Franklin K. Gray, Architect
How does an architect satisfy all parties, including himself, and consistently create award-winning designs year in and year out?
If the number of award-winning projects means anything, then Franklin Gray of Franklin Gray Associates has developed a formula that works. Originally receiving degrees in Commercial Art and Fine Arts, Gray says he accidentally “backed into architecture” -- the exception rather than the rule, as most architectural graduates enter directly from the school into the profession’s mainstream.
Gray’s contributions to Hawaii’s architecture have consistently received accolades from his peers, the business community, city, county and State officials.
Since 1981, he has been the annual recipient of at least one major award from the Hawaii council, AIA (HCAIA), city, county and State governments except for the few years in which he did not submit an entry or served as a jurist on the HCAIA award selection committee.
As strange as it may sound, Gray says he measures success of a completed project in terms of anonymity. If anyone enters a building and says “it’s a Gray building”, then I have failed, Gray remarks. “It’s a good job only if it satisfies the utilitarian and aesthetic needs of its occupants. There is no need for a personal architectural signature”.