Hrivnak & Associates, Ltd.

12/14/2025

“Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.” Abraham Joshua Heschel

Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel is a very graceful and dignified chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings and constructed in 1988. The chapel was commissioned by John A. Cooper, Sr. to honor Mildred Borum Cooper, his late wife. The chapel was designed to celebrate both God and his creations.

Located on a wooded site along Lake Norwood, the chapel has become a popular tourist destination in Northwest Arkansas. It is also popular as a venue for wedding ceremonies.

Jones apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, and designed a building with numerous windows open to the landscape.

Jones used 31 tons of steel and 4,460 square feet of glass to create a series of tall, vertical Gothic arches that run the length of the chapel. Though it looks like an open-air structure, the chapel is glass-enclosed and air conditioned.

Soon after completion, the chapel was praised; a critic said that it "quietly commands a dignity and presence uncommon among buildings of our era."

This is a woodland chapel designed by E Fay Jones, a quiet, gentle, stylistically uncategorisable architect who worked in rural Arkansas in the second half of the twentieth century. It is built largely from local wood.

In published experience, almost everyone likes Jones's buildings. And so one has to wonder: did Jones have any followers? Is there anyone else who designs like him today? Who comes closest? It interests the author of this Page, is that his style is more widely replicated, given how broadly appealing it seems to be.

Mildred Borum Cooper, born and raised in Arkansas, spent much of her life in service to her people and community. She was president of United Methodist Women's organizations, served in the Girl Scout organization, worked as postmistress, and organized the first garden club, home extension club, and library in Cherokee Village

Photography: copyright Samuel Hughes as posted on LinkedIn

11/30/2025

The Last Cathedral of the Jet-Age: When Architecture Celebrated the Thrill of Flight, and Taking a Plane Wasn't a Nightmare.

For a moment, forget contemporary air travel: the gate lines, the delays, the shuttles, the luggage scramble, and all the negativity that characterizes the modern commercial aviation industry.

When Eero Saarinen designed the TWA Terminal at JFK in New York, flying was still an exotic experience rich with meaning, just like his project. Inaugurated in '62 shortly after Saarinen's death, this masterpiece was intended to capture the spirit, glamour, and adventure of the jet age.

The interior is a triumph of fluidity: the stairs, walkways, and floors flow without interruption, enveloping travelers in a single, dynamic spatial sculpture. Everything, from the red-carpeted ramps to the check-in counter, was part of a total work of art designed to celebrate travel as an exceptional event. It is the peak of Organic Modernism.

Today, most terminals are efficient, functional, and, let's face it, generic. But if travel has become a routine, has architecture failed to preserve its magic?

Which modern airport today manages to make you feel the thrill of travel and adventure as the TWA Terminal did? Or is terminal architecture destined to be forever practical and never again poetic?

11/17/2025

11/16/2025

When I see pictures like this, I imagine trying to draw that

✨Santa Maria dell'Anima is a church in central Rome, Italy, just west of the Piazza Navona and near the Santa Maria della Pace church. It was founded during the course of the 14th century by Dutch merchants, who at that time belonged to the Holy Roman Empire....

•Church tour video:
https://www.ganjingworld.com/video/1ggfkg2mgkb2SnN3nOPUl8XT71ce1c
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11/14/2025

Astonishingly ahead of its time, the Fagus Shoe Factory was built in 1913 from a design by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and architect Adolf Meyer. The brick and glass structure is located in Germany and is considered an influential work of early modernism. (Photographer unknown)

11/06/2025

11/06/2025