Chris Carson ’56, FAIA, an outstanding alumnus of the Texas A&M University College of Architecture, has designed a home for media magnate Ted Turner at his Armendaris Ranch in New Mexico.
When Carson went to inspect the site at the 350,000-acre ranch, he found two stakes in the ground — one, where Turner wanted the front door to be, and another where he wanted a view from his bedroom window to the Fra Cristobal Mountains.
The result is a desert lodge built in the Territorial style and built to suit Turner’s strict environmental standards.
The story of the home, and the process it took to get it there, is featured in the June 2008 issue of Architectural Digest. Gerald Clarke’s story and Robert Reck’s photos of the home are available online at http://www.architecturaldigest.com/homes/homes/2008/06/turner_article.
Carson, perhaps best known for his contribution to southwestern regional architecture, is a principal and co-chairman of the board for Ford, Powell & Carson Architects & Planners, Inc., in San Antonio.
Among Carson’s prominent, more institutionally scaled expressions of his regionalist style are the Cowboy Artists of American Museum in Kerrville and the Mission Country Club in Midland.
