by David Dillon

To some Americans, Oklahoma is a foreign country, where the wind comes sweeping o'er the plains; a hot dry place, impressively flat and infinitely extended, yet with pockets of remarkable beauty in the form of blood red earth, golden grasslands, and a sky the shape of an inverted tureen. Here the frontier spirit lives on in small towns and vast wheat and cotton farms, and Native American influences are everywhere.

Like most frontiers, Oklahoma mocks fussiness and pretension. It is a place for pragmatists who know how to do a lot with a little. It is a place for spare, uncluttered design that solves problems instead of concocting Faberge effects.

It is neither the epicenter of the latest trends nor a focus of national critical scrutiny. Few Oklahoma architects have the luxury of specializing in resorts or art museums; doing well here means making the most of what comes along.

Out of these limitations, Rand Elliott has been making compelling architecture for 25 years. "I am looking for a spirit or an emotion that comes from here," he observes, "one that I can bring to my architecture and that won't run dry."

Out of this search has come a body of work that is stunning in its execution and remarkable in its range ÷ houses, museums, office buildings, interiors, restoration, and adaptive reuse. No big civic or institutional commissions; no big work of any kind, for that matter.   >>>

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The K. J. McNitt Construction Company building, Oklahoma City, by Elliott + Associates. Photo: Bob Shimer/ Hedrich Blessing On the upper floor, supporting pipes recycled from oilfields define the office spaces. Photo: Bob Shimer/ Hedrich Blessing   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.