Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1387793
Bentley Tibbs and interior designer Kay Harris designed the main room's blue sofa and chairs. Bruno Mathsson 1950s daybed and 20th- century chrome table, both from Collage 20th Century Classics. Portrait by Dallas artist Riley Holloway and landscape by Mississippi artist Miles Cleveland Goodwin from Valley House Gallery. Painting at left by Sarah Williams from Talley Dunn Gallery. Quantrill, who taught him to work with tools and materials, and to research and think critically. After college, Tibbs worked for legendary regionalist architect Frank Welch, who designed in the Texas vernacular. "His streamlined detail furthered the path I was already on," Tibbs says. He opened his own architecture firm in 2000. Though modestly sized, the firm often tackles multiple large projects concurrently. He has three such projects under construction now, including a ranch compound east of Dallas. "I've kept the firm deliberately small," he says. "There's an intimate level of collaboration with the client that really allows a project to be realized with rigor — it's all about them and the site. It's got my sensibility, and that's why they come to me." His own home, a 1945 bungalow near White Rock Lake, features many of the aspects of Southern modernism that define his design aesthetic. Located on a corner lot in the leafy Shamrock Shores area just blocks from the lake, the house was originally a tiny vacation home, one of many built for young families of the era. Tibbs renovated it, adding 1,000 square feet and a courtyard. The placement of main rooms around the courtyard was specific to how he wanted the light to fall. "Choreographing how and when light hits surfaces allows you to use the light," he says. "Does it wash across the floor where you have your morning coffee? Does it graze a wall at dusk? All these things connect you to the outdoors, the natural world. Light is low and delicate across the floor in my dining room in the morning, but high and sharp in the afternoon. I use that space throughout the day for coffee, meals, and as a desk. I am constantly aware of the time of day and time of year by how the light is giving form to the room." 48