We are proud to announce that Laurence C. “Larry” Burns, Jr. FAIA will be honored with the AIA Houston Award for Career Distinction at our Holiday Party on December 9 at the Museum of Fine Arts. We are currently raising funds to purchase in Larry’s honor an architect designed object for the museum’s permanent design collection.
Gifts can be made online by completing and submitting a donation form by following this LINK to MFAH.
Please make your donation on or before November 15 so that we will have time to purchase the item for display at the party.
The American Institute of Architects, Houston Design Collection
Museum purchase funded by friends of Larry Burns, FAIA, in his honor
About the Honoree
Larry Burns, FAIA, grew up in Illinois in a suburb north of Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in 1974 and a Master of Architecture Degree in 1976. His fourth year was a memorable experience studying at the U of I program in Versailles, France and traveling to 18 countries as part of his 10 months in Europe. Larry moved to Houston in June 1976 immediately after graduation due to a job offer from S. I. Morris Associates. After two years he was asked to join KWA which became Kendall/Heaton Associates in August 1978 less than three months after the firm was started. Larry has been one of the Principal Owners of Kendall/Heaton Associates since 1992.
Larry has spent the majority of his career collaborating as Architect of Record with some of the best-known architects from around the world on projects in Houston and across the United States. The first two projects of the seven projects for Hines over the course of his career were 101 California and 580 California in San Francisco with Philip Johnson/John Burgee followed by Norwest Center in Minneapolis, Society Bank in Cleveland and Owens-Corning World Headquarters in Toledo with Cesar Pelli and Associates and 191 North Wacker in Chicago with KPF. Larry began working on projects for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1993 with the Central Administration Building and Junior School with Carlos Jimenez followed by the Audrey Jones Beck Building with Rafael Moneo which was completed in 2000. Renovations to MFAH spaces include the first Hirsch Library expansion and Brown Auditorium, the Islamic Galleries and the recent relocation of the Hirsch Library into the former café space in the Beck Building. Larry collaborated with Leslie Elkins Architecture on the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor Center at Bayou Bend, with Lake|Flato on the Blaffer Center for Conservation and most recently on the Glassell School of Art and Nancy and Rich Kinder Building with Steven Holl Architects.
Similar notable collaborations followed with Tadao Ando Architect and Associates on the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion with SANAA, Asia Society Texas Center with Yoshio Taniguichi and Associates, Milstein Hall at Cornell University with Rem Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the Kimbell Art Museum Piano Pavilion with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the planned Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Expansion with Tado Ando and William T. Cannady Hall for the Rice School of Architecture with Karamuk Kuo.
Larry also worked on projects in Houston including Poe Elementary School renovation and expansion, 717 Texas with HOK and 811 Main with Pickard Chilton high rise office buildings, St. John’s School Flores Hall and Campus Center with Curtis & Windham and Champions Forest Baptist Church and Faithbridge Church.
Larry is active in his church, several cultural organizations and in historic preservation, He and his wife Cindy live in a 97-year-old house designated as a City of Houston Protected Landmark. Larry enjoys reading, traveling, visiting art museums and collecting art in his free time.
