During my years in Marfa, I completed 2 design/build renovations of properties into my live/work spaces. I also competed design/build commissions on the two commercial buildings shown below. I made a lot of sculpture, held exhibitions, made functional items such as fireplace tools, steel/wood tables etc, played a little music with some wonderful people, & did day-work on two cattle ranches.

©KateHunt THE BRITE BUILDING on Highland Ave in Marfa. I was commissioned to design & rebuild the steel & glass entryways at the street level; Thanks David for your help! These steel & glass doors measure a total of 9 x 60 x 6’ across the front of the building at the street-level in a bookend design.. The upper-level’s ornate iron windows were added in 1932.

©KateHunt Each entryway measuring 9 x 30 x 6’ per side as shown above, I designed these steel & glass entryways using 2 x 2” angle as the basic frame; the window glass was held into place using 1 x 1” angle.. The upright 2 x 2’ post toward the outside edge is a door handle, once this is opened the second adjacent door can be unbolted, providing a full 9 x 9’ entryway, which is large enough to drive cars into the building. In fact, there was once a great exhibition of 9 beautiful Porsches from a private collection on exhibition.

©KateHunt Another old adobe structure on Highland Ave known at the time as the Old Pharmacy Building. I was commissioned to design & build “a front balcony structure to hold a 100 people for the Marfa Parade”. Structural engineer Dan Ray of Alpine determined the steel specs from my design & it’s built with collaborative help from certified welder Dan Rossi of Rossi Brothers Welding. Great working with both of you!

Design details: With this horizontal railing design, I put safety first - the spacing between these 2 x 2” horizontal railings is quite narrow, & the upper 6'“ flat width of the top railing provides a 4” spatial buffer which provides a physical deterrent against climbing. Plus this 6” surface provides a handy surface for a cocktail!

Construction details: because I didn’t want to look down a span of screws on the top of the IPE wood, I designed an underneath system of 1 x 1” steel angle, then drilled out - per board width - each length per each side of each joist then welded these lengths onto the underside of this structure, then screwed down each board from the underside. This design aspect provides a smooth, clean visual span from above & a rather nice texture from below..

Approx. 14 x 60 x 6’