Denton architect Jim Kirkpatrick has spent 30 years perfecting his craft. First and foremost, he’s an artist who must make light, space and materials a thorough marriage of form and function. Not far behind that is giving his clients what they want.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

Denton architect Jim Kirkpatrick has spent 30 years dreaming, building and collaborating as an architect. Kirkpatrick was recently named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, a prestigious designation enjoyed by a small number of architects. He is pictured with a model of the fine arts addition to Argyle High School.

View larger More photos Photo store

Kirkpatrick, president and founder of Kirkpatrick Architecture Studios, said doing both means doing things that might look strange to an outsider.

“If you’re doing a school, think like a child. Get on your knees and see everything at 4 feet,” Kirkpatrick said. “You need to see through the eyes of your client. Sometimes that means through the eyes of a child.”

That sensitivity, skill and an interest in the details — all of them — likely factored into Kirkpatrick’s selection to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. The institute is a professional association for licensed architects, emerging professionals and allied partners. It is a voice for the profession and a resource for working architects.

The College of Fellows is a small but prestigious group, and Kirkpatrick is the first architect in the Denton area to be named to it. The institute’s Web site says the college recognizes architects “who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession.” The college also honors “model” architects who have made contributions not just to the industry, but to society on a national level.

Kirkpatrick is a Denton native and was raised on the downtown Square.

“When I graduated, I swore I was getting out of here,” Kirkpatrick said. “In the late 1970s, I felt like when you open an office, you need to be in a growth area. And I needed to be in an area where I could make a living.”

He went to Texas A&M and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, building bridges in Vietnam and making it to first lieutenant. When he came back, he said, “it was all bell-bottoms and double-knit polyester.”

But North Texas and Texas in general fit the bill, and he had a young family. Kirkpatrick started his career in an office at First State Bank — now the downtown Wells Fargo bank.

His idea was to be a general architecture practitioner and gradually specialize.

“I figured I had the rest of my life to pay off the six-month loan it took to start the business,” he said.

He spent a decade building a portfolio and working in what he calls “the world’s most expensive art form.” Architecture is a blend of art and engineering. It requires materials, craftsmanship and — sometimes — detail work done by hand. Kirkpatrick said he never wanted to do the same thing over and over. His vision shifted 11 or 12 years after he opened his doors.

“While I was still in the First State Bank office, I had an office neighbor whose wife was in the hospital. I think it was the [potted] plant I sent to her. I just decided to be nice and send her a plant in the hospital, and a few days later a Hispanic guy walks into my office saying he wants to build a university in Mexico,” Kirkpatrick said.

He traveled to Mexico to design and build the Universidad de Celaya and the Teatro Jose Nieto Pina.

“When I went to Mexico, I didn’t speak the language or know the history. It was like a clean page. I started reading everything I could about the history,” he said. “I know people in Mexico who have never been really part of it. The beauty of Mexico is the color and the imperfection. When you come from the Bauhaus school, which is this German thought about perfection and simplifying things, seeing the imperfection really changes things. When I was in the San Miguel area, the morning light, noon light and evening light made the same town look different through the day.”

In Mexico, Kirkpatrick designed fixtures that would be hand-made by local artisans, and the builders and site workers were local. It was in Mexico where Kirkpatrick learned to marry the clean, simple lines of a Western perspective with the dazzling color and character of Mexican neighborhoods.

His office, just off the Square at 100 W. Mulberry St., uses colors and finishes that attract the eye and inspire an earthy, calm sensation. His experiences in Mexico led him to Europe, where he was able to integrate even more into his designs.

Kirkpatrick has been involved with the institute for years. He was the chairman of the institute’s “Florence Through the Ages” conference, which was the group’s first conference abroad after Sept. 11, 2001.

His mark is on Denton, to be sure. He designed the Sherman building on the Square, which housed the Longhorn Gallery and a florist. His studio renovated and did historical preservation of the Central Fire Station and built Fire Station No. 7 from the ground up. His studio built Southmont Baptist Church and made renovations and additions to Ginnings Elementary School.

Fire Station No. 7 earned a “gold” certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the U.S. rating system for environmentally friendly buildings. It was the first fire station in Texas to get the certification and the second in the nation.

Kirkpatrick’s goals move along a “think globally, act locally” rubric.

“I want to become more schooled in and promote sustainable design,” he said. “We want to create spaces that inspire our clients, whether they are fifth-graders or performers on a stage.”

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877.Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com

Denton Record-Chronicle/Barron Ludlum

Denton architect Jim Kirkpatrick has spent 30 years dreaming, building and collaborating as an architect. Kirkpatrick was recently named to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, a prestigious designation enjoyed by a small number of architects. He is pictured with a model of the fine arts addition to Argyle High School.

Courtesy photo

The dome of the Sherman building at the corner of Elm and Hickory streets in Denton was made in the backyard of a local artisan. Architect Jim Kirkpatrick designed the building.

Denton Fire Station No. 7 was the first fire station in the state to get a special certification for being environmentally friendly. Denton’s Kirkpatrick Architecture Studios designed the station.

Courtesy photo