TAP Architecture

TAP ARCHITECTURE has a dream client: an innovative marketing and branding firm willing to explore creative possibilities for the renovation of their new downtown Oklahoma City offices. TAP, focused by Visual Image’s razor sharp contemporary ideas, created an ideal laboratory for the alchemy within: a space reflecting the mind, body and soul of Visual Image Marketing and Branding. The design has been honored with the Interiors Citation Award from the Central Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

“The collaborative effort between TAP and Visual Image yielded a stunning minimalist design. The firms blended their creative strengths to achieve a balance of form and function. The result was a bright, modern space that continually inspires the Visual Image team.”

-Steven Schwartz, Vice President, Director of Operations

In 2005 AIA Central Oklahoma (AIACO) launched an International Bus Stop Design Competition. The competition was a huge success with over 80 entries from 8 different countries. AIACO will present an Apple iPad in a raffle drawing at 6:30p. The money raised in the raffle will take fundraising over the $20,000 goal necessary to build the winning entry in the competition.

The new bus shelter has two purposes: 1. To encourage business commuters to utilize Metro Transit as an alternative means of transportation, and; 2. To raise community awareness of the positive impact design can have on even the most humble structures.

AIA Central Oklahoma hopes the new shelter, proposed to be located at the intersection of Lahoma and Main in Norman, will be the first of many innovative bus stop designs in the Oklahoma City area. Tyler Media, the University of Oklahoma, AIA Central Oklahoma, AIA National and the Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture have partnered to complete this first shelter.

More information on the AIA Bus Stop project and the raffle can be found at www.aiacoc.org/support or by calling Melissa Hunt at 948-7174.

TAP ARCHITECTURE’S design for Valliance Bank Headquarters has been honored with the Commercial Building Design Award of Excellence from the City of McKinney. TAP‘s design for the 125,000 sq ft Class A office building reflects its location’s vibrancy with a dramatic form sculpted in blue/green high performance glass and Texas limestone. The pristine stone striped corporate container is placed between a terraced grass plinth and a Texas sky that reflects earth and firmament in a constant and sometimes extravagant display of moving images.

In contrast to the sculpted rigor of the building are bookends of practical whimsy and fine art. The white sails provide shade and direction to the main entry while the acute corner of the building form points unequivocally to the serpentine granite sculpture by Khang Pham. The very deliberate interface of building and art was informed by the client’s longtime patronage and passion for public art. R. T. Oliver directed TAP to create an appropriate location for the display of a signature sculpture and personally selected this work by the award winning Canadian-Vietnamese artist.

McKinney, situated on the northern edge of the DFW Metroplex, was recently ranked number 5 in the nation’s best places to live by CNN’s Money Magazine and rated the 3rd fastest growing US city with population more than 100,000. See more: http://www.mckinneyedc.com/blog/post/65

The Brownstones at Maywood Park, based on a concept formulated by a group of University of Oklahoma architecture students is a community of 127 high-end row homes in downtown Oklahoma City. The partners have made an effort to create a real “Oklahoma product,” not just a duplicate of Dallas or Kansas City. “We have Oklahoma roots,” said Ron Bradshaw of Colony Partners. “We want to continue the heritage and honor of the original developers of Oklahoma City. They had urbanism down.” The Brownstones are a hybrid of history and progressive thinking that is revitalizing the lifestyle opportunities for Oklahoma.

The long tested template of high end urban communities being comprised of row houses, or Brownstones, brings the New York feel to Oklahoma City. The Brownstones at Maywood Park will ultimately comprise more than 120 two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half story units. The Brownstones at Maywood Park in the historic Maywood section of Downtown Oklahoma City are designed and constructed as individual homes. There are no shared stairwells or parking area. Each unit has its own garage and entrance. Instead of sprawling outward in typical suburban style, each individual home is constructed vertically, up to three and a half stories technology in construction, insulating concrete forms (ICF).

In addition to forming an incredibly durable structure, ICF also inhibits the travel sound. It is the choice in LEED certified construction and creates an energy efficient structure. The Brownstones embrace “green” sustainable building technologies, will endure for literally centuries with very low maintenance or upkeep costs. These “legacy” homes can truly be expected to be passed from generation to generation.

The exterior of the units are enveloped by the finest brick in designer colors to highlight the unique design of the townhomes. The Brownstone’s rich components of slate tile, cooper, and wrought iron clad the Brownstone’s unique Build Block ICF concrete substructures, along with the finest masonry brick exteriors. Building with Build Block ICFs saves trees and the enormous reduction in energy use saves our natural resources and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Build Block ICFs contain no HCFC, formaldehyde, asbestos, or fiberglass, and no harmful CFCs are used in their manufacture. ICFs combine one of the finest insulating materials, Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), with one of the strongest structural building materials, steel reinforced concrete. The result is a wall system of unmatched comfort, energy efficiency, strength and noise reduction.

Al Slattery Masonry, Inc. of Oklahoma City was the Contractor for not only the masonry exterior, but also the ICF in four of the nineteen units in the initial phase. This project was one of the first in the city to use the ICF on a multi-family facility.

-Masonry Construction November/December 2008

[TAPARCHITECTURE] was named Firm of the Year and awarded the prestigious Solomon Andrew Layton Award by the American Institute of Architects, Central Oklahoma Chapter. The Honor Awards ceremony was held Friday, April 13 at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel. The award was given to [TAPARCHITECTURE] based on their history of legacy design projects including City Rescue Mission, Oklahoma Judicial Center, and MLK Elementary School; community involvement of which the team is involved in over 27 community organizations; and a vision to the future for Core to Shore and Lincoln Renaissance. Principals Anthony McDermid, John Ward, Rick Lueb and Hans Butzer accepted. “The Solomon Andrew Layton Award is more meaningful than an individual award because it recognizes architecture is a team sport”, said Anthony McDermid, RIBA, AIA. “Great design services are the baseline for TAP and this award recognizes community involvement and leadership above and beyond.”

The custom award was designed and fabricated by Stan Carroll, AIA of Beyond Metal, Inc.

Solomon Andrew Layton (1864-1943) the most noted architect of early-day Oklahoma City created designs for many of the States’ most notable structures including buildings that still remain today; the Braniff Building, the Medical Arts Building, the Skirvin Hotel and the Oklahoma State Capitol Building, one of his outstanding works. His efforts in creating lasting Architecture for the community best exemplify the qualities of his award.

Published on The Journal Record Website, April 6, 2007

Developers of Brownstones at Maywood Park say the project is revitalizing the lifestyle opportunities for Oklahomans. The Brownstones at Maywood Park, based on a concept formulated by a group of University of Oklahoma architecture students, will be a community of 127 high-end row homes in downtown Oklahoma City. The development, which will include urban row homes similar to ones in Boston or New York, but with an Oklahoma twist. The Brownstones will be built in a neighborhood setting that includes walking trails to Bricktown, a park and retail space.

Where else in Oklahoma City can you walk to work, to an exceptional art museum, to a world-class riverfront rowing facility, to the best Triple-A ballpark in the country, to a range of quality eating establishments, and make a short walk home from a nightcap on the town and put the keys into the doors of a beautifully proportioned home that you own?

The homes, ranging in size from 2,400 square feet to 3,700 square feet, are between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 stories depending on the model. The first phase of construction includes 15 of the homes and is set to be completed by the middle of the summer, with the remaining phases of the development to be constructed over the next three to four years. The Brownstones are innovative in every facet of design and function. Utilizing the most advanced green building techniques, the sustainable structures will last for generations.The homes cost between $590,000 and $710,000 and are being marketed to professional couples and singles of all ages.

“We expect to see the homes catalyze neighborhood retail uses and for commercial growth to follow homeowners who are also business owners or corporate leaders,” said Anthony McDermid, a principal at [TAPARCHITECTURE] and partner of The Triangle Development.

The first phase of the Brownstones has spurred several other projects in the downtown area as well as another project in the Triangle, according to officials at [TAPARCHITECTURE]. Since this project was first imagined over three years ago, other developers have jumped on board to grow the downtown housing need.