Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 29

Albuquerque Journal Week of February 12, 1990 Max Flatow, Jason Moore: A Century of Architecture And 150 Years of Living By Janelle Conaway JOURNAL BUSINESS WRITER ings Building on Gold' Avenue SW. A 12-story aluminum and glass structure, it was unique in its day for both its size and its energy efficiency. Over the years, the firm's Albuquerque projects have included Medical Arts Square, the First National Bank building on East Central, the American Furniture store, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Albuquerque Sports Stadium, the terminals for Sandia Peak Tramway, the Marriott Hotel and St. Joseph Hospital Rehabilitation Center.

Another key project was the College of Education at UNM, which departed from the "totally pueblo" style on campus. The Flatow Moore firm has also done numerous large planning and design projects across the country, including Air Force bases, hospitals, shopping centers and hotels. In the mid-1960s, the firm was instrumental in the renewal of Downtown Albuquerque, much of which had become a slum area. Closing off Fourth Street was a key part of the plan. Two of the firm's most visible Downtown projects, the Albuquerque Convention Center and Civic Plaza, have had their critics.

During a two-week comment period last year, many people said Civic Plaza needed to be "more people-friendly," with more shade, landscaping and seating areas, said Signe Rich, head of the city's Redevelopment Division. A master plan has been completed for redesigning the plaza and work on the south end is scheduled to begin soon. The Flatow Moore firm has been involved in the redesign, Rich said. In an interview, however, Flatow defended Civic Plaza, saying the city needs and uses the large, central open space. Such plazas are found in cities from Mexico City to Moscow, he said.

"Those people who are criticizing this park, MORE: See FLATOW on PAGE 3 IF YOU'VE GONE to a Dukes game, strolled across the University of New Mexico campus, or visited the Albuquerque Convention Center, then you've seen some of their work. Architects Max Flatow and Jason Moore started working here in the days when Albuquerque had fewer than 40,000 people. They haven't stopped to count the buildings they've designed. "You can't drive too far without coming across one of them," Moore said. "We've been here a long time." Last month, several hundred people packed the Uptown offices of Flatow Moore Bryan Shaffer McCabe for a reception honoring the firm's two earliest partners.

The event, according to the invitation, celebrated "100 years (50 years each) of the professional practice of architecture" both were licensed in Texas in 1940 "and ISO years of living (75 each)." Moore has just turned 75; Flatow's birthday is later this year. Both grew up in Texas; Moore in Denton and Flatow in a Masonic orphanage in Fort Worth. In 1935, the two were roommates at the University of Texas in Austin. Flatow was best man at Moore's wedding; Moore sang at Flatow's. They first worked together 50 years ago in Denton, before World War II took them in separate directions.

Flatow, who spent the war helping design and supervise the construction of research facilities at Los Alamos, opened an office in Albuquerque in 1947. Moore, who had served in the Navy, was teaching architecture at Texas University by then, but he joined Flatow the following year as a partner. The first major project they undertook was the Simms Building now the Sandia Sav i V3 i'l I' RICHARD PIPES OUTLOOK Jason Moore, left, and Max Flatow with one of their many projects in Albuquerque, the Dennis Chavez Federal Building and U.S. Court House on Gold SW. "It will be there just like that, I think, two or three hundred years from now," Flatow says of the building completed in 1965.

The Education Gap What is causing America's competitive decline and its seemingly unsolvable trade deficit with Japan? The question has been studied to death by the experts, but one little-known statistic suggests that study itself or the lack of it has created an "education gap" between the two nations. Pages 14-15 Your Taxes 4 Air Fares 5 Business Briefs 6 Small Business 8 Computer Scene 10 Incorporations 16 Bankruptcies 17 Meetings, Seminars 18 William Donoghue 20 Money Rates 22 Stock Choices 24 Investor's Guide 26 The Week Ahead 27 When Executives Need Some Help Much progress has been made in helping blue- and white-collar workers address substance abuse, but executives have not benefited from the revolution in how society confronts such illnesses. Page 2.