Audrey Matlock

Education

• Yale School of Architecture '79

Years of practice

Affiliations/Firms

• Audrey Matlock Architect

Professional organizations

• Became AIA fellow in 2011

Major projects

• Chelsea Modern (2008)
• Catskill Mountain House
• Armstrong Corporate Headquarters
• Armstrong Visitors Center
• Community Mediation Center
• Bloom Restaurant
• Medeu Sports Center

Awards, honors and press

• Residential Design Awards Chelsea Modern Merit Award 2012
• AIA New York Chapter Medeu Sports Center Merit Award 2012
• AIA New York Chapter Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence 2011
• Society of American Registered Architects New York (SARANY) Chelsea Modern Sales + Design Gallery Design Award Honor 2008
• Industrial Perforators Association Armstrong Visitors Center Award 2005
• International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Community Mediation Services Interior Design Competition Winner 2004

Related websites

Keywords

Biography

Early life and education

Audrey Matlock, FAIA studied fine arts at Syracuse University.  She was primarily a sculptor.  “I did big pieces using all kinds of materials,” she said.  “But I got bored with the limitations. I didn’t want to spend life as an artist alone with my thoughts. I grew more interested in the space that held the structures, and I really like to build things. An architect is a lot of things — craftsman, artist, technician, politician. You have to engage with people, cities and the cultural world around us. I like that.” [1]

Matlock spent some years after graduation in San Francisco, where she worked for Frank Oppenheimer.  She designed large-scale environmental sculpture that demonstrated the principles of physics.

Career in Architecture

Matlock is an architect based in New York City. She established her own firm in 1993. She had previously led design efforts in some of the world’s most prominent architectural offices, including Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and Perkins and Will.[2] Her design approach fuses architecture, technology, and contemporary culture. Matlock has designed projects ranging from cultural, commercial, residential, exhibition and multi-use. Matlock is specifically interested in the visual and performance possibilities of combining inventive engineering with architecture in the design of buildings. [3] Although her firm is under twenty years, she has well over thirty years of experience in the architecture field. A few of her most prominent projects are Chelsea Modern and the Catskill Mountain House.

Major Buildings and Projects

Chelsea Modern (2008) 

Located within Chelsea’s contemporary art district, Chelsea Modern is inspired by the architectural response to the burgeoning artistic energy of the neighborhood. This forty-seven unit and twelve-story high-rise residential tower is unique in it’s form. Since the building is placed mid-block, it’s public identity is it’s undulating blue-tinted glass facade. The facade is divided horizontally into multi-story blue glass bands that zig-zag along the street. These facets reflect fractured images of surrounding buildings on surfaces that change color with shifting daylight. Another unique aspect of Matlock’s Chelsea Modern are it’s operable windows. The windows are open outwards instead of upwards and thus create a greater irregular facade. The interior of the building is as changing as the exterior, with its sliding walls. These apartment units are very flexible and open and cater to individual lifestyles. Each unit also has a private street entry and private rear garden.

Catskill Mountain House 

The Catskill Mountain House is located in West Shokan, New York. The site itself slopes steeply, then gently, before it adjoins the many acres of a publicly protected near wilderness that surrounds a vast reservoir. [4] Matlock states that the significant design questions she addressed were how to occupy the edge of a mountain and still have a land and landscape flow to inside and how to make the most for openness and views while still permitting privacy if one would desire it. The mountain house is a 3,700 square foot and seven room, single story year round vacation house. The plan contains the house within a rectangular envelope, with the carport separated from it by a small court. All floors are in a single level except for the living room floor. Overall, Matlock states “What I really think is special is how transparent it is. I feel there’s something magical about the way it transports you in the landscape. It has an inward nature as well, a place where you feel protected, even in a mountain snowstorm.” [5]

Other Projects 

• Armstrong Corporate Headquarters
• Armstrong Visitors Center
• Community Mediation Center
• Bloom Restaurant
• Medeu Sports Center

Press and Awards

• Residential Design Awards Chelsea Modern Merit Award 2012
• AIA New York Chapter Medeu Sports Center Merit Award 2012
• AIA New York Chapter Vice Presidential Citation for Design Excellence 2011
• Society of American Registered Architects New York (SARANY) Chelsea Modern Sales + Design Gallery Design Award Honor 2008
• Industrial Perforators Association Armstrong Visitors Center Award 2005

International Interior Design Association (IIDA) Community Mediation Services Interior Design Competition Winner 2004

Footnotes:

[1] “Tribeca Architect Builds a Global Presence with Cutting-edge Designs.” NY Daily News. January 6, 2012. Accessed July 23, 2015.

[2] www.soanefoundation.com/seminars.html

[3] https://construction.com/events/2011/innovation2011/speakers.asp#Matlock

[4] Mildred Schmertz, Architectural Digest April 2005 A Transparent Order: Reflecting on the Elements in a Modern Catskill Retreat

[5] Mildred Schmertz, Architectural Digest April 2005 A Transparent Order: Reflecting on the Elements in a Modern Catskill Retreat