Shop Talk: Philip Johnson, Raphael Viñoly, Fire Safety

Famous names in Texas: The University of St. Thomas, in Houston, held a dedication ceremony Tuesday for a plaza designed by the architect Philip Johnson, who died in 2005. Johnson’s relationship with the university began in the 1950s, when the philanthropist and art collector Dominique de Menil brought him to Houston and encouraged leaders of the new university to hire him to plan its campus. Over the years he designed several buildings for the institution. The plaza dedicated on Tuesday features a 30-foot-tall slab of black granite that supports an angled white cross.

The Kayden Center for Science and Computation (Raphael Viñoly Architects photo)

Viñoly at Bard: Bard College has dedicated its sweeping new Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation, designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects. The glass-walled, 49,000-square-foot building houses classrooms and biology and computer-science labs.

Fire safety in New York: It took all of four minutes for flames to engulf a mock dormitory room that was constructed outside of Clarkson University’s student center to show students how little time they have to get out of a residence hall in the event of a fire. A local cable-news station ran a story in advance of the demonstration.