquarters in Washington, DC.

“I was thinking, is this happening? Am I dreaming?” said Predock when notified by AIA president Douglas L Steidl, FAIA, MRAIC, that he had been selected for the award. “I am deeply honored. In some ways I feel like my career is just starting, this is the ultimate. Thank you so much. I can really put the pedal to the medal now!”

In nominating Predock for the award, Thomas S. Howorth, FAIA, chairman, AIA Committee on Design Gold Medal Committee, explained, “Arguably, more than any American architect of any time, Antoine Predock has asserted a personal and place-inspired vision of architecture with such passion and conviction that his buildings have been universally embraced.” Howorth continued, “Antoine Predock designs buildings that grow out of their unique landscapes, creating, at the same time, symbols that are fearlessly expressive and sincere, simultaneously complex and guileless.”

Most importantly, one single page on his site titled “Body/ Motion” says it all, Antoine expresses his thoughts:

Architecture is a fascinating journey toward the unexpected. It is a ride, a physical ride and an intellectual ride. I like to think about machines and technology in relation to landscape and architecture. The idea of a motorcycle in the landscape confirms a kind of closure for me, a technological, experiential closure.

When I was a student at Columbia University I became very involved in dance and with the body in space through the work of Jennifer Masley, Merce Cunningham, Yvonne Ranier and, later, Anna Halprin. This influenced my work profoundly. I think of my buildings as processional events, as choreographic events; they are an accumulation of vantage points both perceptual and experiential. At the Mandell Weiss Forum one comes though a eucalyptus grove and there, in a clearing, stands a two hundred and seventy foot long mirror. One is suddenly part of an expectant crowd, a building of tension that has to do with the arrival of the audience and the anticipated arrival of the performers. It is a ritual – the encounter with this giant mirror, the collective straightening of the tie, and the passage through the looking glass to what lies beyond.

The Nelson Fine Arts Center seems initially to be a single event, but it is actually a processional route that is open-ended. Visitors can create their own paths to unexpected destinations that provide respite from the sun while, simultaneously, a celebration of the sun. The building offers an array of sensory possibilities throughout the day and the night. Its nocturnal life is very different from its sun-drenched daytime life.

Please click here to view the Nelson Fine Art Center