Gene Aubry

Eugene Edwards Aubry (November 15, 1935 – December 9, 2023) was an American architect, based primarily in Houston, Texas and later in Orlando, Florida.

[6][7] Architecture writers credit the Art Barn's industrial aesthetic with inspiring Houston's so-called "Tin House" movement, as well adaptations by Frank Gehry.

[13] Aubry worked in Houston within and as a partner in several firms until 1985, when he moved to Anna Maria, Florida, where he continued as an architect and also served as a city commissioner.

[1][17] Their public buildings include the Art Barn and Rice Media Center at Rice University (1969–1970) and Guinan Hall (1971, part of Phillip Johnson's modernist campus design for the University of St. Thomas) in Houston,[18][19] as well as the San Luis Hotel and Condominium on Seawall Boulevard and Galveston News Building (1965) in Galveston.

[17][6] They describe them as "architecturally introverted" designs that incorporated intimacy, anonymity and solemnity, with self-effacing exteriors that open "internally with high ceilings, simple planar walls, and dramatic expanses of glass.

[27][29] Stephen Fox described the house's dramatic steel and glass living-dining room, which some suggest seemed to float among the trees, as possibly the "most awe-inspiring architectural feat for a private residence" in 1960s Houston.

[8][18] Critics suggest that the de Menils' support for its style provided a cultural legitimacy that paved the way for emulation by Tin House architects, who embraced its industrial aesthetic and exterior cladding, jutting angles and asymmetrical composition, and elegantly simple rectangular plan and proportions, which recalled a style of vernacular Gulf Coast house.

[31] The windowless, brick-octagon, skylit final design was intended to create an unadorned place of contemplation, centered on Rothko's 14 minimal, abstract expressionist canvasses.

[12][2] Morris/Aubry Architects, based in Houston, designed projects there and throughout the United States, including in Austin, Denver, Oklahoma City, Nashville, New Orleans, and Galveston.

[9][8] In 2014, however, both buildings were demolished by officials citing expanding needs or high renovation costs; both events generated public outcry from the local architecture, arts, and historical preservationist communities.