The Style of Stiles and Stiles

Edward Stiles is the antithesis of the oxymoron. Some find humor in a figure of speech which combines contradictory terms. Ask anyone for an oxymoron and the one you more than likely get is "Military Intelligence." Ed, who served his country as an intelligence officer in Vietnam, lets you have your little joke, but the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes tell you he doesn’t think it is very funny. Some would snicker at the term "Student Athlete," but the jock that earned a degree in architecture on an athletic scholarship playing third base for the legendary Burl Huffman just smiles. The oxymoron that Stiles really legitimizes is "Modest Architect."

Practicing a profession where modesty is not a common virtue, Stiles quietly goes about decorating our city with his timeless designs. "Where," you might ask, "is the modesty in that?" The answer lies in the projects for which Ed takes little credit for himself, but gives others most of the credit for the design. Several significant examples come to mind.

There are other examples; you get the idea. "But," you might ask, "what happens when you give Ed a free hand to design your building his way?" Something quite remarkable!

But first, a brief look at the history and organization that is Stiles and Stiles. This firm, along with MWM, RTR, and a couple of others are the successors to the firm of SRMJ (Stiles, Roberts, Messersmith, and Johnson). Marvin Stiles, the father, and Edward Stiles, the son, continued in practice in the same office on 34th Street from 1977 and never skipped a beat.

Stiles, the elder, was one of Lubbock’s legendary talents. He was a man of monumental ability with the physical attributes to go with it. It was my great honor to work with Marvin Stiles as his mechanical consultant for many years. One of the things I remember most about him was a wit that matched West Texas weather - that is to say, very dry. Driving on an inspection trip to Morton one day he and I were playing "Ain’t it Awful" on the subject of losing weight. Marvin popped a classic one liner, "The least I ever weighed was the day I was born - I’ve weighed a little more every day since." Marvin has been gone a few years now, but his name is still on the door. Somehow that seems so appropriate. The office has changed hardly at all. Sometimes when I am there, I am startled by the feeling the big man is looking over my shoulder.

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Enough nostalgia though, I want to talk about Stiles and Stiles today. The organization is a model of efficiency: Edward Stiles (principal architect and contract documents), Craig Wallace (project manager, graphics and partner designate) and Ed’s niece, Mandy Stiles (reception and word processing). A group just can’t get any tighter than that. Yet by focusing on one job at a time during the working drawings phase, their output is extraordinary.

The heir to the Stiles architectural dynasty and a kid from Cohoma with a hot rod Camaro seems like an unlikely combination. I asked Ed, "How did you and Craig get together in the first place?"

"Answer to a prayer", was the quick response. "In 1990 my time was so committed that I had to turn back some school projects for the LISD that I really wanted to do. I was pretty depressed about it, and the next day Craig came in and applied for an internship. He was a sophomore architecture student at Texas Tech." Craig added, "That was ten years and nearly 200 jobs ago. I believe I have been in on every one of them. It does not seem that long since I did a day care center as my senior project." Pretty practical thesis, I thought! "Well, yes," Ed quipped, "compared to a lunar colony!"

What is beauty in architecture? With the fervor of a prophet elaborating on a virtuous woman, Ed’s vision is stated rather simply: "Beauty has to come from the inside out. When the design flows from function, the form it assumes is beautiful." When you look at an uninhibited Stiles design, what you see is the Form Follows Function school of thought on steroids.

Then it hits you: he’s right, and he pulls it off with such style that you see the personality of the building without the artificial ornamentation that dates period architecture. Spaces just seem to morph into the most logical geometry and relationship with each other and their environment under the master’s deft touch.

Neither Ed nor Craig has much use for façade architecture. Neither has a taste for "gingerbread". They avoid the architecture of the popular, eschewing cuteness for more enduring form.

Does that mean Stiles designs are sterile or austere? Hardly! When the function requires elegance, as in for example a bank, Stiles is a master at projecting image. It just has to be honest.

An example of the Stiles touch of elegance is the Plains Financial Building on Slide Road in Lubbock. The exterior of the building is characterized by rows of square columns supporting an encircling veranda with a contrasting stucco ceiling. The drive-in bank picks up the lines of the building for a totally integrated design. Discrete landscaping does not detract from the building's geometric precision. Bank customers exit their vehicles just a couple of steps from the shelter of the functional veranda. Convenient indeed!

Stepping through the glass doors of the vestibule brings you into a skylighted reception area. The golden buffalo and PNB logo against the dusky blue background draws your eye down to the marble customer service counter. As your eye sweeps right past the substantial marble columns, you spy the spectacular Grant Speed bronze, the solo art that is worthy of display in this elegant setting. Then the massive stainless steel vault door that speaks volumes about security, and friendly smile of the little lady with the big computer.

Elegance worthy of a financial institution? I would say so.

All I's dotted and all T's crossed characterizes the documents issued by Stiles' office. Drawings and specifications are "shipshape Bristol fashion". They are literally signed, sealed, and delivered to the bidders. And so is the final construction before he signs off on the final payment to the contractor. It takes judgement and experience to make the call in the field as to whether or not a material has been applied properly, or whether or not craftsmanship is up to the standard of the trade. Ed and Craig make those calls. "Yes, that is acceptable," you may hear them say, or another time, "I am not buying that, take it out and do it right." It is incredible that some projects get built without that kind of expertise.

Ed mentioned a few other practical points: "There is a difference between a good artist and a good professional. Sometimes a good artist may draw something that nobody can afford to build. The good professional never does. We don't covet flowery compliments, we prefer the substance of repeat commissions."

"We try to take the long view on owning and operating costs. A good building may last more than fifty years. We have clients who expect to spend their career in the space we design for them. We take their costs, comfort and convenience seriously."

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Speaking of comfort, if you really want to know whether or not an architect understands the scale of the human form, check out the toilets he designs. That’s where the primordial human emotions of privacy, territoriality, and fears of vulnerability manifest themselves. I do not usually carry my camera into the men's room because it makes people nervous. Besides, the spaces are small and hard to photograph. I took one picture of what I consider to be a perfect toilet that Stile designed. Enjoy the neatness.

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Stiles practices what I call "non-invasive" design. By that I mean that when a building is inserted into an existing campus, Ed does not try to make the other buildings look bad in comparison. Sometimes that's hard to do, especially if the existing buildings are ugly or worse, period dated.

An integrator, rather than a separator, Ed uses compatible materials, color, distance and scale to achieve this effect. The new building on the TxDOT campus in Amarillo illustrates the principle. The building in the background is obviously thirty years old, but it still looks pretty good up against the new Stiles design.

For his conclusion Ed returns to lessons learned a long time ago, "Our philosophy of practice is the Lou Holtz approach. First, we try do what's right. Not whether it is legal or illegal, not whether it is ethical or unethical: I am talking about right and wrong. Second, on every project we strive to put forth our best effort, regardless of the size of the job. Third, we believe in the Golden Rule. If those simple rules are followed, they take care of a lot of problems. They may not make the building prettier, but I sleep better at night."

Author's notes:

I dedicate these articles to the unsung design community that makes Lubbock, Texas, my hometown, the Florence of the Southwest. Recognition of their contribution to the beauty of our community is long overdue. These interviews will be liberally edited and paraphrased in the interest of brevity and levity. Yes, this is my college picture, circa 1956.

Barto Fanning