O’Neil Ford designed the Fairhaven Retirement Home in 1963 in collaboration with Arch Swank. The duo designed this building to be economically viable to build, easy to maintain and a friendly environment for the residents. Ford designed the building around a tranquil courtyard that connects to every residents room. Ford also designed the rooms to be staggered in order to achieve as much privacy for the residents as possible. The building just recently went under renovations as well.

The Museum of Western Art was opened in 1983. The building has a very unique design both inside and out. The outside is made to resemble a fortified hacienda. The inside is even more special with mesquite flooring and Saltillo tiles which give it a very warm southwestern feel. The building uses heavy lumber and imposing stacked limestone retaining walls. The building itself is around 14,000 square ft. Ford made use of bovedas to demonstrate true artisan craftsmanship.

The Tower of the Americas was designed by O’Neil Ford and built for the theme structure of 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio. It is 750 ft tall and acts as an observation tower as well as having a revolving restaurant at the top. The tower is constructed out of slip-formed reinforced concrete . The top of the tower was built on the ground and then set on top of the tower once it was constructed. It is the tallest structure in San Antonio. It is an active tourist stop for the city.

The Little Chapel in The Woods at Texas Woman’s University is considered one of O’Neil Fords best works. The chapel was completed in 1939, the building was named one of Texas’s proudest architectural achievements. The building was built around several parabolic arches with stained glass windows through out the building. The stained glass windows were designed by students and picture scenes of women ministering to dance, music, literature and teaching. The building has a calming and meditative feel to it and has subtle modern touches to the traditional designs.

Couch Tower was my dorm tower freshman year. This tower brings memories both positive and negative. When I first saw the dorms I was very unoptimistic about living in that cramped space but I had a lot of fun freshman year in the dorms and made a lot of good memories. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of friends on my floor which made it to where there was never a dull moment. While living in the dorms had its moments there were times when I hated it like when the power would go out, the fire alarm would go off at 4 am and we would have to evacuate or when our floor flooded with brown water. Now that I have moved out and I look back those times where I wanted to move out I smile and laugh about it. That’s really how the dorms make me feel now.

My senior year of high school I traveled to France with my older sister and the building that stuck me the most was the Eiffel Tower. We went there during the day and took the elevator up to the top. I remember walking up to the base of the tower and just being amazed with the scale of it. I loved seeing all of the inner connections and steel work in the tower. When we got to the top of the tower a sense of awe overcame me. Seeing the entirety of Paris from the top of tower really made me appreciate the beauty of the city even more. We came back to the tower at night too and it was even more incredible all lit up.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dallas is a building that always sparks memories of good times with friends every time I see it. The first time I saw this building was freshman year on the Friday of OU TX. It filled me with anticipation and excitement. I didn’t know what to expect of the weekend. It was one of my first times being in downtown Dallas and this building became a kind of home to me over the course of the weekend and following years. This building even now makes me smile when I see it.

The Cotton Bowl Stadium will forever hold a special place in my heart. I will never forget the first time I saw the Cotton Bowl stadium freshman year. Walking up to the stadium with all of my friends around me was magical, it was like there was something in the air. Excitement filled my body as we walked through the gates and saw the stadium packed to the brim with fans on both sides. The sound of all of the fans screaming bouncing around the stadium is forever ingrained in me.