Last week we went to Ingolstadt, Germany, to attend the launch of the Audi Urban Future Initiative. The program, now in its second version, invited a group of six architecture offices from different regions of the world, all with big urban populations, to think about the future of mobility. During this stage, the architects presented their initial research and diagnosis of their respective regions. In October, the architects will present their projects and an overall winner will be announced.

• Urban Think Tank (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
• NODE Architecture & Urbanism (Perl River Delta, China)
• Höweler + Yoon (Bostong / Washington, USA)
• CRIT (Mumbai, India)
• Superpool (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Junya Ishigami + Associates (Tokyo, Japan)

During the launch of the META Project in Chile, we had the chance to interview Bijoy Jain, founder of Studio Mumbai.

Studio Mumbai is a “human infrastructure of skilled craftsmen and architects who design and build the work directly.” Together, the colleagues immerse themselves within an ever-changing environment formed by an “iterative process” where they experiment and explore their ideas through the production of large-scale mock-ups, models, materials studies, sketches and drawings.

Studio Mumbai carefully develops projects through a process that draws from traditional skills, local building techniques, materials and an ingenuity that arises from limited resources. The essence of their work lies in the relationship between land and architecture. Studio Mumbai describes themselves as being “inspired by real life conditions” as they understand complex relationships through the power of observation.

“The endeavor is to show the genuine possibility in creating buildings that emerge through a process of collective dialog, a face-to-face sharing of knowledge through imagination, intimacy, and modesty.”

Projects from Studio Mumbai in ArchDaily:

• Utsav House
• House on Pali Hill
• Copper House II
• Belavali House
• Leti 360
• Tara House
• Palmyra House

Pratt 2012 Commencement. Photo by René Perez.

Earlier this week, Pratt Institute extended an invitation to the ArchDaily team to attend their 123^rd commencement, celebrating the achievements of  1300 bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates at Radio City Music Hall.   The event also marked a special day of recognition for four honorary degree recipients:  artist/curator/critic Ai Weiwei, architect, engineer and artist Santiago Calatrava, patron on the arts and education Kathryn Chenault, and the Metropoitan Museum of Art’s longest-serving director Philippe de Montebello.

We were privileged to have an opportunity to congratulate Mr. Calatrava on his doctor of architecture degree, and pose ArchDaily’s traditional interview questions.   Mr. Calatrava’s contributions to the professions of architecture and engineering can be found scattered across the world, and bring a sense of dynamism that result from the merge between art and technology, expression and functionality.

Calatrava’s charm and good humor made for a friendly conversation that we hope you enjoy.

read more »

São Paulo native Márcio Kogan has become an internationally recognized Brazilian architect known for his minimal designs that are often contrasted by intricate materiality. His work has been highly praised by our readers, and he is in the top 5 of individual architects searches at our site. His houses and institutional projects respect the modern principles of Brazilian architecture, with a special care on the design of interior spaces and their details, resulting in a mix of tradition and contemporary design. My favorite? Paraty House (and its section!)

Kogan founded StudioMK27 in the early 1980s, shortly after his graduation from the Architecture and Urbanism Faculty of the Machenzie Presbyterian University (1977). Much of StudioMK27’s work is influenced by Kogan’s admiration for Brazilian modernism that started in the 1930s, led by starchitects like Lucio Costa, Lina Bo Bardi, Oscar Niemeyer, Rino Levi and Affonso Reidy.

Today, Kogan is involved with the teaching corps of the City School in São Paulo, Brazil. His works have earned several international awards, including the recent Wallpaper Design Awards, Record House, D&AD “Yellow Pencil” LEAF Awards, Dedalo Minosse, Barbara Cappochin International Biennial of Padova and was twice a finalist for the World Architecture Festival (WAF). Marcio has also been appointed as an Honorary Fellow of the AIA in 2011.

Works from Marcio Kogan at ArchDaily:

• Punta House
• Chimney House
• Corten House
• Osler House
• Volume B Store
• Decameron
• Paraty House
• Studio SC
• House 6
• Cobogó House
• BR House
• Bahia House
• Primetime Nursery School
• Mirindaba School
• House 53
• Brick House

Recently awarded the prestigious Maybeck Award by the AIA California Council (AIACC), Steven Ehrlich (FAIA, RIBA) has earned international recognition for his distinctive architecture and philosophy that has greatly influenced the architectural community. As the Design Principle of Ehrlich Architects, the Los Angeles-based architect is dedicated to the philosophy of Multicultural Modernism – a unique approach to architecture and planning that is centered on architectural anthropology; an idea that strives to identify and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual culture through design.

We had the chance to have Steven in our office, and he did a very interesting presentation to the ArchDaily editorial team where we learned more about his formation and early years, and how that experience has been translated in his buildings. Ehrlich’s philosophy was kindled in the seventies when he practiced as an architect for the Peace Corps in Morocco and served as a professor of architecture in Nigeria. For six years, Ehrlich lived, taught, traveled and studied indigenous vernacular architecture in North and West Africa, allowing him gain a greater understanding between the connections of architecture, culture, people and place.

Ehrlich is a graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He lectures extensively throughout the United States and abroad, and has served as a guest critic at USC, Harvard, Yale and UCLA. As an advocate for the arts, Ehrlich has collaborated with several notable artists, such as Ed Moses, Miriam Wosk, Guy Dill and John Okulick.

In addition to the Maybeck Award, Ehrlich Architects has won eight National AIA Design Awards and was named 2003 Firm of the Year by the AIACC, under Ehrlich’s leadership. His work can be found at a recent monograph published by Monacelli Press: Steven Ehrlich Houses.

Projects from Steven Ehrlich at ArchDaily:

• Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication
• International Design Competition for the Federal National Council’s New Parliament Building Complex (1st Place)
• Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration (ISTB4) / Ehrlich Architects (In construction)
• 700 Palms Residence
• Zeidler Residence
• 331 Foothill Road Office Building
• 9300 Culver Boulevard (Parcel B) Redevelopment Project

We had the incredible opportunity to interview Winy Maas, the M in MVRDV, one the most influential contemporary practices, which has been able to push the boundaries of our field in different scales, from buildings to master plan, from construction to theory. In this interview Winy shares interesting thoughts on the role of the architect and how he runs this design/research practice.

Upon graduating in 1984 from the RHSLT Boskoop in landscape architecture, Winy Maas (Schijndel, 1959) resumed his education at Delft University of Technology where he completed his degrees in architecture and urbanism, graduating in 1990 with honors. Shortly after and together with Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries, Maas founded MVRDV in 1991.

Since then, the Rotterdam-based practice has earned a leading role in international architecture. MVRDV’s first commissions, both located in the Netherlands, included the television center Villa VPRO and the housing estate for elderly WoZoCo. Maas lectures and teaches throughout the world and actively takes part in international juries. Currently, Maas is a visiting professor of architectural design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is professor in architecture and urban design at the faculty of architecture, Delft University of Technology. Prior to this, he served as professor at Berlage Institute, Ohio State and Yale University. In 2008, Maas founded The Why Factory (t?f), a thinktank on future cities at Delft University of Technology where he remains director. You can see an example on the Urban Farming In Numbers video.

Maas is also a member of the research board of Berlage Institute Rotterdam, president of the spatial quality board of Rotterdam, supervisor of the Bjorvika urban development in Oslo and advisor to the city of Almere. To add to his ever-growing list of achievements, Maas has been made honorary member of the AIA, received the international fellowship of the RIBA and the French Legion d’Honneur. In addition to being an architect, he designs stage sets, objects and was curator of Indesem 2007.

MVRDV projects previously featured at ArchDaily:

• Balancing Barn
• The Water Cube (Yeosu Expo 2012)
• WoZoCo
• Le Monolithe
• Celosia Building
• Market Hall
• Almere 2030
• Westerdok Apartments
• Didden Village
• Sky Village
• D.I.Y. Urbanism
• Glass Farm
• The Cloud
• Master Plan for Bastide Niel
• Flowerbed Hotel
• ROCKmagneten
• Alphabet Building
• Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou
• Guosen Securities Tower

During the 2011 AIA Arkansas Convention I had the chance to meet one of the most influential architects in the state: Marlon Blackwell.

A Distinguished Professor and Department Head in the School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas, Marlon Blackwell, FAIA runs the internationally recognized practice Marlon Blackwell Architect in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Blackwell’s portfolio consists of pristine architecture inspired by the vernaculars, seeking to transgress conventional boundaries of architecture. This design strategy has attracted national and international recognition, numerous AIA design awards and significant publications in prestigious books, architectural journals and magazines.

I was also very impressed by how he inspires young architects, many of whom once worked at his studio, to succeed with their own independent practices.

Published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2005, the monograph of his work entitled, “An Architecture of the Ozarks: The Works of Marlon Blackwell” is a testament to the significant contributions Blackwell has provided the profession. Blackwell was also selected by The International Design Magazine, in 2006, as one of the ID Forty: Undersung Heroes and as an “Emerging Voice” in 1998 by the Architectural League of New York.

He has co-taught design studios with Peter Eisenman (1997 & 1998), Christopher Risher (2000) and Julie Snow (2003) at the University of Arkansas. Most recently, Blackwell served as Elliel Saarinen Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan. His resume includes a growing list of visiting professorships, including the Ivan Smith Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida (Spring 2009), the Paul Rudolph Visiting Professor at Auburn University (Spring 2008), the Cameron Visiting Professor at Middlebury College (Fall 2007), the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis (Spring 2003), visiting professor at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Spring, 2001 and 2002) and Syracuse University (1991-92).

In 1994, he co-founded the University of Arkansas Mexico Summer Urban Studio, and has coordinated and taught in the program at the Casa Luis Barragan in Mexico City since 1996.

He received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University in 1980 and a M. Arch II degree from Syracuse University in Florence in 1991.

Marlon Blackwell Architect projects at ArchDaily:

• St Nicholas Church
• Towerhouse
• The Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion (construction video)
• L-Stack House
• Gentry Public Library
• Fulbright Building Addition
• Srygley Office Building
• Porchdog House
• Arkansas House
• Blessings Golf House and Guard House

Video edited by JP Barrera F.

Recently we had the chance to visit Allied Works office in NY to interview the firm’s founder Brad Cloepfil. It was a great interview, and I really liked the atmosphere of the office: A young team, many abstract study models, beautiful drawings on the boards, and a subtle music playing in the background, it was like seeing the inside of a creative machine at work.

Established in 1994 by Brad Cloepfil, Allied Works Architecture is an awarding-winning practice known for their expressive design and pristine detailing. Portland, Oregon hosts the firm’s headquarters and maintains a close, interdependent relationship with the New York City office. Together the 50-person practice has completed a number of influential public, institutional, commercial, and residential projects worldwide.

Allied Works’ strong reputation started with the Maryhill Overlook in the Columbia River Gorge, followed by the Wieden + Kennedy Agency Headquarters. Currently Allied Works is involved in a variety of commissions, including the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, the National Music Centre of Canada, and the Vancouver Community Connector in Washington.

Architectural historian and critic, Sandy Isenstadt, describes Cloepfil’s work as “aiming to create oases of legibility, spaces that can look out upon the simultaneous contrasts of the modern world to appreciate them from a place no less complex, but one that unfolds over time, with repeated visits, rather than at the speed of a camera shutter, thereby rewarding continued occupation rather than just dazzling the eye.”

Allied Works projects at ArchDaily:

• Clyfford Still Museum
• Maryhill Overlook
• Wieden + Kennedy Headquarters
• Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
• Dutchess County Residence – Guest House
• University of Michigan Museum of Art
• National Music Centre (Competition, 1st prize)
• New Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (Competition entry)
• Musée National des Beaux Arts du Québec (Competition entry)

Through our interview program, I’ve had the chance to meet with some of the world’s most renowned architects, while creating a moment to share their views about the profession with our readers.

During the 2011 AIA National Convention, I had the chance to meet Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s most recognized architects, whose work I admire. His recent works use subtle elements with a powerful structural expression, and interesting spatial results for different programs of various scales.

Established in 1990, Kengo Kuma & Associates have become known for their expressive use of materiality and deep connection with nature. The mid-sized firm is involved in a wide spectrum of work, ranging from private residences, to Buddhist temples and art museums. Kengo Kuma & Associates consist of two offices located in Tokyo and Paris.

Principle Architect Kengo Kuma is a professor at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. His goal is to recover traditional Japanese design and reinterpret it for the 21st century. Inspiration of light and nature guides the design process and influences his unique explorations with glass, wood, concrete and stone. Kuma strives to create architecture that coexists with the natural environment and works in harmony with the human body.

Kengo Kuma has won a multitude of competitions and received many awards, including the prestigious Architecture Institute of Japan Award (1997) and most recently the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (2002) and the AIA Honorary Fellowship (2011). Major works include the Kirosan Observatory, Water / Glass, Toyoma Center for Performing Arts, Stone Museum and Bato-machi Hiroshige Museum. Recent works include the Mesh / Earth terrace house, the Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum and the Suntory Museum of Art.

Projects by Kengo Kuma & Associates at ArchDaily:

• Casalgrande Old House
• GC Prostho Museum Research Center
• Lucien Pellat-Finet Shinsaibashi
• Momofuku Ando Center
• And more to come in the next days!

A few months ago I had the chance to visit and interview Architecture Research Office (ARO), just after they were announced as the recipients of the prestigious 2011 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture.

I was eager to meet this practice and share their projects at ArchDaily, especially because of the diversity of their work. Not only do they work at different scales (from master plans and institutional buildings, to a small recruiting station in Times Square), but they also strongly focus on research, with projects such as Rising Currents or Five Principles for Greenwich South -projects that invited other firms in a collaborative effort to share ideas for a strategic development of Manhattan- moving between a design practice and a research lab.

The firm was founded in 1993 and has become very influential in the NY area. It is led by Stephen Cassell, Adam Yarinsky and Kim Yao. I had the chance to sit down with the three of them for this interview, where they tell us about recent and ongoing projects. They share their views on innovation, collaboration and how to run a practice which is both what we know as the traditional practice, and a laboratory.

ARO projects at ArchDaily:

• Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, Brown University
• Hudson River Education Center And Pavilion
• R House
• Princeton Architecture School
• MV House

And more to come in the next days!

Credits: JC Labarca (camera), JP Barrera (editing).

The last part of our Brazilian day, commemorating the 104th birthday of the renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and the launch of ArchDaily Brasil: An exclusive interview with Mr Niemeyer himself.

- How did you start your office?

My office in Copacabana -the only one that I have- was opened and organized to meet, since the early 50s, the ever growing demands.The last 13 years I have been the only architect here “at work”; the initial stage of the projects is done by me, up to the basic project, and then I trust its development by other architecture offices, specially the ones directed by my colleague and friends Jair Valera and my dear granddaughter, Ana Elisa.

- For you, what is Architecture?

In my opinion, architecture is invention. And under this prism is how I do my projects, always searching for beautiful, expressive, different and surprising solutions.

read more »

During the 2009 AIA Convention in San Francisco, I had the chance to see a very interesting group of architects, Emerging Voices. That group, in my opinion, represented the new generation of US architects who are advancing the profession with new ideas and innovative projects. Several of those architects have already been interviewed and featured on ArchDaily, but it took me a while to finally meet one of them: Philip G. Freelon. We met during the 2011 AIA Convention in New Orleans, where I had the opportunity to interview him. I really liked this interview, where Philip shares valuable insights on running a firm and his views on the role of the architect.

Update: President Obama announced his appointment of Philip G. Freelon, FAIA to the US Commission of Fine Arts.

Founded in 1990 by Philip G. Freelon, FAIA, The Freelon Group has established a strong reputation for the innovative integration of technology and design excellence. The firm’s diverse portfolio has received nearly forty AIA design awards at the national, regional, state and local levels. Freelon is comprised of a forty-five person professional staff in Durham, North Carolina.

Along with Vice President Timothy F. Winstead, Philip has become a nationally recognized expert in museum, higher education, and science/technology planning and design. Their work “focuses on research and education, health and well-being, the advancement of understanding between disparate cultures, and the creative expression of the arts.

Freelon has completed major intuitional projects all over the United States. They are currently designing three behavioral healthcare facilities for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Durham County Health and Human Services Complex.

The Freelon Group projects at ArchDaily:

• International Civil Rights Center and Museum Historic Preservation and Renovation
• Harvey B Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
• Anacostia Library
• Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) Facility
• North Carolina A&T State University Proctor School of Education

We recently had the opportunity to interview gmp architekten founding partner, Meinhard von Gerkan.  Born in 1935 in Riga/Latvia, Gerkan completed his architectural studies in 1964 at the Carolo Wilhelmina Technical University in Braunschweig.  In 1965 he co-founded with Volkwin Marg, von Gerkan, Marg and partners.  They have completed together over 260 buildings, among them the Berlin-Tegel Airport (competition, 1st place 1965, built in 1970-75), the Berlin Central Station, Villa Guna, Christ Pavilion, and the Lingang New City, been recognized nationally and internationally for their designs and competition proposals.

Meinhard von Gerkan has also dedicated time to architectural education serving as a professor at multiple institutions including Hamburg’s Free Academy of Arts and Japan’s Nihon University in Tokyo.  His interest in the training of architects resulted in the creation of a foundation to promote architectural training in 2007: the Academy for Architectural Culture. He has regarded this as one of his most important projects.

“The architect has a particular social responsibility since architecture is an art with social obligation and use.”

Our profession has a big component of passion, and Meinhard was full of it. It was inspiring to interview him, and I hope you enjoy this video.

A list of gmp architekten projects featured on ArchDaily include:

• Tianjin West Railway Station
• Tower Block Complex
• Universiade Sports Center and Bao’an Stadium
• Shanghai Oriental Sports Center
• National Museum of China
• Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
• Moses Mabhida Stadium
• Greenpoint Stadium

A few months ago I had the chance to meet Steven Holl, whose work I admire. I think that he has been able to innovate and challenge programs as we used to know them, and experiment with materials and structures, while sticking to what really matters in architecture: space, context and light.

When I attended his “Disobedience” lecture in Columbia (during Kenneth Frampton’s 80th birthday) I  understood how this disobedience is tied to his constant investigations, and then reflected on his buildings (like the competition for the Nelson Atkins museum as he tells on the video). I also really liked the fact that he’s very down to earth, and how he started his career and moved to the east coast. If you ever had the chance to attend one of his lectures, don’t miss it!

Steven Holl along with partner Chris McVoy lead Steven Holl Architects, one of the more innovative architecture and urban design offices in the world. A graduate of the University of Washington, Holl also studied in Rome and London before heading to New York to establish an architecture practice.

Holl has also contributed to the profession as an educator; the architect and watercolorist has taught at Columbia University since 1981, where he is a tenured faculty member. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the recipient of the New York American Institute of Architects Medal of Honor and the prestigious Alvar Aalto Medal.

Steven Holl Architects’ has been recognized internationally by some of architecture’s most prestigious awards. Recent recognition for SHA work includes 2010 P/A Award for LM Harbor Gateway and the 2009 CTBUH Best Tall Building Overall for Linked Hybrid. Their numerous AIA awards include the AIA 2008 Institute Honor Award as well as a Leaf New Built Award 2007 for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; the AIA 2007 Institute Honor Award, AIA New York Chapter 2007 Merit Architecture Award, and a RIBA International Award for the School of Art & Art History at the University of Iowa. And the New Residence at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C was awarded an AIA New York Chapter 2007 Honor Architecture Award and the RIBA International Award.

Steven Holl is also present in the social web via their Facebook page and @stevenhollarch on Twitter.

SHA’s completed works featured on ArchDaily:

• Knut Hamsun Center in Hamarøy, Norway
• Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Herning, Denmark
• Linked Hybrid mixed-use complex in Beijing, China
• Nanjing Sifang Art Museum
• Museum of Ocean and Surf
• Chapel of St. Ignatius
• College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, UMINN
• T Space
• Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City
• Simmons Hall at MIT
• Horizontal Skyscraper

In Progress:

• New Doctorate’s Building, National University Bogota
• Glasgow School of Art
• Sliced Porosity in China
• Queens Library at Hunters Point
• Hangzhou Normal University Performing Arts Center
• Daeyang Gallery and House

Video credits: J.P. Barrera Faus (Editing), J.C. Labarca (Camera).

A preview of the interview we did with Steven Holl. In this part he describes the recently opened Museum of Ocean and Surf in Biarritz, France.

The design by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Solange Fabiao is the winning scheme from an international competition that included the offices of Enric Miralles/Benedetta Tagliabue, Brochet Lajus Pueyo, Bernard Tschumi and Jean-Michel Willmotte.

Stay tuned for the full interview!

Photos by FG+SG Fernando Guerra and Sergio Guerra.

Yesterday we showed you a preview, and here it is the full interview with one of the most influential contemporary architects.

Architect, educator, and theorist, internationally recognized Peter Eisenman was a part of an important generation of architects and popularized amongst the general public when he was exhibited at the MoMA in 1969 as one of the New York Five. Eisenman, along with Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier (Eisenman’s second cousin) made up the ‘group of architects whose work, represented a return to the formalism of early modern rationalist architecture’.

Eisenman earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University, a Master of Science in Architecture degree from Columbia University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Cambridge University (U.K). He founded an international think tank for architecture, the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS), serving as director until 1982 and simultaneously established his own architecture firm.

As an educator, Eisenman has taught at some of the most prestigious architecture programs including the Yale School of Architecture, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, and Ohio State universities.

Peter Eisenman’s work ranges from large-scale housing and urban design to educational institutions and private houses.  Often labeled as a deconstructivist Eisenman is also known for his intricate drawings.  He has been recognized for his design abilities receiving the Medal of Honor from the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2001, the Smithsonian Institution’s 2001 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture, and he was also awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale.

In 2006 Eisenman’s design for the University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals earned him the label as one of the top five innovators of 2006 according to Popular Science.

Eisenman’s most recent book Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000 revisits some of the most important buildings of the past century with a critical view, a must read for every architect.

Projects by Eisenman previously featured at ArchDaily:

• The City of Culture
• House VI

read more »

Peter Eisenman is one of the most influential figures in contemporary architecture. Theorist, academic and practitioner, Peter Eisenman was part of a very important generation of architects and one of the New York Five.

In his recent book Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000 Eisenman revisits some of the most important buildings of the past century with a critical view, a book that is in my opinion a must read for every architect.

During the interview Peter talks about the practice/project of architecture, his views on running an architecture practice, and the current state of American architecture, among other relevant topics. On this preview you can see his views on today’s American Architecture.

Full interview tomorrow!

A while ago I had the chance to meet one of the architects whose work I highly admire: Sou Fujimoto.

This Japanese architect based in Tokyo, Japan, established his firm Sou Fujimoto Architects back in 2000. He graduated from the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo in 1994, and has been a lecturer at Kyoto University since 2007. With a solid history in residential and cultural projects this firm has consistently shown a unique and innovative play of spatial qualities within its building designs, pushing the limits of housing and space conventions.

He defines his architecture under the concept of Primitive Future (as seen on his book), better described by himself as “a sort of primitive situation that relates to the human cave habitation but at the same time creating something new for the future”. This explains very well his works, specially in his recently completed library and museum for the Mushashino Art University. On our article you can watch a video of Sou explaining the challenges of designing a library on the information age.

You can check other works by Sou Fujimoto recently featured on ArchDaily:

• House N
• Group Home in Noboribetsu
• T House
• House of ORDOS 100
• Children’s Center for Psychiatric Rehab
• Final Wooden House
• Dalarna Library (in progress, with ADEPT Architects)

I first learned about Preston Scott Cohen’s work when I read about the Goodman House, a simple and elegant operation of a concrete shell housing an ancient Dutch barn frame. But after further investigation, I was surprised to see a constant spatial and formal research of his work, that we have witnessed in the latest three public buildings from his office and featured on ArchDaily.

On one side we have the Nanjing Performing Arts Center, a curved roof related to the surroundings with a tower that anchors the project on the extended landscape. Also in China, the Taiyuan Museum (under construction) continues the geometric explorations with a tessellated surface that wraps a series of different spaces which alternate with courtyards that maintain a relation with the exterior.

When we visited Preston in Boston for this interview we had the chance to see a preview of his latest work, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (also shown during construction at AD),  recently completed and now in final preparations to receive the art pieces and finally be open to the public.  The exterior geometry of the building has a dynamic look, due to the changing shadows, while the interior features a careful use of natural light in the exhibitions spaces thanks to a lightfall that crosses the building.

Preston is also the Chair of the Department of Architecture of Harvard GSD, a role that allowed us to talk about the challenges of architectural education.

Our profession is very particular. We react very fast to current issues with our ideas, yet our buildings can take quite some time to be erected. For example, the project of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building by OMA in China was the physical image of the new Chinese economy back in 2006. Five years later this new economy has taken the world by storm yet the building is still under construction.

Also, the exchange of knowledge in the age of information has made our profession move at an unprecedented speed, and thanks to the Internet the new ideas are not coming from the usual centers (New York, Milan, London) but rather from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

In this new panorama, architectural education has to move faster, and smarter. It’s not about teaching how to use the latest tools, bur rather how to be part of a new world.

When we visited Preston Scott Cohen, Chair of the Architecture Department at Harvard GSD, we asked him about the challenges that architectural education is facing today, such as how our field is expanding to work on areas that were totally out of our scope until a few years ago.

With more than 120 architecture schools in the US, there are several perspectives about this. It would be great if you could tell us your opinion about this important matter.