The Central Marfa Historic District in Marfa, Texas, which includes 11 repurposed and preserved buildings by Donald Judd, may be newly recognised on the USA\u2019s\u00a0National Register of Historic Places, but its cultural and architectural significance is more deeply rooted, to say the least. Exceptionally maintained and made publicly accessible by...
A Donald Judd building in the Central Marfa Historic District in Marfa, Texas, has been sensitively brought into the 21st century by Houston and New York architecture studio Schaum/Shieh
When the building came into Shaum/Shieh’s hands, much of the structure had deteriorated from being barraged by high desert winds. In need of reinforcement, the firm began a period of study with engineers and archivists to collaboratively devise techniques to restore the original building. ‘What’s remarkable is the great lengths Judd went to, to adjust and work on this building; his use of selective erasure to construct alignments from within the existing body. This can be seen very clearly when you study historical photos of the building before he acquired it,’ says architect Rosalyne Shieh. ‘You see it in the elementally square windows, the bareness of the stepped facade, and the adobe walls which both extend and enclose, turning the project into both site and building.