Home Heat Money God
Texas and Modern Architecture
Panel Discussion
Ben KOUSH in conversation with Amy WALTON
March 27, 2025
Thursday, 7:00 pm
Check-in and Reception at 6:15 pm
Angelika Film Center | Mockingbird Station
Free and Open to the Public
AIA CES Credit Available
In the mid-twentieth century, dramatic social and political change coincided with the ascendance and evolution of architectural modernism in Texas. Between the 1930s and 1980s, a state known for cowboys and cotton fields rapidly urbanized and became a hub of global trade and a heavyweight in national politics. Relentless ambition and a strong sense of place combined to make Texans particularly receptive to modern architecture’s implication of newness, forward-looking attitude, and capacity to reinterpret historical forms in novel ways. As money and people poured in, architects and their clients used modern buildings to define themselves and the state.
Illustrated with stunning photographs by architect Ben Koush, Home, Heat, Money, God analyzes buildings in big cities and small towns by world-famous architects, Texas titans, and lesser-known designers. Architectural historian Kathryn O’Rourke describes the forces that influenced architects as they addressed basic needs—such as staying cool in a warming climate and living in up-to-date housing—and responded to a culture where houses of faith were valued, by the countervailing pressures of pluralism and homogenization, and by the sense of Texan exceptionalism. And one of the major goals of the book was to tell as many stories as possible incorporating different building types in small towns and big cities, examining the diversity, breadth, and the multiplicity of Texas architecture.
Ben KOUSH
Ben Koush is a graduate of Columbia College and Rice University. He is a registered architect and interior designer in Texas with two decades of architectural experience. Ben is the founder and partner of Ben Koush & Associates, a firm focused on the uniqueness of the Houston area and incorporating that into their designs. He has a special interest in the preservation of modern architecture and is a founding member of Houston Mod, which has won numerous local and state awards. His architectural writing appears in Architects’ Newspaper, Cite magazine, and Texas Architect. He currently serves on the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission.
Amy WALTON
Amy Walton has always looked for ways to build connection and community. For 30 years, she’s served in Dallas as a volunteer for social service, arts, social justice, and preservation issues. In 2018, she created modTEXAS, an Instagram-based initiative to celebrate midcentury design and the organizations working to protect it. Using #modtexas, collaborators across the state can share photos, research, or memories about design worth preserving. With 268K square miles to cover, it may be the largest midcentury survey ever undertaken. modTEXAS has received a Modernism in America Citation from Docomomo US, a Community Honors Award from AIA Dallas and an Advocacy Award from the Faith & Form international awards program for religious architecture. A native Texan, Amy spent over a decade in management with nonprofits including the North Texas Food Bank and Jewish Family Service. Amy is a graduate of the Business Council for the Arts’ Leadership Arts Academy and the Junior League of Dallas’ T. Boone Pickens Leadership Academy
