Retrospect is a yearly exhibit, hosted by the American Institute of Architects Dallas at NorthPark Center, that gives local architecture firms an opportunity to showcase their work. The theme for this year’s competition is “Cultivate.”

Team members from Halff’s Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, MEP Engineering, and Structural Engineering practices went to work, creating a two-sided display made of … crayons. Nearly 125,000 of them!

The idea was to fill 1-by-1-foot wooden boxes using a mosaic approach, so that when each side was assembled, the arrangement would produce a larger piece of art. In this case, we chose two very meaningful images that show how Halff cultivates every day.

The display’s front image is an example of how Halff cultivates the built environment. Halff won a multi-discipline Cedars West low-impact development design competition three years ago. Meanwhile, the back image of the display features Structural Engineer Jim Miller volunteering at a local STEM school, helping to cultivate the minds of our next generation.

Depending on the level of detail, one box took between one and two hours to fill. Halff intends to donate all of the crayons to local elementary schools when the exhibit closes.