This Dallas Architecture Forum Virtual Event is Designed to Inspire

How does great design happen? What goes into a beautiful home, landscape, or interior scheme? What inspires those who dream up these buildings? That’s what the Dallas Architecture Forum will distill in a forthcoming panel discussion featuring the best minds in Dallas design.

Moderated by Robyn Menter, a native of South Africa and principal of Robyn Menter Design Associates, the panel features several standouts including Bruce Bernbaum of Bernbaum / Magadini Architects; Mary Ellen Cowan of Residential Design Studio, MESA; and Paul Draper of his eponymous Paul Draper and Associates.

The Dallas Architecture Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public education about architecture, design, and the urban environment, hosts a litany of incredible events every year. This particular opportunity on April 8, 2021, will be hosted virtually via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The upside? It’s absolutely free for absolutely everyone.

This is a unique opportunity to pick the brains of Dallas’ leading architects, designers, and landscape architects about what inspires their design. All panelists are recognized by their peers and the greater design community as being leaders in their fields.

IF YOU GO

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 8
Where: Presented virtually via Zoom
Cost: Free and open to everyone
RSVP: Advance registration required — Register Here

Confirmed registrants will receive information from Zoom to access the lecture link before the start of the lecture at 6:30 pm on Thursday, April 8, 2021.

Bruce Bernbaum
Co-Founder and Principal of Bernbaum / Magadini Architects

Bruce Bernbaum is a Co-Founder and Principal of Bernbaum / Magadini Architects, one of the leading residential architecture firms in Dallas. Bruce earned a bachelor of architecture from the University of Arizona. His architectural projects range from commercial, retail, industrial, and multi-family to client-based single family residential. Bruce serves on many charitable boards and has been involved with AIA educational committees and mentoring programs. He and his firm are active supporters of The Forum, and their award-winning work has been featured in numerous Forum special events.

Mary Ellen Cowan
Head, Residential Design Studio, MESA

Mary Ellen Cowan leads MESA’s Residential Design Studio. With over thirty years of experience in landscape architecture and construction management, Mary Ellen has an extensive understanding of garden design, both historic and contemporary, and expresses that knowledge in innovative design concepts and implements each project with intimate attention to construction detailing. She oversees field construction to ensure proper execution of the design concept. With MESA since 1996, Mary Ellen has developed a collective design approach embracing the landscape with respect to topography, natural systems, and the interpretation of site and its relationship to architecture. This approach respects the intentions of the architect while capturing the values of her clients. Her studio’s project work consistently generates outstanding design solutions receiving both state and national design awards.

Paul Draper
Founder, Paul Draper and Associates

For over four decades, Paul Draper has been beautifully integrating interior design and architecture in homes, hotels and restaurants worldwide, first in California and Asia and for over thirty years based in Dallas. Now largely concentrating on residential design, he is sought after for his expertise in bespoke furniture, curating art, space planning, and fixture and finish design. A longtime collaborator with architectural icons like Frank Welch, Max Levy and Overland Partners, Draper doesn’t impose a particular style on his clients. “Instead, I try to create a home in harmony with the architecture that is uniquely suited to the client, their needs and personality,” he says. “Design should be vital today, while avoiding trendiness. I like to work with rich natural palettes and rely on the innate beauty of these materials. I am dedicated to creating timeless, finely crafted interior solutions, focusing on design of the highest quality.”

About the Dallas Architecture Forum

The Dallas Architecture Forum educates, enriches and connects our community by presenting programs and events, creating experiences, and engaging global and local thought-leaders from the design fields to enhance how we live.

As a not-for-profit organization for design enthusiasts founded over two decades ago, The Forum explores ideas related to how and why design matters in our daily lives through dynamic programming centered on current topics and trends in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, urban planning, engineering, construction, and other related fields of art and design. Our collaborative programming and community outreach are enriched by the active involvement and leadership of businesses, arts, and cultural organizations, government and academic institutions at regional, national, and international levels.