Lawrence W. Speck collection

Lawrence W. Speck Associates was founded in January 1980, and at the beginning of its existence, was based in a room in Lawrence Speck's house. Working at times with only one other architectural assistant, Speck began work on a series of residential projects that would build his reputation. In 1982 the firm moved into an office space on East 6th Street in Austin, and two years later, in 1984, to 4250 Burnet Road. His office, with a growing staff, worked on a steady stream of projects on a fairly modest scale. In 1988, with the approval of his proposal to the City of Austin for a new convention center, Speck realized that a project of this scale would require some extra support. He entered into a partnership with Page Southerland Page, an architectural firm also based in Austin, moving the staff and operations of Lawrence W. Speck Associates into their suite of offices. Faced with the increasing demands of his role as Dean of the School of Architecture, Speck has since merged his practice with that of Page Southerland Page, and his own projects are handled under the name of the Lawrence W. Speck Studio.

Lawrence W. Speck was born in 1949 in Houston, Texas. As a fifth-generation Texan, and the descendent of early German settlers of the region, his appreciation for the distinctive landscape and architecture of Central Texas was established early in his life. This profound regional awareness is one of the hallmarks of his work. He has explored these concerns throughout his professional life, both as an architect and as an educator. His buildings allude to the past, but are compatible also with modern life. His work is sensitive to land and climate, to architectural precedent and the ways that precedent, shaped by time and experience, can inform and enrich contemporary design.

Prior to his appointment as Dean of the School of Architecture in 1993, Lawrence Speck held a variety of academic and administrative posts at the University of Texas at Austin, beginning in 1975, when he joined the staff as an Assistant Professor of Architecture. He received his training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M. I. T.), earning simultaneous Bachelor of Science Degrees in 1971, one in Art and Design, the other in Management, at the Sloan School of Management. In 1972 he earned a Master of Architecture degree, also at M. I. T. Speck worked briefly as a designer and consultant in Massachusetts before moving to Austin, Texas in 1975. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Australia in 1978.

Speck has been active in committees and boards, both within the university and in the Austin community. The recipient of numerous honors in addition to his Fulbright scholarship, he has received five design awards from the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and was selected by Architectural Digest as one of "AD 100"-a listing of 100 foremost architects in the world, 1991. In 1990-1991 Speck was appointed the William Blunk Centennial Professor (Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher), University of Texas. His publications and editorial projects include: Landmarks of Texas Architecture, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986); New Regionalism, co-editor with Wayne Attoe (New York: Rizzoli International, 1987); Modernist Visions and the Contemporary American City, co-editor with Anthony Alfonsin (New York: Rizzoli International, 1989); and Architecture Vs. Planning: Collision and Collaboration in the Design of American Cities, co-editor with Terry Kahn, (New York: Rizzoli International, 1990). He also wrote and narrated a video documentary for PBS, "Building the American City: San Antonio," as part of a project that was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Since the founding of Lawrence W. Speck Associates in 1980, Lawrence Speck has been involved as the Principal Designer and a consultant on architectural projects in and around Austin. Speck's projects include both municipal and private projects, residential as well as public buildings. Dedicating much of his career to the study of the vernacular of Texas residential architecture, Speck has conducted extensive research into differences in regional styles in general. He has been the designer of a number of private homes, including: the Matthews Ranch House, Burnet County Texas (1985); the Tapp-McGrath Ranch House in Wimberley, Texas (1986), and the Tapp-McGrath house in Austin, TX (not built), and his former residence, the House on Sunny Slope in Austin, Texas (1990). The progression of these early projects enabled him to refine his philosophy of architecture; The Matthews house design was an opportunity for Speck to explore the idea of design that is unique to the history and landscape of a particular place, in this case the Texas Hill Country. Its design grew out of his appreciation for the German farmhouses of Central Texas, agglomerations of linked structures, and their integration with the landscape. The Tapp-McGrath projects provided an opportunity to update and abstract this traditional style for urbanites less interested in having a working farm than in having a comfortable, contemporary Hill Country home blended into its surroundings. The challenge he faced when designing his own residence at 2202 Sunny Slope was to take what he had learned from the two previous houses and adapt that to a suburban setting.

Lawrence Speck's public buildings include, The Austin Convention Center, the Umlauf Sculpture Garden in Austin, and the Town Center of Burnet, Texas.