AD Interviews: Ma Yansong / MAD
While we were in Beijing, we had the opportunity to visit an architect who we have been following for quite some time: Ma Yansong, founder of MAD.
Ma Yansong graduated from the Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture, and went to Yale thanks to the AIA Scholarship for Advanced Architecture Research, where he received his masters degree in Architecture in 2001. Afterwards, Ma Yansong worked at Zaha Hadid’s office in London, and started MAD in 2004.
His strong research background is mixed with a deeper understanding and interpretation of traditional Chinese architecture, inspired by urban typologies such as the hutong and the siheyua. This can be seen in projects such as the Hutong Bubble, the Wooden Sculpture Museum (under construction) and the recently opened Ordos Art & City Museum. MAD’s vision for Beijing 2050 is a bold proposal that opens up debate, challenging what the future of the CBD (Central Business District, an area populated by tall generic buildings) could be.
Another interesting project is his Absolute Towers in Canada (2006-2012). Not only did the project make Ma Yansong the first Chinese architect to build abroad, it also put his practice on the map.
Video available at Youku for our Chinese readers.
Projects by MADat ArchDaily:
AD Interviews: Richard Hassell / WOHA
During the 2012 World Architecture Festival held in Singapore, we had the opportunity to interview Richard Hassell, one of the founders of the highly acclaimed practice WOHA.
We were excited about this interview, as I have been very interested on WOHA’s work after featuring them extensively at ArchDaily, given their approach to the important issues of density and sustainability in South Asia, mixing particular programmatic needs with the local identity.
The Singaporean firm was started in 1994 by Wong Mun Summ (Architect from the National University of Singapore) and Richard Hassell (Architect from the University of Western Australia), and has been involved in projects that range from tall residential towers, to hotels, commercial buildings, transport infrastructure, and also urban research projects such as their vision for Singapore 2050.
In this interview Richard digs deeper into how WOHA operates and his views about the profession.
WOHA’s work has been recognized with important awards, including the RIBA Lubetkin Prize (2011), several RIBA International Awards (2010 and 2011), the World Architecture Festival Awards (2009 and 2010) and the prestigious Aga Kahn Award for Architecture (2007).
As of today, several projects from WOHA are under construction: Oasia Downtown, PARKROYAL and Skyville @ Dawson. See the completed projects by WOHA at ArchDaily:
AD Interviews: WE Architecture
WE Architecture is a young firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Started by partners Marc Jay and Julie Schmidt-Nielsen in 2009, the practice is focused on public competitions and consultancy, along with teaching at the Royal Danish Academy. The partners studied in Denmark, but shaped their professional career working abroad in New York and Barcelona.
The firm maintains a young spirit, working with architect from around the world, never more than 12 people. WE Architecture acknowledges the role of the architect in a collaborative and diverse society, incorporating not only architecture on their practice, but also planning, logistics, engineering, and economy. With this multi disciplinary approach, the firm provides services that go from construction management on maintenance operations to advising families who have recently bought a house.
Their work has been included in the “New Wave of Danish Architecture” book, the recent A+U “Super Danish” edition and on the “Show me your model” exhibit at the Danish Architecture Center.
Interview by Soledad Undurraga.
Projects by WE Architecture at ArchDaily:
AD Interviews: Andrew Grant
During the World Architecture Festival, held this October in Singapore, we had the opportunity to interview one of the UK’s most succesful landscape architects: Andrew Grant. On the occasion, the project, Gardens by the Bay, in collaboration with Wilkinson Eyre Architects, was awarded the World Building of the Year Award.
Andrew Grant, who was recently named Royal Designer for Industry, formed Grant Associates in 1997. The practice has been focused on the blurry boundary between architecture and nature, using landscape design as a tool for sustainable innovation on different scales, from sub-regional planning to the smallest detail of a new landscape.
A perfect example of this is the Cooled Conservatories at the Gardens by the Bay project, where architecture and nature become one to produce a naturally breathing machine.
More about Gardens by the Bay in the following video:
Meet the Artist Behind Those Amazing, Hand-Knitted Playgrounds
In a world of “dumbed-down,” down-right boring playgrounds, the colorful, architectural masterpieces of Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam stand apart. The Japanese artist knits her amazing projects by hand – her most famous project, for example, inside the “Woods of Net” Pavilion at the Hakone Open Air Museum in Japan, took her about a year to complete.
We took a moment to speak with Ms. Horiuchi MacAdam about the Pavilion and her other works, how they bridge the worlds of art and architecture, and how they irresistibly invite the world to play. You can read our interview, and see more images of her fascinating work, after the break…
AD Interviews: San Rocco at the 13th Venice Biennale
During the 13th Venice Biennale we had the chance to interview the team behind San Rocco: Matteo Ghidoni, Giovanni Piovene and Pier Paolo Tamburelli.
San Rocco is a very particular architecture magazine, described by its creators as something that “does not solve problems. It is not a useful magazine […] is neither serious nor friendly”, a curated selection of writings around particular topics related to the current state of architectural thinking and criticism. San Rocco has a five year plan, a limited time frame where 20 editions will be published with topics that range from “Scary Architects” and “Collaborations”, to “What’s wrong with the primitive hut” or “Houses for billionaires”.
During the 13th Venice Biennale, San Rocco was present in two exhibits at the Arsenale, including the launch of their project “Book of Copies” at the “Museum of Copying” exhibit curated by FAT. ”Books of Copies” is an online database comprised of images that can be copied in order to produce architecture. As such, “Books of Copies” are receptacles of a collective form of knowledge that we can provisionally call “architecture”. During the Biennale, visitors can photocopy and remix their own magazines.
San Rocco can be found online, or as part of the itinerant Archizines exhibit. You can connect with San Rocco on Facebook for more updates.
Venice Biennale 2012: Wunderkammer / Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects
At the gardens of the Arsenale designed by Piet Oudolf, a small pavilion, the Casa Scaffali, encloses a fantastic world of smells, textures and artifacts, a Wunderkammer (wonder-room) curated by NY-based Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.
A special group of architects and artists from around the world were invited to share the artifacts that inspire them, shipped in boxes to the Biennale.
We had the chance to interview Tod Williams and Billie Tsien during the opening of Wunderkammer, and we also got a chance to see them both and their team setting up the installation during the previous days, a special atmosphere as they were opening these boxes now turned into chests full of surprises.
The group includes Anthony Ames, Marwan Al Sayed, Matthew Baird, Shigeru Ban, Marlon Blackwell, Will Bruder, Wendell Burnette, Johan Celsing, Taryn Christoff and Martin Finio, Annie Chu and Rick Gooding, W.G. Clark, Brad Cloepfil, Chen Chen and Kai Williams, Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro, Peter Eisenman, Steven Holl, Stephen Iino, Toyo Ito, Bijoy Jain, Claudy Jongstra, Diébédo Francis Kéré, Jennifer Luce, Thom Mayne, Richard Meier, Murray Moss, Glenn Murcutt and Wendy Lewin, Enrique Norten, Sheila O’Donnell and John Tuomey, Juhani Pallasmaa, Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam, Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe, Karen Stein, Elias Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Ursula Von Rydingsvard, and Peter Zumthor.
Text from the architects after the break:
AD Interviews: Jordi Badia / BAAS
We had the chance to interview Catalonian architect Jordi Badia at the Vogadors: Architectural Rowers exhibit at the 13th Venice Biennale.
Jordi Badia is the principal of BAAS, the Spanish practice founded in 1994 with a strong background in public buildings. Remarkable examples of this office are the Tanatorio de León and the Can Framis Museum.
Jordi graduated from the ETSAB (Barcelona School of Architecture) in 1989, where he is has been an associate lecturer since 2011. He is also a Professor at the Architectural Projects Department of the Escuela técnica superior de arquitectura at UIC.
Projects by Jordi Badia BAAS at ArchDaily:
- Can Framis Museum (2008)
- CAP Salt 2 (2008)
- Workspace in a former coal bunker (2007)
- Sant Boi de Llobregat (2007)
- Day Care, Kindergarten and Primary School (2006)
- Tanatorio Municipal de León (2000)
A Short Break: The Story of Paul Goldberger
National Building Museum and Metropolis Magazine contributor Andrew Caruso takes you “inside the design mind” of Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger.
It’s rare to find someone willing to pay for opinions these days, and rarer still to be known for them. Yet, Paul Goldberger has crafted a career by objectively navigating the subjective. As an arbiter of quality in architecture and design for nearly four decades, he spends a few moments with me to reminisce about the “short break” he took from journalism that led to, among many accolades, the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and, more recently, the Scully Prize.
Andrew Caruso: You’re being recognized this year by the National Building Museum with the Vincent Scully prize. Given your relationship with Scully began when you were a student at Yale, this must be a very meaningful award.
Paul Goldberger: Scully was very much a teacher and mentor to me. Actually my first exposure to him was a high school visit to Yale. I observed one of his classes and was blown away. He was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Yale in the first place and I was lucky to work with him through college and as my thesis adviser.
The complete interview after the break…
Urban Development in the Bloomberg Years
Urban planning is delicately intertwined with government. As much as architects and designers try to avoid the overwrought laws and codes and prescriptive government policies that guide the construction and development of the urban landscape, they are very much a shaping force in cities such as New York. Ask any architect working in a such as NYC and they will likely describe the bureaucratic hassles of working with outdated zoning regulations and restrictive building codes. In this NPR segment Leonard Lopate interviews New York Magazine’s architecture critic Justin Davidson to discusses the impact of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s planning policies on New York City’s urban development.
Join us after the break for the link. (more…)
JA+U Interviews Japanese Architect Shinichi Ogawa
In this video, JA+U interviews minimalist Japanese architect Shinichi Ogawa of Shinichi Ogawa and Associates. Ogawa describes the “austerity” and “organization” of minimalist design in regard to different projects. In residences, where flexibility and options are important, he says that the minimalistic approach grants a wide range of possibilities, providing open and flexible spaces that connect with the site. Ogawa describes the a range of projects that use simple forms and expressions to interact with the environment and accentuate the surroundings.
Enjoy the interview and check out some of Shinichi Ogawa’s projects on ArchDaily: The Luminous House and The Minimalist House.
Video: Jun Aoki House, Hanegi Park / Shigeru Ban Architects
Watch as JA+U takes a close look at the Jun Aoki House at Hanegi Park designed by Japanese architects Shigeru Ban Architects. The short video tours viewers through this intimate and minimalist home, revealing the nuances and features of the design. The house has a number of unique features, the most prominent of which is the semi-arched roof vault on the second level, which also gives a penetrating view through the length of the house. The openness of the architecture is emphasized by the austerity of the material choices. Stark white walls are set against the lush trees and vegetation of Hangei Park, highlighting the contrast between the natural and man-made.
Click here for images via JA+U. Check out other work by Shigeru Ban Architects on ArchDaily, like the Metal Shutter House in New York City. (more…)
AD Interviews: Norman Foster
Norman Foster is undoubtedly one of the most influential architects of our time. Since establishing his award-winning practice in 1967 – originally titled Foster Associates – the Pritzker Prize laureate has grown Foster + Partners into an international powerhouse, with project offices in more than twenty countries.
The Manchester native has become known for contributing well-designed, imaginative solutions to complex design problems, while remaining sensitive to the environment and embracing the highest technological standards. His diverse portfolio ranges from urban masterplans, public infrastructure, airports, civic and cultural buildings, offices and workplaces to private houses and product design.
As stated in the 1999 Pritzker Jury Citation, “Sir Norman Foster’s pursuit of the art and science of architecture has resulted in one building triumph after another, each one in its own way, unique.”
Foster + Partners has received nearly 500 awards and citations for excellence and has won more than 86 national and international competitions. Some of Foster’s greatest achievements include receiving the 21st Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1999, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for Architecture (1994), the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1983), and the Gold Medal of the French Academy of Architecture (1991). In 1990 he was granted a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honors, and in 1999 was honored with a Life Peerage, becoming The Lord Foster of Thames Bank.
Check out the latest projects and news from Foster + Partners here on ArchDaily.
JA+U Interviews Japanese Architect Kumkio Inui
JA+U presents this brief interview with Japanese Architect Kumiko Inui of the Office of Kumiko Inui. The interview gives an inside look at to how architects choose to design. In Inui’s case, she explains how drawing and sketching is a way for her to explore her ideas in concepts, schematics and tectonics. Sometimes these ideas are not fully formed and Inui uses sketching as a strategy to let her mind wander and unfold her various thoughts on the architectural problems before her. Through iteration and reinterpretation, Inui explains how an idea from the depths of her subconscious, eventually surfaces.
ArchDaily Interviews Tomas Koolhaas, Director of ‘REM’, and features Exclusive New Clip
Cinematographer Tomas Koolhaas, son of notorious Rem Koolhaas, has shared with us his latest clips from the feature length documentary film, REM. Set to debut in 2013, the motion picture breaks away from conventional approach to filming architecture and exposes the raw, human experience of Dutch architect’s most famous projects. As Tomas describes, REM gives the audience “a rare insight into the reality of the hidden internal life of the buildings”.
ArchDaily had the chance to discuss the film with Tomas. Continue after the break for the complete interview and another small preview of the film!
Venice Biennale 2012: SPAINLab / Spain Pavilion
During the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale opening, we had the chance to interview Débora Mesa, curator of the Spain Pavilion together with Antón García-Abril, partners at Ensamble Studio.
SPAINLab, the name of the exhibit, looks to expose the research process behind the works of contemporary Spanish Architects:
- RCR Arquitectes (Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramón Vilalta)
- Selgascano (Lucía Cano, José Selgas)
- Urban Habitat / Barcelona City Council (Vicente Guallart)
- SMAO — Sancho-Madridejos Archiecture Office (Sol Madridejos, Juan Carlos Sancho)
- Menis Arquitectos (Fernando Menis)
- Cloud 9 (Enric Ruiz-Geli)
- Ecosistema Urbano (Belinda Tato, José Luis Vallejo)
More photos about the pavilion and description from Anton and Débora after the break:
Interview: Krogmann Headquarters / Despang Architekten
The Headquarters Krogmann in Lohne-Kroge, Germany, by Despang Architekten investigates the numerous characteristics and fundamental opportunities inherent within wood and exhibits a modern approach to the craftsmanship of traditional German vernacular. Designed as a new corporate center of operations for the woodworking company Krogmann, this new office would need to succeed not only in handcrafting a new image for them, but also serve as a catalyst for future growth while showcasing their ability as ‘makers’ in the field of construction. Having worked as the builders for several projects for Despang Architekten, their choice to retain them as the design architects for their own project was a natural extension of an already solid relationship built upon the dedication to quality and progressiveness. As an extension of this article, we also had the opportunity to speak with Principal and University of Hawaii Associate Professor Martin Despang about the process involved in the making of this project.
More details and our Q&A with Martin after the break.
AD Interviews: 5468796 Architecture & Jae-Sung Chon, Migrating Landscapes
We interviewed Winnipeg- based 5468796 Architecture (Johanna Hurme + Sasa Radulovic) and Jae-Sung Chon (Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba), the team that curated the “Migrating Landscapes” exhibit at the Canadian Pavilion for the 13th Venice Biennale. The Migrating Landscapes Oganizer (MLO) invited, through a national competition, young Canadian architects and designers from a wide range of cultural and educational backgrounds to create scale models of ‘dwellings’ and accompanying videos that draw on cultural memories.
More about the pavilion in our previous article.
Venice Biennale 2012: GREENHOUSE TALK interviews leading architects
As we announced earlier, Pritzker Prize Laureate Wang Shu of Amateur Architecture (China), Rahul Mehrotra of RMA architects (India) and Francine Houben of Mecanoo (The Netherlands) participated in GREENHOUSE TALK at the 2012 Venice Biennale. The informal discussion focused on the current reality of design culture in the great countries of Eastern Asia and Europe.
The video begins with an introduction (in Italian) by architect and Senior curator of MAXXI Roma, Pippo Ciorra, which then leads into some fascinating commentary (in English, with Italian subtitles) by the highlighted protagonists.
The GREENHOUSE TALK event was promoted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rome, in collaboration with MAXXI and NAi. (more…)
AD Interviews: Reiser + Umemoto
Since it’s founding in 1986, Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture P.C. has become a widely published, internationally recognized practice with a diverse collection of projects ranging in scale. On multiple occasions, the firm has been awarded for their contributions to architectural practice and theory – the most recent being The Cooper Union’s 2008 Presidential Citation and the 2011 John Hejduk Award – as they treat “each project as the continuation of an ongoing inquiry, delving into relationships among architecture, territory and systems of distribution.”
The New York City-based practice is led by it’s founders, architect Jesse Reiser and designer Nanako Umemoto. Both partners have taught and lectured at a number of academic institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Reiser is currently a Professor of Architecture and director of graduate studies for the M.Arch program at Princeton University’s School of Architecture.
More about Reiser + Umemoto’s work:
- O-14 Building in Dubai (and its construction)
- Taipei Pop Music Center Competition (1st prize)
AD Interviews: Renzo Piano – Part III
We continue with the last part of our exclusive interview with Renzo Piano.
Since first achieving international fame in 1978 with the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, Renzo Piano has become known as a prolific, Italian architect capable of achieving a masterful balance between art, architecture and engineering. His intellectual curiosity and problem-solving techniques have led him to develop a wide-ranging portfolio that successfully merges high technology with humane and comfortable environments.
Sophisticated, refined and elegant, the presence of Renzo Piano’s work is internationally celebrated. Originally born into a family of Italian builders, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect now leads a staff of 150 at his practice, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, from three locations – Genoa, Paris and New York.
Part III to be aired on Tuesday Sept 18th.
