Munly Brown Studio Rust Belt Renegades
by: Clare Olsen | posted: Oct 4, 2009
Walking into Munly Brown Studio, it is clear that the husband and wife team of Anne Munly and Ted Brown have developed a non-normative architectural practice. Behind an imposing marble façade, the Studio, located on the ground floor of an old bank in the Hanover Square district of downtown Syracuse, is filled with a vast array of curious material experiments. Rooted in sustainable practice and experimentation, their grassroots approach to design is garnering local recognition, as well as larger commissions.
The American Rust Belt is not generally known for architectural advances. With the bulk of large industries now defunct or relocated, resulting in joblessness and population flight, the climate isn’t exactly a hotbed for architectural innovation, but through an insightful and novel approach, the Rust Belt has proven to be fertile ground for Munly and Brown. The practice was started in 1986, but two years ago when the partners moved the studio “out of the house” to downtown Syracuse, the production at MBS accelerated, growing from a focus on primarily small-scale residential projects to include commercial and large-scale developments.
Both partners are full-time professors at Syracuse University School of Architecture, a highly ranked, competitive academic environment, which greatly influences their practice, both in terms of workflow—MBS’s architectural activities intensify during the summer months—and also in terms of the type of work they produce. The sustainably-minded studio is research-based; experimentation and innovation are at the root of all projects in the office. The approach bears resemblance to that of internationally renowned Swiss architects, Herzog and De Meuron, who are not only recognized for their architecture, but as material innovators. On a local level, Munly and Brown have pushed the boundaries of the field. Two decades of practice in Upstate New York have enabled the pair to develop solid partnerships with local manufacturers, contractors, and clients interested in their inventive approach.
Munly’s and Brown’s research flows in and around the Studio’s architectural projects, providing a continuous dialogue between material testing and client needs. “There is a close proximity between experimentation in the studio where wacky things are tested, which in turn may be the thing that the next client is going to get excited about and want to build.” In the Munly Brown Studio space, every non-desk surface is piled with evidence of their research; the display ranges from a rigorous investigation of pattern and effect in wood screens, laser-cut to test varying porosities and textures, to a multitude of complex concrete samples, where additives and aggregates provide diverse structural and light reflecting properties. If you are one to get excited about beautiful textures and colors, a visit to MBS is jaw-dropping. In fact, Munly says, “clients find us, you can tell which clients you want to work with when they get excited about the work in the space…We really enjoy the back and forth with clients. You feel good when they’re happy.”
The focus on research, as well their attention to craft and creation, are derivative of both partner’s artistic endeavors. Each is greatly influenced by their experiences at the American Academy in Rome; Brown won the Rome Prize in 1987 and Munly in 1995. The Academy, which promotes interdisciplinary thinking, provided inspiration and support for Brown’s painting and Munly’s printmaking, passions which continue to influence their architectural practice to this day. Munly’s research at the Academy on Piranesi’s copper etchings inspired her early work in photo etching and lithography, and now digital printmaking. Her current print work is focused on using architectural materials as printable surfaces. “I take materials that have traditionally worked in a certain way and coax them into something else, with different properties and aesthetic effects.” Munly’s printing expertise enabled MBS to provide a low-cost design for their most recently completed built work, the Savvy Wine Cellar in Camillus, New York. The ceiling and wine bar both incorporate patterns that provide varying lighting and visual effects.
Similarly, Brown’s research and experimentation with concrete has inspired designs ranging from their not yet built addition to the Redeemer Evangelical Church located in Liverpool, New York, to their proposal for a 175-unit mix-use project in Albany, NY, “the Amos @ Quackenbush Square,” now on hold due to the current financial climate. Brown says, despite the Rust Belt industry flight, “there remain some manufacturers with specific material knowledge, and they’ve survived. They’re reasonably priced and open to new ideas, which enables our experimentation. I can’t imagine doing that in other places without the financial backing of a large academic or government institution.”
Their grassroots focus on research and materials extends to a deep commitment to sustainability—the firm is regionally recognized for their green interests and emerging expertise. Ashley McGraw Architects, a Syracuse-based firm with a performance modeling studio, hired MBS to provide design consulting services for a new media center for Liberty High School in the Catskills. The media center serves as the new entrance for the school, and the MBS design of a solar canopy and rain garden integrates and reveals environmental technologies, from on-site storm-water management to solar panels and natural day lighting. When constructed, the media center will be the first net-zero energy public school building in Upstate.
MBS’s sustainability research was awarded major support in 2007 when Munly and Brown, working with a team of experts in different fields, received a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant to study the “polar house,” a sustainable house designed for the Upstate climate. Again working in collaboration with the performance modeling studio at Ashley McGraw, along with Northeast Green Building Consulting and RamTech Engineers, the Studio developed four house prototypes. Fast forward to 2008, the sustainable housing research sparked the interest of a local, like-minded developer, Robert Doucette. MBS is acting as the design consultant on the master plan and open-plan housing prototypes for a 34 unit development called “Green City Homes,” to be constructed just south of the Syracuse University campus. Fingers crossed, if Doucette and the City are awarded a state/federal green infrastructure development grant this fall, the support will enable permeable paving and green roofs to be included as part of the storm-water retention strategy—revolutionary proposals for a US housing development. Moderately dense housing within the city limits, “Green City Homes” provides an alternative to the suburban prototype and a model for house and townhouse developments nationwide.
Brown describes the difficulties working in the Rust Belt: “It’s not NYC, but through pushing and prodding in small ways, you crack open potential for design innovation—and in Syracuse there is a small-scale material and manufacturing base, from fiber optics to recycled polystyrene, that shares in our curiosity.” The potential for Munly Brown Studio is vast, although fragile in the contemporary economy. From sustainable developments to material experimentation, theirs is the type of renegade thinking that enacts change and evokes delight.
