Constructing Practice

Christoph Zeller and Ingrid Moye, of Zeller & Moye, discuss how they started their practice and how collaborations with artists and architects help enable them to work globally. Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid.

Zeller & Moye was founded in 2013 and operates between Mexico City and Berlin. The studio designs a wide range of projects at all scales, from furniture design to large cultural buildings in different parts of the world. Christoph Zeller and Ingrid Moye have been practicing architecture for over ten years, including work for international practices SANAA and Herzog & de Meuron, where they lead projects such as the Tate Modern Switch House and the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012.

"We see ourselves as an international architecture office, although we do site-specific work, which means we are not designing buildings without looking at the context where they are, even if we are not necessarily based in that place."- Ingrid Moye

Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

Zeller & Moye: http://zellermoye.com

Magui Peredo, of Estudio Macías Peredo, talks about the influence of both Mexican architectural traditions and modern Latin American approaches, as well as the challenges of staying involved in all aspects of the design and construction process. Estudio Macías Peredo, based in Guadalajara, Mexico, was founded in 2012 by Salvador Macías and Magui Peredo. The practice is interested in creating a dialogue with its surroundings through the exploration of the constructive processes and the formal and spatial systems that define a specific location. Both architects graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO) in Guadalajara and completed their master’s degree at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. They teach at the Architecture School at ITESO.

"The idea of an architect is closely linked to construction [in Mexico]. We founded Estudio Macías Peredo to have an office that seeks to be part of the building process, but no longer takes care of the logistics and administration of construction."

—Magui Peredo

Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe. Each week, we hear long distance from an emerging architect who tells us about what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid. Constructing Practice was initiated as a conference at GSAPP on November 17, 2017. Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

Estudio Macías Peredo: http://emparquitectos.com

Tran Thi Ngu Ngon, of Tropical Space, talks about the practice's work building homes for lower and middle income Vietnamese. Tropical Space was founded by architects Nguyen Hai Long and Tran Thi Ngu Ngon in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The firm is committed to the use of environmentally friendly building practices and sustainable material selection, and their work spans housing, interior architecture, landscape design, and master planning.

"We try to focus on basic form, purity of material, and the simplicity of space. We try to use light mostly as our main material to create space, and we try to teach people to be more sustainable in the future." - Tran Thi Ngu Ngon

Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe. Each week, we hear long distance from an emerging architect who tells us about what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid. Constructing Practice was initiated as a conference at GSAPP on November 17, 2017. Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

Tropical Space: http://khonggiannhietdoi.com

Jan De Vylder, of architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, talks about the importance of pure or rough use of materials in their work, and Flemish architecture influences of the firm. Founded by Jan De Vylder, Inge Vinck, and Jo Taillieu, the practice is based in Gent, Belgium. The architects question the distinction between décor and construction, and believe that understanding how to build something that architecture can play out its critical potential.

"Our practice was founded because we enjoy making things. For us, architecture is not only a matter of designing things, but also a matter of understanding how things can be made"

—Jan De Vylder

Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid. Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

architecten de vylder vinck taillieu: http://www.architectendvvt.com

Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis, co-founders of Ultramoderne, talk about how their practice began, their systems-based approach, and interest in material experimentation. Ultramoderne was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2015. The office is committed to creating architecture and public spaces that are at once modern, playful, and generous. The principals are driven by an experimental approach that leads to conceptually rigorous and well-executed designs. The office has experience working at a wide variety of scales, from single-family residences to urban-scale planning, and its work has been recognized internationally, including the 2015 pavilion commission from the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Architectural League of New York, and AIAri.

"For us the work is always a dialogue between abstraction and reality. I think that the projects look simple on the surface: squares, circles, triangles, and so forth. But I think that for us the abstraction is a way of reorganizing a piece of reality.” —Yasmin Vobis

Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid. Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

Ultramoderne: http://ultramoderne.net

James Shen, of People’s Architecture Office, talks about the studio's interests in design and social impact. People’s Architecture Office (PAO) is a multidisciplinary studio founded in 2010, in Beijing, China, focused on social impact through design. It is the first architecture practice in Asia certified as a B-Corporation and serves as a model for social entrepreneurship. PAO’s office is located in a traditional courtyard house in Beijing’s historic core, a setting characterized by urban informality, and one that inspires the studio’s work. The studio’s award-winning works have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and the London Design Museum.

"We feel that architecture practices today are less and less able to have a real relevance in our built environment, as well as in our natural environment. So for us, social entrepreneurship is something that we see has a potential for us to engage in a more full way." – James Shen

Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid. Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

People’s Architecture Office: http://peoples-architecture.com/pao/

Susanne Eliasson, of GRAU (Good Reasons to Afford Urbanism) talks about how urbanism is present in the studio's architecture projects and its focus on housing. Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid.

GRAU is a creative studio based in Paris and led by partners Susanne Eliasson and Anthony Jammes. Since the founding of the studio in 2010, its architects have been working on the transformation of the Bordeaux Metropolis, exploring how different housing developments can produce urbanity. The studio has developed a strong expertise on issues related to housing through numerous urban renewal projects, strategic studies on densification, masterplanning of new districts and ongoing research on horizontal urbanism. In 2016, GRAU received the Young Planners Award from the French Ministry of Housing and Sustainable Habitat.

"Our main concern in every project that we tackle is how to create better conditions for good housing. And it relates to spatial issues of housing, to the urban forms that it generates, and also to the economic aspects." – Susanne Eliasson

Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

GRAU: http://www.grau-net.com

Thomas Chapman, of Local Studio, talks about his approach to materials invention and how he finds inspiration in Johannesburg and its peripheries. Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid.

Local Studio is a practice based in Johannesburg, South Africa, established by Thomas Chapman in 2012. The firm works in affordable housing, social infrastructure, and public space sectors, and is responsible for several projects that have played a part in the regeneration of downtown Johannesburg. Recent awards include the Saint Gobain Architecture for Social Gain award for the Outreach Foundation Community Centre in Hillbrow and the ILASA award for the Westbury Bridge and Park Project. Current projects include the design of a pedestrian promenade and affordable housing tower in Braamfontein and a commemorative arch for Desmond Tutu in Cape Town in collaboration with Snøhetta.

“I’ve always been drawn to materials that really tried to do things quicker, create better spaces with less effort and less budget. And in the end what invariably has happened is that these materials that we use–which are all about transparency, about lightness–tend to symbolize a new direction for architecture.” - Thomas Chapman

Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

Local Studio: http://www.localstudio.co.za

Mitch McEwen, of McEwen Studio, talks about interdisciplinary collaboration in architecture and her current projects in Detroit. Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid.

As both principal of McEwen Studio and co-founder of the studio collective, A(n) Office with Marcelo López-Dinardi, Mitch McEwen is currently based between New York and Detroit. McEwen Studio has produced work on the human environment through installations, renovations, speculative design proposals, and building design projects in Detroit, New York City, and abroad. A(n) Office was one of twelve US architectural practices selected to represent the US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. McEwen is a 2006 graduate of the Master of Architecture program at GSAPP.

"I think one of the things that is really wonderful about architecture is its capacity to be active–from a drawing, a word, a place. And in that way it’s incredibly porous." – Mitch McEwen

Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

McEwen Studio: http://mcewenstudio.com/web/

He Jianxiang and Jiang Ying, of O-office Architects, talk about their influences, projects, and the challenge of being an independent practice in China, where the architecture market is driven by public projects. Constructing Practice traces the narratives of young firms from around the globe, featuring the participants of a Columbia GSAPP symposium that took place on November 17, 2017, and expands the conversation to include many others, to tell us how they do what they do. Hosted by GSAPP Professor Juan Herreros, principal of Estudio Herreros in Madrid.

O-office Architects is a Guangzhou-based practice established by He Jianxiang and Jiang Ying in 2007. Motivated to explore new architectural possibilities in Guangzhou, or Canton, the oldest international trading port of China, He and Jiang have been attempting to test their methodology in spatial intervention across different scales. Parallel to professional practice, they have persisted in using architectural design as a critical instrument for research on the spatial and economic reality, and struggle to maintain the balance the two. Since 2012, conservation of the urban memory and construction of new collectivist living forms in the rapid-developing Pearl River Delta area has been O-office’s main design focus. Projects of O-office range from urbanism, architecture, and landscape, to interior and furniture design. In 2015, O-office was recognized by Architectural Record as a Design Vanguard practice.

"On one hand we are kind of outsiders [having trained and worked in Europe]. We observe the local culture in a different way. But at the same time, because we are local, we work directly with the client, with local workers together. So it's kind of a combination of outsider and insider practice in this way, and this creates a very special way of operating.” - He Jianxiang

Watch the full conference online: https://www.arch.columbia.edu/events/747-constructing-practice

O-office Architects: http://o-officearch.com