Rene Gracia: He started organizing
things so that we could start to go down.
But the way we go down was the
steepest route to get off the mountain.
So, so we're going down and about 15
minutes into our descent, I, I get
this huge chest pain and I sit down,
Narrator: you're listening to
Building Dallas by Arrington Roofing.
Rene Gracia: So I'm sitting there on this
rock and uh, this gentleman walks by and
he stops and he says, is everything okay?
And he is in America.
And, you know, we explained to him
that I'm not feeling very well.
And he's like, he's like, well,
I'm a cardiologist from California.
He's like, lemme check him out.
So out of everybody to meet, I
meet this guy, uh, from California.
And so he checks my vitals and
it turns out that my vitals, you
know, were all over the place.
And he says, you need to get back to base
camp and call for the emergency helicopter
Narrator: from Sunrise commutes.
To stormy nights from tough
builds to big ideas, we're
shaping the future of North Texas.
One story at a time.
Welcome to building Dallas.
Chris Arrington: From the quiet
strength of stone to the clean lines
of glass, every detail tells a story.
In Dallas where tradition meets modern
growth, one designer has been redefining
what it means to live with intention.
Renee Gracia, founding principle
of RGDB, doesn't just build houses.
He creates inspired homes for
modern visionaries with a philosophy
he calls mindful modern living.
Renee blends architecture, construction,
and interiors into one seamless
experience, crafting spaces that are
as timeless as they are effortless.
Today on Building Dallas, we explore how
Renee's journey from his roots in Mexico
City to shaping some of the most beautiful
residences in north Texas reveals not
only what it takes to design great homes,
but what it takes to build a great city.
This is Chris Arrington and welcome to
Building Dallas, and we're welcoming
today one of my neighbors and good
friends and colleague Renee Gracia.
Rene Gracia: Hello.
What, what an introduction.
Wow.
Chris Arrington: Well, yeah, I know.
Introductions, introductions are
kinda I know, I, I, I'm introduced.
I'm like, okay.
Thank you very much.
Rene Gracia: No, thanks for having me.
This is awesome.
Good, good.
This is great.
Chris Arrington: Yeah, we're just,
we're just gonna have fun today.
And, and it really, it's been, uh, a joy
getting to know Renee and Amber, his wife.
Uh, who just lived down the street from
us and we've done some work with Renee.
That's right.
Yeah.
Put some rope on his projects
and continue to do so.
Yeah.
And so that's why we wanted
to have him here today.
And 'cause I really enjoy,
uh, Renee's philosophy.
I, I think I'm gonna find a little bit
more about it, uh, building and that,
that I also have a degree in architecture.
Mm-hmm.
But didn't quite follow through
and get licensed and go through
all the rigors to, to get licensed
and, and have worked in the field.
So this is really gonna be fun for me too.
Rene Gracia: No, it's a,
it's, it's, it's great.
I mean, you're down the street
so I already get to see you
around the neighborhood all
the time anyway, so, yeah.
Besides work,
Chris Arrington: yeah.
I'm kind of down the street,
but I'm gonna say this right
now because this just fits in.
Renee lives in Dallas and in Minnesota.
Rene Gracia: Yeah.
So, yes.
Back and forth.
'cause it's, you know.
You have to find the perfect weather.
Chris Arrington: Tell us.
Well, hey, he lives both places.
He's just not snowbirding, so.
Yeah, that's right.
Um, okay, Renee, why don't we start,
just tell us, I mean, you know,
because I already kind of alluded
to it, started in Mexico City Yes.
Here in Dallas.
So, I mean, just give
us a little background.
Who's who, Renee.
Rene Gracia: Yeah.
So I was born in Mexico City, lived
there as a child, and then, uh,
my mother and I, and father, we
moved here to the United States.
Moved to, we started out in
Irving, Texas and lived there,
uh, whenever I was younger.
And then, uh, so that's
where I grew, was in Irving.
And, um, but yeah, it's been,
it's, it is been interesting to.
Kind of, I still have family
that still lives in Mexico
City, so we still go there.
Oh, okay.
Uh, my aunts and godparents
and everybody still there.
And so it's great to be able to
kind of understand both cultures
and try and blend them in from, you
know, not only just background of
myself, but also with kind of what
we do, uh, you know, on daily life.
You know
Chris Arrington: what, what,
so why did the metroplex,
why do you know why your dad?
Rene Gracia: Well, he, well,
he was, he, we moved to Dallas.
He was, uh, studying school,
but also working for IBM.
So he, he got a computer sciences degree.
Okay.
And then, uh, so worked, so he had a job.
He worked at ib, he worked
at IBM his whole life.
Okay.
You know, so, uh, and
then my mom, uh, was here.
So it's funny, we moved here on
Halloween Day, uh, October 31st.
And in Mexico City at
that time, we didn't have.
Halloween we didn't sell, you
know, people didn't, Mexico
City didn't celebrate Halloween.
Okay.
And my mom had always heard, oh,
the United States is so dangerous,
you know, it's so dangerous.
So we move here on Halloween day,
my dad's going to night school
and working during the day.
So my mom and I are at home.
And then people come trick or treating
at night and one guy shows up at the door
with like his eyeball falling out and
another guy with blood and everything.
My mom walking to Dallas.
Mom freaked out.
Yeah.
And my mom was like, oh my God.
They were so right.
Dallas is so dangerous.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
But it was, uh, it was Halloween,
so that was, uh, when we
moved here and I think it was.
Like four and a half years old,
uh, whenever we moved here.
And I didn't speak English
when we moved here from Mexico.
Uh, so I learned it by hanging out
and playing with kids and school.
Chris Arrington: Okay.
And so then, so, so you went school here.
Did you meet Amber here?
Amber, his wife?
Yeah.
Rene Gracia: So yeah, so I went
to, so I grew up here in Dallas,
earn Irving, went to school here.
Uh, and then eventually in
architecture school, went to
UTA and studied architecture and
that's where I met Amber, my wife.
'cause Amber was also studying
architecture and I think,
okay, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
So Amber studied architecture.
Did she finish
Chris Arrington: in architecture?
Yeah,
Rene Gracia: so she, we both
finished the degree in architecture
and then she got out of it and
studied, uh, uh, international
business marketing and finance.
And so she got out of it.
Uh, a lot and then moved and worked
at the UN for a little while and
did completely different things.
And now her passion is, uh, more, you
know, investing in organizations and
people, uh, from a global perspective,
uh, in a public health arena, you know?
Okay.
Things that are helping the community.
But
Chris Arrington: was
Rene Gracia: but was she
involved in practice?
Yeah.
So our, so we both went
to school together.
Uh, that's where we met.
I was, we were both in studio together
and I think we had like a total of.
Three girls.
So I mean, it was like, so I had, yeah,
Amber was one of those Yeah, girls.
Y'all
Chris Arrington: need to get into
architecture because the guys
Rene Gracia: are lonely.
Chris Arrington: Like,
Rene Gracia: come on, help us out.
So, so we got, uh, so we met
there and then we eventually got
married and then we uh, we moved to
Scottsdale, Arizona for a while 'cause
she was going to graduate school.
Okay.
I was working for, um, BRW
architects at the time.
My very first job was at the
Vincent Group, which was an
architecture firm that focuses on.
Restaurant and retail design.
Okay.
And that's where I got most of
my experience at my first job.
And then, uh, BRW Architects
was my second job.
And then, so we moved to Scottsdale,
Arizona where she was going to graduate
school, and then we went, moved to
Switzerland, uh, Geneva for a while.
She was going to an another
program for graduate school.
So we moved there for a while and then
we came back to Dallas after that.
Wow.
Yeah.
So,
Chris Arrington: and, and so then
when you came back to Dallas, is
that when you started your practice?
You worked for somebody else, or?
No, whenever
Rene Gracia: we moved back to Dallas.
I started a, um, I was always fascinated
with branding, branding, design.
So whenever I was at the architecture
firm, I was, I went to, uh, tower
Records one day back whenever there was
a tower, people bought records, you know?
Yeah.
That, that shows how old I Yeah.
And you got album cover.
Exactly.
And you flip through 'em.
And, and so, uh, I was at Tower Records
and I came across this magazine and
what was called How a Design magazine.
And it was, I was like,
oh, this is interesting.
And it was all about
branding and marketing.
And I was like, well, this is
interesting and packaging design.
And I, I thought this is really
fascinating as far as design,
taking design into another realm.
And so I started, I taught myself a
little bit more about, uh, branding
and the software that's Photoshop
and Illustrator and all those things.
And then I. Uh, started
understanding and learning more
about branding and marketing.
And so I started a branding, uh, design
firm and we did, uh, brand development
and, um, architecture for restaurants.
Yeah.
Chris Arrington: But you, you were
doing branding and architecture?
Rene Gracia: Yeah, so we were, I I
wanted to combine those two worlds to
where it was a designing an experience.
Okay.
So you're designing an experience
and the experience lied within,
uh, packaging design, land, you
know, like for a restaurant for
example, it's about the architecture.
Okay.
And, and restaurants are mm-hmm.
So much fun to design because there's so
many different experiences and different
things that are ha that you want the
consumer or the P person visiting.
There's, you know, there's
the bar, uh, there's.
Private spaces.
So it, and they're all designed
differently to give a different
emotional, uh, feeling to it.
Yeah.
And so, uh, so that's something
that I really loved and I
love designing restaurants.
'cause there was, it was just
so much fun 'cause you have
so many different materials.
I always wanted to do
that and different things.
So we did that and then I thought,
well there's a gap between.
This and the branding world and
about designing the logos and
designing what the experience is.
And the experience is everything
from the menu design and the
uniforms that the people wear, uh,
the finishes, the interior, the
furnishings, the music that's played.
Everything is an experience
within a restaurant.
And so that's what I kind of
started doing within that.
So whenever I worked at BRW Architects,
uh, the best thing that happened, I, well,
I got, it was an incredible place to work.
I learned so much.
And then the economy
shifted in 2001 and, okay.
Chris Arrington: I'm gonna hold
Rene Gracia: on
Chris Arrington: Uhhuh.
So you just said it was a
really incredible place to work.
Yeah.
What made it that way?
What was it about, what touched you?
Rene Gracia: Well, the thing that I
loved about working at an organization
like BRW was that they did a variety
of different styles of projects.
They did government work, they
did restaurants, they did, um.
University work they did.
Uh, so it was a, a, a large different
sectors that they focused on because
a lot of architects find their niche
uhhuh, and it's, and they stick to it.
Yeah.
And, and that's it.
But they did their practice.
So they broad, they were broad.
It was a larger organization.
Uh, and so they had a variety of
different specialties that they did.
So it taught you a lot.
Uh, so, and then in 2001, the economy.
Shifted.
Mm-hmm.
And I was in, uh, I was overseas,
you know, and so they That's when
y'all were living in Switzerland?
Yeah, that's where we
were living in Geneva.
And so they lo we, they BRW lost one
of their big accounts at the time.
'cause or it, they didn't lose
it, but it was just one of those
things where economy shifts, they're
slowing down a little bit more.
So I got laid off along with some
other people, which in h you know,
whenever you get laid off, you're
like, oh man, what am I gonna do?
You know?
But in hindsight, and then you
Chris Arrington: figure out what you're
gonna do, you're gonna do Yeah, yeah.
You,
Rene Gracia: you need to figure
out what you're gonna do.
And, and, but in hindsight, it was the
best thing that ever happened to me.
Yeah.
It was like, it was, it
was a blessing, you know?
'cause it pushed me to be able
to start, uh, the branding firm
and it was, it is called Lucid.
And so we did this and it was funny
'cause uh, whenever Amber, my wife
was in graduate school, she, one of
her papers in entrepreneur class,
she did a, a project and it was over.
My branding firm, it was the,
the branding firm that was
kind of the project that she,
Chris Arrington: okay.
Rene Gracia: So there was some
information that she had been working
on with that to help me, to help us
out, you know, to get that started.
So we did that and then, um, and then it
caused to start, start that, that whole
practice did that for a number of years.
And then in 2012, um, Amber and I decided
to go, uh, for our 15th anniversary,
and we went climbing Kilimanjaro.
So we went, yeah.
So it was like, it was
like, okay, dream come true.
We're like, okay, this is great.
Chris Arrington: That's hard.
That's not a vacation.
So yeah.
Work.
Yeah, it was a lot of work, man.
Yeah.
Rene Gracia: It was a lot
of work to, to train for it.
Did you
Chris Arrington: get to the top?
Rene Gracia: No.
And that's what happened.
That's what that whole, I mean,
Renee, that's like a thing.
Yeah.
So that, that whole
moment, that entire trip.
Is what shifted everything in my life.
Yeah.
As far as to what I do right now.
Uh, so whenever we were climbing,
uh, in 2012, we were going up there.
We were, had made it all the way it takes.
Um, it takes six days to get up, uh,
the, the path that we were taking.
And then it takes, you know, a day
to get down or a couple days to
get down from the top because you
have to acclimate as you go up.
So as we were going up, we, I, I
think we got up to about 18,000 feet.
That's as high as I got.
And that night we were at
camp and I did not feel well.
I started to get a lot of chest pains
and uh, it was like one of those things
where, you know, I didn't feel well.
So I told Amber the next morning, I
was like, I don't think I can continue.
I think I need to start heading down.
And it was one of.
So we talked to our guide, uh, his
name was Babu and, uh, he was awesome.
And we had, he was helping us make to
the top, you know, and to get to the top.
So we told him and he, we said, you
know, I don't think I can make it.
I think I can get down.
And we were very upset that we weren't
gonna make it all the way to the top.
Chris Arrington: Yeah, you've got
a lot of time invested already.
Yeah.
And
Rene Gracia: so he said something
that was very important.
He says, mountain is
mountain life is life.
He's like, the mountain's gonna be
here tomorrow, but life is uncertain.
He is like, so we need to get down.
Okay.
So we started to, he started organizing
things so that we could start to go
down, but the way we go down was the
steepest route to get off the mountain.
So, so we're going down and about
15 minutes into our descent, I,
I get this huge chest pain and I
sit down and at this point I have,
we haven't seen any Americans the
whole time that we've been there.
It was all, it's been, you
know, foreigners and, you know,
people from Germany and all over
the world, but no Americans.
So I'm sitting there on this rock and
uh, this gentleman walks by and he
stops and he says, is everything okay?
And he is an American.
And you know, we explained to him
that I'm not feeling very well.
And he's like, he's like, well,
I'm a cardiologist from California.
He's like, let me check him out.
So out of everybody to meet, I meet
this guy from California and so he
checks my vitals and it turns out.
That my vitals, you know, were all
over the place and he says, you
need to get back to base camp and
call for the emergency helicopter.
So we go back up Wow.
To base camp and we're
sitting there and then.
Uh, we try and get the helicopter,
but because of the time of the day
and everything, the helicopter's
not coming because the clouds are
starting to roll in and everything.
So we sit there and we wait.
And um, and at this point I, another
gentleman comes up and he's a guide
and he's got like 12 people and he
asked me to take a photograph, you
know, 'cause I'm fine, as long as
I'm not under exertion, I'm okay.
Okay.
And so I snap a picture and I, and
then he says, are y'all heading down?
What are y'all heading down?
And I go, yeah, we're heading down.
He's like, you're not
gonna be able to head down.
And I said, well, we're
waiting for the helicopter.
And he is like, the
helicopter's not coming.
And I'm like, how do, how do you know?
How do you know all this?
And he says, he, he, he's climbed
all seven summits, you know, Everest,
he does expeditions there and he's,
he takes guides on this and he says
the clouds are about to roll in.
They're not gonna be able to
get, uh, the helicopter up.
So he checks, he's an EMT
out of Bishop California.
Chris Arrington: Okay.
Rene Gracia: So he checks my
vitals and he is like, we gotta
get you off the mountain right now.
So, uh, he's trying to find oxygen and the
guy, the guy, there's no oxygen right now.
So the Sherpas and the guys, they
run all the way down the mountain,
grab oxygen, come back up, and
they, and they give me the oxygen.
And then we start as
I'm starting to go down.
So we're, we're making our way off
the mountain and we're climbing all
the way down and we finally get.
It off the mountain at
like two in the morning.
Uh, so, and it's pitch black.
Mm-hmm.
You know, you're, we have
our little lights, torches.
Yeah.
Hiking in the dark, in
the dark is not fun.
Yeah.
And it's cold, you know, there's,
at the very top it's cold, and then
you're starting to shed layers as
you start to get down to the jungle.
Yeah.
You know, so we get down and the emergency
vehicle was gonna be there to get us off,
but it really wasn't a emergency vehicle.
It was like, the town bus is how I got
into town, you know, so from, from,
from the, so we get back and uh, and
they say, you know, I can go see, uh,
the doctor from Alaska who runs the
orphanage, or I can go to the hospital.
So I go talk to the doctor and he
checks me out and he, my heart still.
You know, weird, everything's
kind of discombobulated.
And so I, he ends up giving me a
consent to fly form, and then we
change our plans and then we come
try and come back to the states.
I still don't know what's
wrong at this point.
So whenever we come back to the
states, I didn't feel, well, I, I, I
went to say my doctor and my doctor
here in the States is in Dallas.
And he said, but you did the
Chris Arrington: flight.
Okay.
Yeah, I did the flight.
Okay.
Rene Gracia: And then whenever
we came back, he said, you
know, you need to get to the er.
So I go back to the ER and they find
out that I have a pulmonary embolism.
So, uh, I get checked out.
So now I'm in the hospital for a while.
And you know, it's one of those
things where it causes you to
really think about life, okay?
Mm-hmm.
And 'cause the way things
happen, you know, I might have
not woken up one morning if I
never, you know, things happen.
Chris Arrington: Yes.
Rene Gracia: So.
I end up thinking about things.
We lived in one at Heights, and
that's where Amber and I lived.
And we had the kids historic district,
cliff, historic District in Oak Cliff.
Right.
Lived there.
And then, uh, I remember Amber and I
got back and I got outta the hospital
and we went out to dinner and we said,
you know, let's, let's sell the house.
Let's, let's do something different.
And I said, yeah.
I said, let's do that.
And I said, um, and before this, a friend
of mine had asked me, he said he had some
friends, uh, that needed a house, that
they were doing a house and they were
looking for somebody to design their home.
And I told my friend, I was like,
you know, I don't do residential.
Yeah.
I was like, you know, that's
not, that's not my thing.
I do more commercial work.
Residential is not my thing.
He's like, why don't you try it?
You may like it.
So I did it and I loved it.
I fell in love with it.
It was because it, whenever
you're dealing with residential
architecture, it's very personal.
You're, you're learning about.
At people's lives.
Mm-hmm.
In, in depth.
And you get to know the family, and
you get to know the children and the
stories, and you're building, building
something that is going to be a place
that creates memories for this family.
Mm-hmm.
Which is something that's
very, very important in life.
Yep.
So, uh, so I did this and I
really fell in love with it.
And when my accident happened I was like,
you know, I wanna do, I wanna do that.
I really enjoyed residential
architecture and designing, uh, homes.
I, I, I loved it.
Yeah.
And so whenever we decided let's
sell the house, let's, let's kind
of shift the life a little bit.
Let's disrupt things.
So we decided on Saturday, that
Thursday, my wife Amber had to
go to, uh, I can't remember.
I think.
I can't remember where she went.
I think she went to Switzerland
for business or something, but
she was overseas and I sold
the house while she was gone.
Yeah, so, so she, yeah.
So somebody came to look at the house
and I called her when she landed and
I said, I think I sold the house.
Yeah.
And she's like, okay, well great.
So we sold the house.
Okay.
That's good.
Yeah.
That's great.
No, yeah, it was good.
Heart attack.
Chris Arrington: You probably said, I
sold the house and remember I have a
heart problem, so don't get mad at me.
Rene Gracia: No.
Yeah.
So, uh, so we sold the
house, everything was great.
Uh, and then at that point we had
nowhere to live 'cause we didn't buy
a house, we didn't have another house.
So we called at our gypsy summer.
And so we put everything
in a storage unit.
The kids and us.
We moved to.
We moved to France, we moved to Paris,
and we, uh, we lived there for the summer
and we went to the south of France.
We went to Italy.
We, we just, it was just kind
of our little nomad vacation for
the summer and it was awesome.
Uh, and it was, it was one
of the best times ever.
Oh my gosh.
You know, gosh.
Just be able to be there.
My, let's see, we sold the house, honey.
So let's move to France
for a summer, I'm sure.
Let's do that.
Yeah.
So let's do that.
So we, we, we end up, and before
we left for Paris, we found the
house that we have right here.
Here in s park ca Yeah.
In er park.
Okay.
And it was a hoarder's home.
It was just falling apart.
But we loved the house.
It have potential.
I don't even remember
Chris Arrington: it anymore.
That's how, 'cause all I do is I see it.
'cause I drive by his house every day.
And so I see it like it is fixed now.
Uhhuh.
But yeah, you're right.
It was.
Had nobody had lived there for a while.
Well,
Rene Gracia: it, it was, it
was, he had like nine animals.
Somebody was living there,
somebody was living there.
But there they had hoarded
animals and different things.
And the realtor said, you know, we
wanted a, we wanted a project home.
You know, so we were like, okay.
So we drove by during lunch one day, and
Amber and I looked at him and we was like.
I think this, I think it has
potential, you know, I think
it's a beautiful project.
It was a project.
Yeah, it was a project.
Sure.
So we were like, okay.
So we, we ended up buying it before we
left, and so we were designing the home
while we were in Europe the whole time.
So it was great to be able to, sometimes
I I, and this, you know, to, to this
point now, like right now I'm designing
a, a home right now for clients and I
was just in Japan like three weeks ago.
And I love being able to be somewhere
else to be able to design, you know,
to, to kind of change inspiration.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
It's just a, yeah, different,
you're in a different environment.
Yeah.
You, you're a little bit more relaxed.
You're a little, it's
a little bit different.
You're able to just think about
things a little bit differently
than you can, you know, here.
So, at that time of our lives,
you know, we were somewhere else
in Europe and designing the home,
and we were trying to imagine.
You know, what the house
would be, you know?
So we started the design.
Okay.
Money wasn't like crazy.
Okay.
We, you know, we didn't, we didn't have
like, buckets of money to do this, so
we had to be really smart about it.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, and we had to understand.
Well, you didn't
Chris Arrington: tear it down completely.
Rene Gracia: No, we kept a few.
You almost did.
We almost did.
Yeah.
By the time it was done, we had
torn down most all of it, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
Because you find, you start, and that's
the thing, whenever you're doing a, a
renovation, you know, like a tra I call,
I call 'em extreme transformations.
'cause it's, yeah.
You start to find things on walls.
Oh yeah.
Which are totally different.
You know, you see, you see things,
okay, well this is all rotted,
this needs to come down the floors.
Uh, so there's a lot of experimental
aspects that happen during that process.
Right, right, right.
So we designed it.
And then we looked at it as,
okay, this is a great idea.
This is, let's do this.
We're gonna have our home.
And, uh, banks wouldn't give
us any money at that time.
'cause it was, you know, at that certain
time banks weren't lending money.
Yeah.
And so we had to like bootstrap
it and pay for it ourselves.
And as we tried to, wow, man, find
certain things and then borrow a
little bit here and we try to make it.
But finally, whenever we were and,
and you know, we were probably
so annoying to the neighborhood.
'cause there, you know,
it took forever for us.
You know, we were like
building the house and then.
It's, I remember it was, I think we
Chris Arrington: were probably happy that
it was, it was transforming from Yes.
Not a very attractive property.
Yeah.
So to
Rene Gracia: a lot nicer.
So we transformed it into where we raised
the kids, you know, and where we live.
Wow.
You know, and so it's,
it's, uh, the house.
Here, here, down the street
from you is very special.
Yeah.
You know, it's somewhere where we
raise the family, we have memories.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it was something that was
a difficult process to get to, but
it was something, at the end of the
day, it was extremely rewarding.
And it was the very first project.
That was the first project.
Chris Arrington: You know, I,
here's, here's what I've heard that
is just, I think is fascinating.
The, the experience you had with
restaurants, which I think I'd always
wanted to do it because I just thought,
man, restaurants are cool, Uhhuh.
'cause you put all this stuff up
there and it gives you this feeling.
And I, I, I think hopefully this is
what's gonna come out here in the next few
minutes, is it seems like that training,
from what I, from what I've heard is
you, you learn the architecture and,
and the, the discipline it is to build
something that, that solves a problem.
Mm-hmm.
For the function.
Of that building.
But you also were interested in the,
we can call it the spiritual aspect.
The, the feeling, the experience,
experience that you get
coming in and what you see.
And, and so I, 'cause it seems like,
from what I've seen of your work that
that goes into the home too, which I
think probably a lot of home builders
are like, they got a budget, here's what
everybody builds in the neighborhood.
And so here's what we do.
But I I, I think what I'm gonna hear
is that you like to learn about the
family and how do they live and what
experience do they want to have.
And then you, and you take that
experience, um, training that you have
to craft the architecture to not solve
the structural problem of, of our built
environment, but but of the experiential
Exactly.
Aspect
of it.
And that's what I. Uh, because I, I love,
I, I love quality and, and thoughtfulness
and you know, when you, you can tell
someone spent time on a project and
it has aspects to it that you go, wow,
that's, that's worthy of, of note,
you know, that, that's exceptional.
Uh, I love that.
So, so I'm gonna dive into
the Renee Gracia experience.
Yeah.
So what, what do you, what's
your perception of, of what you
bring to your now your firm?
Um, and, and what do you
think people are attracted to?
Why do they come?
Why do they come to you?
Or maybe they come to you
for one reason and then you.
You turn it or you, you give.
Yeah.
Well, I
Rene Gracia: mean they, a lot of
times, uh, clients will come to us
for the architecture and that's,
that's, that's the main thing, you
know, we're a design build model.
Uh, so they've seen your work?
Yeah, so we're, we, we design
it and we build it as well.
Uh, but it's something that architecture
lead, we're an architecturally
led design build practice.
A lot of design build groups, they
may, um, be a builder and they
say, yeah, we do design build.
And they have a, like a pool of different
groups that design projects for them,
and then they're able to build it.
We're actually very integrated in
the sense that we do both in-house.
Uh, so there's a lot of communication,
but from an architectural
perspective, it has to be right.
And to get, to get that,
that experience is.
You have to understand who's
going to be living there.
You have to understand
who's inhabiting it.
You know, we need to know their
everyday life and, you know, uh, of
a family, an individual, a couple's,
like a couple's everyday life.
Okay?
It's, it's different for each person.
Okay?
Each, each person has a different life.
You know, uh, they have different
schedules throughout the day.
They have different passions,
they have different hobbies.
They have different things
that, uh, energize them and
motivate them throughout the day.
And, you know, there's, trying to
understand those things individually
as well as collectively is something
that I find very, very important.
There's the programming aspect of.
Of design.
Okay.
There.
Okay, well I need five, four
bedrooms, you know, four bathrooms,
all these kinds of things.
Yeah.
That's one thing.
The other thing is how
does light affect you?
How, what time do you wake up?
You know, what do you do when you wake up?
Those are the things that are
really important to me because
then you start to design based
off of how the home is oriented.
Mm-hmm.
How light starts to come into the home.
Uh, all all of those different
things start to affect people.
You know, a lot of times people, you
buy a home and it's some, it's a home
that's been there for a long time and
you try and make it yours, you know?
Mm-hmm.
And through furnishings, through
different things that you can do.
But to be able to, uh,
have that opportunity to be
able to design something.
For somebody that's very special.
That's something that
is the best thing ever.
Yeah.
You know, you know, to be able to do that.
And then it carries on into the,
the construction aspects of it.
And it carries on into the interior
furnishings as well to make sure that
it's kind of an all encompassing thing.
And the furnishings and the construction
is something that we got that we do.
Because I felt, you know, at the
beginning we didn't do the construction.
And a lot of times you'll do a
design and the, the, there's a lot
of nuances that are communicated
within the design phase of a project.
Mm-hmm.
And schematic design.
And the design and uh, and sometimes
when it gets into construction.
Those nuances can get lost.
And it's not because a builder
is looking to do something
or cut corners or something.
It's not, it's because the
builder doesn't have that
knowledge of what happened mm-hmm.
On the early end.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but there's, there's, those
two things need to be married real.
I find that they need to be
something that's really, really
close together to understand.
For example, uh, in the construction
world, you have the eyes and ears
of the client on a daily basis.
So you're, you're dealing with things.
There may be something that we've
designed in the home to where it
creates something that's dark in the
evening time, because now this whole
wall of glass is now reflective.
Okay.
And a builder that comes in may say, oh,
you know what, uh, there's no lights here.
You know, we need some light.
You know, so we're gonna
pop some lights in here.
Okay.
And then, and then at the end of the
day, whenever you do your ca visit
and you're there walking the site,
you're like, well, you know, these
are new, these weren't on the plant.
And then, you know, well, we, we need,
we thought we needed some light here.
It felt like it, it needed it.
And it's like, well, that was done
because this, this, this, this.
And so some things, and it wasn't
done outta malice, but it was
just something that was done.
Yeah.
You're thinking, oh wait, they forgot.
They forgot something, you know?
But there's a lot of
little things like that.
And so that's why I feel that whenever we
do the construction of our designs, it's
something that we're able to, uh, continue
that experience all the way through.
Mm-hmm.
Until the very end,
Chris Arrington: man, I, I, I really
relate to that because when we bought
our house, it was really small and we
did a, we all, we did, we just did an
addition on the back uhhuh, but, uh.
When people would come over,
they'd go, wow, Chris, you're
building a huge bedroom upstairs.
And I'd go, Nope, that's a playroom.
We have four boys.
I am building this, I'm, I am adding
onto this house for me and Janie
and four boys, not girls, boys.
It's huge.
There's hardly anything in it.
They can throw each
other against the wall.
I'm fine.
Their bedrooms are a little
smaller 'cause they're not
gonna spend much time in there.
They're gonna go in the
playroom and jump around.
So, you know, I, I like that.
It's, and, and I think the boys
loved growing up in that house
'cause it was built for them.
Uhhuh.
I mean, they had space
to wrestle and do stuff.
So that's what you're
really doing for people.
They get to live their
life with the house that.
Enhances it,
Rene Gracia: right?
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, uh, for example, we have, we have
one home that we did that you guys did all
the roof, the one over in flower mount.
Now we, we did the bridal bit.
That one.
The client, uh, he has a, a wonderful,
um, kind of, um, I wanna say kind of
not a routine, but he and his father
get together and they enjoy a glass
of scotch once a day, one once a,
not, not once a day, once a week.
Once a week.
And he wanted to have a very special room.
To be able to have this moment with
his father, and then eventually
other members of the family
come in during holiday events.
So this is a scotch room.
Uh, wow.
You know, so it's, and it's, it's
a very special part of the home.
Yeah.
It, it kind of cantilevers out.
It, it sits amongst the trees and it's
something that's, that's really special.
But that is that experience for
that particular client where,
and that's something that's I, I
love about this, is that you get
to learn so much about people.
Yeah.
And you so many different, their
hobbies and different aspects of things.
Chris Arrington: It is, is, I can tell
by your facial expressions is, is that
where the, where does the joy come in?
The thing that knowing the people
Uhhuh seeing the, you know, I, I used
to tell the boys, uh, so it's a lot
of work to do construction, and I
said, my only reward I really need
is to be at, at the end and just go.
That looks awesome.
And they go, that's it.
I go, well, well, I want to get
paid, but, but yeah, it's all I need.
And they go, that's it.
And then yeah, then I
wanna do another one.
But, but where is it may come in
some different places for you.
Where's your joy?
Rene Gracia: Oh, there's, there's
Chris Arrington: so many.
I mean, there's, there's, because
you're also working with a lot of
people, there's, I know how big,
how big is your, how many people?
We're not huge.
Rene Gracia: We're like
11 people, you know?
So, so, but you've got a staff.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, but we are, uh, a group
that really tries to understand
and cater to these things.
But where the joy comes in, I mean,
there's so many different parts
of it that I just absolutely love.
It's the part of really
getting to know clients.
Very intimately.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
You, you, you know their routines.
You, you know what they love, you know,
what they like and what they don't
like, you know, at the end of the day.
Yeah.
You know, so that's
something that's wonderful.
But one of the things that I love the
most is being able to be out there on
the construction site whenever you're
doing something and having relationships.
People like yourself, the subs.
Okay.
That is priceless.
Okay.
Whenever you're out there and you have,
you know, 20 people working on site and
you're able to know all of them Oh yeah.
And you're able to know their families
that their kids are in school, all those
things, that is what it's all about.
Mm-hmm.
You know, because at the end of the day,
none of this, none of this is able to
be possible without a collaboration.
Yeah.
And it's all because of everybody,
everybody working towards
something and everybody taking
pride in what they're doing.
I'm so glad you mentioned that 'cause
Chris Arrington: it's the guys that
get forgotten and this, that, that
are, are, are laying the stone Yeah.
That are pouring the concrete
uhhuh that are digging the dirt.
That, and, and, and I'm, I'll go on my
soapbox for just a second because I, I've
done this in quite a few episodes that w
we've got to teach our children, we need
architects, but we need con we need guys.
Yeah.
We need tradesmen,
Uhhuh
that know how to.
Put that into reality and to,
and to put the wires together
and the air conditioning and all
the foundation and stuff, and it,
and we're losing it and to care
Rene Gracia: about things.
You know, that's the thing.
Yes.
That's the most important thing
is, is you, you know, you there,
there's a lot of people who can go
out there and, and do something.
Okay.
Now doing it.
Well, that's a different story.
Yeah.
You know, and if you have, take time to
communicate and if you take time to, uh.
Yeah.
Learn about all of these people,
you know, from a personal level
and understand who their kids are.
Understand, you know,
what their struggles are.
Yeah.
We all have struggles, we all have
challenges on our daily basis,
and if there's something that they
can help me on or I can help them
on, that's what it's all about.
Oh, I,
Chris Arrington: I've
learned so many things.
Uh, the, the, all you guys
in the trades will love this.
I'll be out on site and, and
I'll, I'll think, well, here,
let me help you guys with that.
And they'll go, okay, Chris,
why don't you step back, run
the company and don't do that.
'cause here's how you do it, and you're
gonna, you're gonna hurt yourself.
Yeah.
And, and the amazing thing is they'll,
since when you do something over and over
and over, you learn the way to do it.
And you don't take three steps.
If you, if you can do it in
one and you can do it well
Yeah.
'
cause you just wear yourself out.
So many things I learned
in the field that, oh.
God, it is so cool the way you
did that Uhhuh and you did it
better and you did it faster.
'cause I'll, I'll, as the boys were
growing up and learning things, I thought,
you know, to be a, to be a homeowner
and do a project at home, you got all
the time in the world uhhuh, to be a
professional, you must do it faster.
Yeah.
You must do it well and you must do
it correctly over and over and over.
That's right.
And there, there is a, an
incredible skill to that.
And you'll learn the tool you need and
the way you do it Uhhuh and the way all
that works, uh, I mean, really watching
a good contractor is almost like watching
a singer or a dancer or an artist.
They really are performing.
An art.
An art,
Rene Gracia: it is.
I mean, you look at it, somebody who's,
uh, laying floor hardwood floors, or you
look at somebody who's laying, uh, or
doing steel panels correctly, correctly,
you know, those, that is an art form.
Mm-hmm.
You know, to make sure that everything
is, there's a knuckle joint, and then
the seams are the way they need to be.
That's, it's intentional.
And that's what's
really, really important.
Chris Arrington: Renee, that just, I
didn't have this question here, but,
uh, um, this is what I think is so
hard about architecture these days.
New products.
Mm-hmm.
Different products, materials that may
not go together, just, um, may maybe
I'm just gonna throw this in there.
Um, how do you handle
that as an architect?
In knowing what ma do you, you have to
study the material, do some research
on it, you make sure they go together.
How does an architect these days
handle the new products and materials
Rene Gracia: to make sure they work?
Yeah, I mean there's, you know, and, and
I, I look to not only what we learned
from materials, you know, as far as
literature that they have on it, but
you know, uh, Ken, who, uh, Ken and
I have worked together for, uh, Ken.
Ken and I have worked
together for so many years.
Yeah.
He was actually my mentor at my first
job, and now he and I have worked
together for I guess, like 30 years now.
Almost.
You know?
You know.
What is Ken?
Ken?
Ken is a, Ken is, uh, the lead
architect in the, in the firm.
Got it.
So he is, uh.
He and I talk all day long.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
He and I are constantly solving
design things, connections.
Uh, so he and I have, you know,
we finish each other's sentences.
So it's about he and I looking
at a material and then looking
at how can we use this material.
Like I, I, like I see this,
uh, translucent material that
I want to use for something.
You know, how, how do we
connect that to something else?
But then it's not only what
you find in literature, but
it's also talking to like, uh.
Uh, our construction team, you know, uh,
Caesar and James and Connor and Omar Lynn,
you know, looking at them and, you know,
they have, everybody has experiences.
Okay.
And they may be something that we
be, may be using some, you know,
Caesar or James might have used on
another project or something similar
to where they have something to
share or something to add to it.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, it's about trying to find out
how do these materials work and then
understanding, okay, well if we're gonna
use this material, how is it gonna expand
and contract during different weathers?
How is it going to work?
And, uh, exterior wise mm-hmm.
And, and, and there's so many different
new materials that are coming out that
you want to try and use, uh, you know,
and, and see, but you have to be very
careful and very selective about where you
put some of these materials because you
know, they have to go through a lifespan.
You know?
Yes.
You know?
Yeah.
Chris Arrington: Yeah.
This isn't an art piece that's gonna be
in an air conditioned space gonna be over
here and nobody's gonna touch to touch it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's getting used and, and people
for, we're talking about building Dallas
buildings move, they move a lot and
then some things don't move as much.
Some things move more.
Yeah.
And, uh, are they gonna
tear each other apart?
I mean, we just, just in the roofing
space that we are in, uh, when you start
getting into flat roofs, um, man, how you
build that sandwich, Uhhuh is, uh, yeah.
The TPI in
Rene Gracia: it's proper slope.
And, you know, we're always challenging.
Like, you guys, you know, like,
we'll, we'll be like, okay, well
I want this to be like this,
but I need this to be like that.
And you, and you're like, well, you know,
I don't know if that material's gonna,
you know, we have to have certain slope.
Well, how much, you know, we're always
trying to push to see how much can we get.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, okay.
Well.
The cut sheet says we can
go eighth of an inch slope.
Okay, well can we go eighth of an inch?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I'd rather have a
quarter inch slope, you know,
Chris Arrington: and you know,
the, the things that I think are
interesting, so, so I mean, you were
really talking about custom stuff.
Yeah.
If you got a very minimal slope or a
little bit more slope on a flat roof, but
you look at, so now you gotta kinda look
up and go, we got tree coverage like crazy
up here, Uhhuh, no, let's go a little bit
steeper because we know over time we're
gonna have so much maintenance on this.
We're gonna have so much
debris following on this.
Let's, yeah.
Yeah.
All that So real, that comes
back to the site, right?
Every site you're going to.
Is, I don't care if it's
the next door neighbor.
The site's a little different.
Rene Gracia: Yeah.
And every, every, uh, fortunately
or unfortunately, most of our
sites are extremely challenging.
Okay.
That we have, that we build, that we
typical, uh, most of our projects are on
very challenging sites, not flat sites.
I love very challenging sites.
Yeah.
You have a huge opportunity to do
something very interesting from an
architectural design perspective to
where you can have different levels,
different entrances, different
experiences, ceiling heights, different.
It, it, it expands and contracts
your experience as you start to
go in through different spaces.
And that's something that's wonderful.
But the site has a huge, huge
part of, you know, how the light's
gonna, how the trees, how the
light's gonna come into the SI site.
All of those things are so, so important.
Yeah.
You know?
Chris Arrington: So, so do you have a,
uh, do you have a, a favorite project or.
Uh, or a, a favorite
challenge that's come up?
Well, they're in your career.
They're
Rene Gracia: all like children.
Okay.
Okay.
Every project is like a child,
you know, I, I like that.
They're all, like, they're
all different little children.
They're all there, they're all different.
They have their, uh, they have they
special moments, you know, and their,
uh, their rewards and their challenges.
Every single project has a very
special place in your heart.
You know, when you walk, walk away from
when you finish one, and then the, the
owners are living and you're going there.
For an event or a party or they're
inviting you over for dinner or
something, that's when you really get
to experience what the house is like.
Yeah.
Okay.
Because then you're, then you're
there and you're seeing them,
the clients in their element, you
know, in their home living it.
That's what's really wonderful.
But you know, each one of 'em, you
know, you're, you kinda nestle 'em,
you, you know, you take care of
'em, and then they go, they go off.
Yeah.
You know, and so, and then you'll see them
and you hope that they are taken care of.
You know, that's, that's kind
of the way it is, you know?
Yeah.
Because you'll drive by some,
some homes and, you know, and
you know, like, well, they, they
should, uh, we should really seal.
The wood siding won't more, you
know, they should really do that.
But you don't want to pick up the phone.
'cause that's not, it's not your place.
It is like calling your child
and saying what they should do.
You know, you can't do that.
You know, but it's, uh, but you
just have to just stand back and
just let it be and appreciate it.
Yeah.
You know,
Chris Arrington: I've never
thought, Renee, that, how,
that's just giving me, me a pic.
Yes.
A picture just like a family.
And you, you're driving by and you're
seeing your kids and you're like,
Rene Gracia: okay, yeah.
They should really do this.
Yeah.
I'm,
Chris Arrington: I'm I'll,
I'll just stand back.
I won't, I won't hover.
I won't helicopter.
Yeah.
Gosh.
Yeah.
Um, okay.
Have there, have there been,
or, or would've been the,
'cause I know there has been.
What have been some of the challenges
you've had to overcome that?
And I'm just gonna leave
it broad like that.
I mean, well, just, just because people
are listening to this and they're going,
okay man, I think I might like to do that.
Let let's, you know, kind of open the
book really wide and go, okay, here's
some of the things that you face
day to day that are not easy to do.
Rene Gracia: No.
Well, you, you know, you look at
this and the, the, the homes that we
designed, you know, they're, yeah.
They're, they're, they're challenging,
okay, in their own sense as far
as how materials come together,
how details get worked out.
But you're looking at it, and it is kind
of that micro and macro kind of situation
where you're looking at something.
And from a design perspective, you first
start out with a site and you start, you
know, how is the home going to sit so
that it engages, you have a lot of code
issues that you're needing to understand.
So you've got restrictions right
off the bat, which are great.
I mean, I, I love restrictions, right?
And sometimes restrictions, uh,
are, you have to have a resistance.
You have to have something, uh, you
know, to, to be able to cause you
to do something else, a reaction.
Okay.
Okay.
And so, uh, those restrictions are great.
They can be frustrating at
times, but they're great.
Okay.
They're, they're, they're
there for a reason.
And so you have this, and
whenever you're designing it,
you're looking at a big picture.
Okay, how are spaces coming together?
How are rooms coming together?
And then you start coming
closer and closer and closer.
And then whenever you get out there and
you're designing some pieces, whenever
you get out into the field, you know,
and we have periodic meetings with our,
uh, construction guys, you know, that are
our project managers out on the field who
are running our construction projects.
And there's always a, they, you
know, they pick up the phone and say,
Hey, we have these two materials.
Okay, so you're always
having to problem solve.
How does something from.
An entire site all the way
down to an eighth of an inch.
That's, mm-hmm.
That's your spectrum of how you
start to work on a daily basis.
You know, sometimes you're
doing this all day long Yeah.
And you're trying to solve
something that's connecting
something very, very small.
Right.
And then you're looking
at something much bigger.
And sometimes it can be a little
exhausting, a little, you know, because
your, your mind is constantly going
between these two different scales.
Yeah.
Uh, but the, the, it, it,
the devil is in the details.
It's about how materials come together.
Are they on the same plane?
If they're not, how are
we solving for this?
Uh, is there a reveal where there's two
materials coming together so that there
you distinguish one between the other?
Or is there a third material?
Right.
That blends 'em together.
Right, right, right.
Those things, that is the, those are the
challenging things that I find every day.
Uh, but those are challenges, but
they're also so much fun, you know,
if everything got built so easily, you
know, then it wouldn't be that fun.
Well, you know, I mean, I,
Chris Arrington: I, who knows
what people think of architecture.
'cause you know, when I got started
I was like, what I loved about it was
the professor would give us a problem
and it uhhuh it's really a blank page.
Yeah.
I mean, and some of them were theoretical,
but, um, you've, and, and, and this
is one of the things I didn't like
about the education of architecture.
Some of the guys that did the
greatest projects, I'd go, well, we
did a program and it had a budget
and it had this, that and the other.
And then the guy that did the
great design, who was a great
designer, where'd go, I don't care.
I wanted to build that.
The professors would go, we love it.
I'm like, wait a second.
I was in budget on mine.
That's why mine doesn't
look as good as his does.
But so to take.
What I'm hearing you say is, uh,
you've gotta be able to take the
extreme freedom that you have as
an architect to take a blank page
and put whatever you want to on it.
But in real life, there are
restrictions and if you can't live
within those restrictions, it doesn't
really become reality, does it?
Rene Gracia: No.
Yeah.
No.
'cause it's you, you have,
there's a lot of restrictions.
You have budget.
Yeah.
You
Chris Arrington: have budget restrictions.
I like the way you said they, they, they
help probably help focus you on, yeah,
okay, well this is what I gotta do.
It's, it's,
Rene Gracia: otherwise, it's like painting
something on a canvas that's this big.
Okay.
That's okay.
I understand my parameters right.
But if somebody says.
Y you have, your canvas
can be any size you want.
Well, then it's like, oh
my God, where do I start?
You know?
Yeah.
What do I do?
What do I do?
So these parameters are, are, are,
are wonderful to have it in place,
I feel, because it, it, and, and
you have so many different ones.
You have budget, you have clients'
restrictions, clients' needs,
codes, different things that are,
uh, city requirements, uh, you
know, life safety requirements.
So, so many different things that you have
to take into consideration to make sure
that everything is working in harmony.
Yeah.
You know?
And at the end of the day you hope that
everything is just, kind of works nicely.
Who are
Chris Arrington: the people that
have either inspired you, helped
you, or currently major effects
in, in your life, in your business?
Rene Gracia: Who inspired
me and affected me.
You know, I think that, uh, you know,
you look at architecture as a whole.
I think the person who inspired me the
most was, uh, the dean of architecture at
UTA, I think his name was Richard Ferrier.
And, uh, uh, my, that's the, and that was
the, also the class that I met Amber in.
It was his class.
Mm-hmm.
And during that semester, he asked
me to be, to work at his, uh, firm.
He had a, he was While
you were Dean in school.
While I was in school.
So I worked at his firm.
So I did that.
But it, it was one of those things
where whenever you get outside of the
context of school and you're sitting in
somebody's, a professor's living room.
Okay.
And you're working, 'cause he
had, his office was at his home.
And whenever you're sitting in there
and you're getting to know some of
these people who are kind of your.
Uh, thought leaders, you know, and
they're, they're teaching you stuff.
And whenever you get them outside
of that context and you get 'em
more on a personal level, you're
able to learn a few more things.
He, you know, you, you always
have doubts as you're growing up.
You always have doubts on what
you can do is from a design.
And, and, and, you know, I, I see so
many people in school that are great.
You know, you see so many people
who are professionals that are
doing this, and they're wonderful.
You know, friends, architecture
Chris Arrington: can
be really intimidating.
It can, it can be, yeah.
Are just incredible designers.
You go, that is a God-given gift.
How do, how do they do that?
That's what I was not a great designer.
Well, it's true.
It was more of a practical designer.
Designer.
And there, and that's
Rene Gracia: the thing.
That's, that's something he instilled,
uh, me to want to push harder.
And that was something that
I really thank him for.
The other thing, in this PO profession.
Okay.
Of design, architecture,
construction, interior.
There's so many different facets of it.
You know, a lot of times people
think, well, you know, to do
this, I have to be great at this.
No, there's, as you know,
there's people who are great
designers who are doing this.
There are people who are not great
designers, but are ama amazing planners.
There's, there's, mm-hmm.
There's a place for everybody.
You know, not all of us have the
same mindset and the skillset,
you know, like numbers for me, you
know, I understand them, you know,
at running a business and all that.
But I do know that.
There are people in place in
our company that are there for a
reason to understand those numbers.
And my role is something else.
Okay.
But we all work towards something and
that is to do something for our clients.
Yeah.
And so we're all working towards, so we
all have our skill sets, but we all kind
of work in conjunction with each other.
And it's a very collaborative approach.
You know?
Uh, I'm not, and nobody in the
company is one of those people
that are like, well, it's gotta
be this way if it's not this way.
You know?
'cause you see a lot of designers and that
are like, if, if you don't like it, like
this, well then go hire somebody else.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
And that's, that, that's
the idea that they have.
Mm-hmm.
I'm completely different.
I, you know, you learn from
so many different places.
People, I can learn from
somebody who's laying in stone.
You actually listen to your clients.
What?
No, but I can learn from the clients.
I can learn from.
Who's laying out, laying
the stone outside.
There's so many d different people that
can teach you so many different things,
and it only helps you for, for mm-hmm.
That next project.
You know, the, the way we do work is to
really understand who the clients are.
If you look our, our portfolio of
work, it's not all modern architecture.
It's, you know, we have some that
are, uh, traditional transitional
with modern touches to it.
And that's something that the Phil,
our, the philosophy is really blending
the natural surroundings with what's
going on with their everyday life.
Now, the architectural
vernacular can change.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
And that's what I really find challenging.
If a client comes and says, you know,
I've, I've wanted to have a home.
That's this particular style,
you know, but I see that maybe
you haven't done that before.
I look at that as an
opportunity, as a challenge.
Okay, well, how can we
look at this differently?
You know, how can we look at an
architectural style differently and
transform that into something that may
have some modern touches, different lights
come into it in different ways here.
Chris Arrington: Here's something I saw
of yours, Uhhuh, in our neighborhood,
Uhhuh, we'd done, I think the first few
projects we did for you were all modern.
Mild, modern.
Yes.
Which mean kind of kind of mean
it had, they had flat roofs.
Yeah.
And they, they were more angular.
And then someone said that, uh oh yeah.
Renee's designing that.
And I go.
No, it's got a pitch roof on it.
There's no way they go.
No, he did.
I go, what?
Renee put a slope on the top of a house.
Rene Gracia: Like my mind was blown.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
The flat roofs are much easier.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh gosh.
But, uh, no, but it's, it's true.
I mean, the, the architectural
vernacular can change and, uh, that's
something that's real wonderful, you
know, to be able to, to, to do that.
But that's because it's not, if you don't
like this, then go find somebody else.
Me.
It's like, I, I appreciate
the challenge and I appreciate
working with different people.
Chris Arrington: This, this
question isn't even on my, my
page, but I gotta ask you this.
Um, I, even, even the, the house, the
pitch roof on it, Uhhuh, uh, I think
this is interesting about architects.
I, I can see your, like when you
say these are your children, Uhhuh.
I, I see the gracia, you know,
people say, oh, that's their family.
You can tell their fa that's their kid.
That's their kid.
They, yeah, they're, they're different.
But it, I see the, the
family resemblance there.
Yeah.
I see your fingerprint
on all your designs.
I mean, even on that one, once I
stand back and look at it like, okay,
okay, I see Renee, I see you in there.
Well, but, and there's always a flat
Rene Gracia: roof in there.
No,
Chris Arrington: no.
Weather wasn't on the back.
But anyway, uh, but it wasn't prominent.
But, um, maybe comment on that.
You ha you, you do everything for your
client's custom to what they want.
Mm-hmm.
But there's still, there's still a rhythm.
Your fingerprint on there.
I, I, I see you, you, you have an
affinity for certain materials.
Uh, how do you, I'll tell
you, here's my question.
How do you incorporate that and
still make it real specific for
the client, but still has your.
Fingerprint on it.
Rene Gracia: Yeah.
Chris Arrington: And, and that's
something that when, whenever,
that's a real nuanced thing though.
'cause I, I mean, unless somebody knows
you, if they do know you, they can
look at your projects and go, yeah.
You could see some resemblance.
I, you can see a little bit of Reem.
I see.
Yeah.
Rene Gracia: And whenever Ken and
I are working on, uh, the design of
projects and we're going back and forth
on different things, there's, there's
a, uh, there's a rhythm and there's
a, a, a, a math to kind of things.
Some of it is a little bit, some of
it's intuitive, like you don't know
why, and some of it is, uh, you're,
you're, you're trying, but there's,
there's certain things like, um, as
far as parapet heights, roofs, uh,
eaves, distances that eaves are,
there's a certain rhythm that mm-hmm.
That I like.
That's okay.
That I feel that word, that
there's a balance between it, you
know, as far as, uh, proportions.
Between, uh, solid and voids as
far as glass and, and, and heavier
materials, lighter materials.
There needs to be a certain balance.
It's, you know, you're, um, you're out
there painting, painting, you know,
and it's, and it, it carries on into
other things, you know, we work with.
Um, then you get into the
landscape architecture.
We work with a wide variety of
different landscape, uh, groups and
architects, uh, that we've done, and
some of 'em you'll see out there.
Uh, I remember one project, uh, David
Ralston was, uh, we were working on with
him, and one thing that I really liked
about him was, you know, you have a plan,
but he was out there and he'd be moving
this tree from here and moving it to this
place, moving this bush from over here.
So you could see it was like, as if.
You know, you're painting mm-hmm.
You know, creating art, you
know, right there at the moment.
And that's something that I really like.
And when you look at construction,
it's a little bit slower than that,
but you're still doing that, you know?
Yeah.
You're still doing, oh
yeah, you're sealing.
Okay.
How's the face you coming in?
Uh, all of these different
materials, you know?
And then how, how do you adjust this?
Oh, this is off.
Why is it off?
Because of this particular
rhythm that we have.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
And so it, it's, you can look at
some of the projects and you can
kind of see some of the similarities.
Yeah.
Chris Arrington: Okay.
And to kind of wrap up today, um,
Renee, this has been so much fun.
I, I, I love, I, I think I lo
I just love getting to know the
people that come on to our podcast.
I, I, I think I know you better now and
know where you, where you came from,
what, what advice, and I think this is a
real important part of our, our podcast.
What, what can you leave?
Um.
E either someone who, who's older,
who wants to get into the building
architecture realm, or someone
who's just thinking about it.
Or, or even a youngster that you go,
um, this would be my advice, or, or,
here's what I've enjoyed about it
and here's what I think you could,
you know, experience in, in your, in
your journey through architecture.
Rene Gracia: Yeah.
I mean there's, as I was saying before,
there's so many different facets of this
industry that you can do, whether it's
building materials, whether it's, um,
design, whether it's management, whether
it's financial aspects of that deal
with construction or with architecture.
Those are the things, those,
that's what's really important.
Uh, you know, uh, from, I can
speak to the design aspect of it.
'cause that's my passion mm-hmm.
Is, is the design.
And, uh, you know, I am, I, I do, I
was inspired at an early age to that.
I wanted to do this for
my elementary school.
And it's all about the
environment that you're in.
Okay.
So I went to a school, was there a person?
No, it wasn't a person.
It, the, the entire school was the
space that made me want to do what I do.
And I went to a school in Irving.
It was, uh, Townley Elementary.
I don't know who designed it,
don't know anything about that.
But this school, uh, and I, we were
the first class to be in this school.
Okay.
So this is a brand new building
brand, brand new building.
And the school itself had a. As soon as
you walked through the door, it had a
bridge that you could cross, cross over.
It had a waterfall.
It had birds in the, you know, in
these cages you could hear birds.
It was, it was this amazing environment
as a child to be able to be in.
It sounds like an awesome school.
It was.
It was.
And I've never seen another school
like it, you know, but that school
is something that transformed
everything and it was that school.
And also, uh, one of my friend's
houses, she's an interior designer in
New York now, Uhhuh, uh, her name was,
uh, Joanna and I used to go over to her
house to play when I was a little kid.
I was probably, you know, five years old.
And we would play, uh, Superman,
wonder Woman or something.
And her, her house was all these
different levels and different
slopes and different things.
And I remember the staircase and
being in different levels and
experiencing trees and experiencing.
Tops of trees and canopies of
trees and different things.
That's something that, for me,
was just a huge inspiration.
So, I mean, I think that there's lots
of different aspects of this business
that people can find very interesting.
You know, from a design perspective,
you know, you have to find the beauty
and the passion and everything,
whether it's a, a shirt and the
stitching is a different color than
the material, you know, that's all how
these different things come together.
That's something that's a passion to me.
Uh, you know, and carries on
into materials and furniture
and different things like that.
And so
Chris Arrington: somebody who
would want to get into this,
what would be some practical, um,
things that they could do mm-hmm.
To be better at the craft?
I mean, 'cause you ha this is a
discipline you had to learn a lot of.
I mean, you're saying, you know,
Hey, this was fun when I was a
kid and that, that inspired me.
But then you had to learn how to do this.
What, what?
Yeah, I think What's your advice on Yeah.
Rene Gracia: You have to learn and
understand spatial, spatial relationships.
Okay.
You know, and be able to visually
experience things in the imaginary
world, you know, kind of whenever you
put it on paper, like, what's this
gonna be like, these lines, you know,
whenever I, and, and probably not
Chris Arrington: be afraid to experiment.
Rene Gracia: Right?
Yeah.
And, and that's the thing
is there's different scales.
You can change the perception that
you have within the space by scale.
You know, you could have something
that's very narrow, that comes in
something that's very tall and it's
going to change your perspective
of that particular space versus
something that's very wide and open.
Uh, and, and, and that is the thing
within, uh, design is you want to do that.
You want to have that push and pull,
you know, as you get into different,
and it starts to define different
spaces of public and private spaces,
uh, between different things that you
can do to where now the scale down
this hallway, the scale is gonna be.
Uh, different than everything else.
Chris Arrington: Yeah.
I'm, you know, what I'm hearing you say is
as, as, as someone who might want to get
into this, see if this, see if this jazzes
you as you're in built environments,
even if you're outdoors, be conscious
of what this space makes you feel like.
Yep, exactly.
Because it sounds like that's what you do.
You, you, you've, you've got this, uh,
bank of, of knowledge of this tall,
skinny, this open, this bright, this made
me feel, this made me want to, and, and
you were very conscious of what that did
and that you go back into that memory and
think, oh, my client wants to have this.
I know what that, I
know how I've felt that.
Then you probably get with
your clients and say what?
Maybe paint the picture.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Would this be something cool for you?
And I can see, I can see you
seeing them, their eyes light
up and you go, Ooh, I hit it.
Okay.
No.
Yeah.
I hit it
Rene Gracia: and, and you
said something very important.
It's not only in, in, in the
space, but it's also outdoor space.
You know, look at, look at what
canopies trees do, uh, landscape walls,
hedges, different kinds of things.
They start to create
those moments for you.
And that's, and as if, you know, there
are children out there who, who feel
and, and can basically experience
some of these elements, you know,
then that's something that they may
be a little bit more focused towards.
Design.
Yeah.
And encouraging that.
I mean, there's so many different
things now with the kids.
I mean, whenever I was younger, I had.
You know, Legos and I'd
build stuff with Legos.
Now kids have sims on their
computer and they're able to work,
build little things in the or.
Minecraft is a wonderful, because they're
able to build different environments
and different worlds, you know, and it's
just, it's a, it's a all about using
your imagination at the end of the day.
Chris Arrington: I, I, I think
the technology that we have
right now compared to what I had
in the seventies is not fair.
It's not fair.
It's not fair.
My, our number three son is a
landscape architect and he does
designs that I would spend weeks
putting together card boarding glue.
And he just goes, well,
look, dad, look dad here.
I, I've got this presentation
where I can put on the computer.
You, you can put your headphones on.
I've got music in it.
And then I press play and
you can walk through it.
And I'm like,
I could have never done that.
Now that is a thing.
Yeah.
In architecture.
That is so incredible.
Y The, the presentation of it.
Yeah, the presentation.
You all work with that kind of Yeah.
Sometimes video.
Yeah.
Rene Gracia: And that's really important.
The, the three dimensional and
the renderings and everything.
That's really important.
That stuff's incredible because it helps
but to, to, you have to be able to, to,
to communicate the vision to, to somebody.
Mm-hmm.
To a client.
And you can do that either through
renderings, but most importantly, you
also have to be able to communicate that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Through, uh, through drawings
and through communication and
telling a story and those things.
'cause um, you have to paint a
picture at the end of the day.
This is just, we're all trying
to create art, you know?
Yeah.
And you have, and how you, you
get that from it, you know?
What are the, what do
you take away from it?
Chris Arrington: It's our built
environment, but it really is art.
But it's something that we, it's like.
One of my professors at Tech had
it built, uh, designed a sculpture,
and he loved the sculpture so much.
He wanted to live in it Uhhuh.
So he went out to Lake Ransom Canyon
and built a life-size sculpture that
he, and he may still be building, and
I don't know, he was building it by
himself and it was all outta steel.
He built his own crane and everything.
But, but Renee, it sounds like, uh, you
know what, what, what you've brought to
Dallas is, is art that people get to live
in, that they enjoy and it, and it's, uh,
it, it's where they live every day and
they, they, they're not just living in a
home that they built for resale mm-hmm.
Down the road.
Yeah.
It's a place where like, like you were
saying, your house where your kids
grew up, all the memories of your life,
uh, so much of our life is lived at
home and that's what, what we cherish.
Those are the memories that we cherish.
Rene Gracia: Exactly.
Yeah.
That's, that, that's, at the end
of the day, that's what's important
is when you can look back and.
And your and your kids can look back Yeah.
Or your family and say, oh, well
I remember when I was younger.
Yeah.
And I did that, you know?
Yeah.
So
Chris Arrington: I've thoroughly
enjoyed visiting with Renee Gracia.
Yeah.
Uh, and his, uh, building Dallas, um,
place in that he is, uh, providing places
for people to live that they truly, truly
enjoy, not just, uh, not just Dallas,
but their home and their their own space.
And so we will see you later on
another episode of Building Dallas.
Narrator: Thanks for tuning into
Building Dallas, where we bring
the stories that Shape North Texas.
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Until next time, keep Building.
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