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)
