Charles Rose embraces the vast and varied panorama of the American landscape. Sensitive to his sites, the architect recognizes the poetry of every locale and uses his fascination with place as a central character in his designs. Regionalism, a term at times used to underrate architecture that is seen as too parochial or that eschews universal "truths" (most often those of modernism) in favor of a local style, becomes a practice of the highest order in the hands of Rose, one of America's most accomplished young architects. With both the rigor of geometry and a commitment to ecosensitivity, his work is as attuned to the dense urban fabric of New York City as it is to the rural outback of Wyoming. The profile of his award-winning Paintrock Camp in Hyattville, Wyoming, follows the contours of a nearby canyon; Roses's adaptive reuse of an industrial structure in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood preserves the existing streetscape while creating a seamless flow between inside and out; and the shape of his United States Port of Entry project in Del Rio, Texas, was determined by the scorching Texan sun and features sustainable landscapes.
With surprising use of volumes, materials, and geometries, agile movement of spaces, and an active language of planes and lines, Rose creates dynamic, expressive architecture that reminds us that buildings can be both sensitive to their locale and embrace the timeless principles of geometry, material, light, and shadow.
