(A) Futuristic, (B) Retro, (C) Organic or (D) Architecture
Bart Prince is a very hard architect to pin down – and he prefers it that way. While some contemporary all-star architectural designers like Frank Gehry are known for signature styles and materials, Prince prefers to be inspired to create unique solutions for each site and situation.
In discussion with Dornob, he noted that one of the highest forms of praise one can receive is when someone tells you they recognized something as your design because it looked unlike anything you have done to date. His inspirations include such ground-breaking architects as Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff – designers who diverged from the mainstream styles of their times.
Looking at just a few works by Bart Prince can easily be misleading. One might take a snapshot from his career and be tempted to say they have figured him out, that he is “about curves” or “into strange forms” but around each corner is another work that is unlike any other. Also, he is not just inspired by architects but by scientists (including Einstein) and artists (such as Pablo Picasso) as well.
Unlike some architects who experiment with extreme exterior forms, Bart Prince also carries his complex and fluid geometries to the interio designs of his structures. The buildings are at once varied and whole – they are complex objects and confluences of elements but also clearly a single, coherent design.
From his website: “Architecture comes about as a result of the synthesizing by the architect of creative responses to input from the client; data gathered from the site and the climate; and an understanding of structure, materials, space and light. Working from the inside-out, the architect guides the growth of an IDEA resulting from the combination of these responses to a completed design which is as much a portrait of the client as it may be of himself.”
