m ATTER
Alisa Andrasek
Alisa Andrasek is an experimental p ractitioner of architecture and computational processes in design. In 2001 she founded biot(h)ing, a trans-disciplinary laboratory which research focuses on generative potential of physical and artificial computational systems for design. Andrasek graduated from the School of Architecture, University of Zagreb and holds a Masters in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. She has taught architecture studios and theory seminars at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Pratt Institute. She’s lectured at a v ariety of prominent schools of architecture including Columbia, MIT, Penn, NYU, SIAL RMIT, Yale and the University of Bath.
biot(h)ing is a research-design laboratory whose structure derives from particular linkages between various disciplinary and technological nodes, promoting intra-specific creative relationships which in turn serve as a transformative tissue for the design process itself.
An algorithmic articulation of the relation between the corporeal and incorporeal i s biot(h)ing’s attempt to engage with complexity. Away from individuations as subject or form, design is understood as genetic inscription. Parallel reality of the invisible code is a common ground for multiple actualizations. What is encoded is not the form of organization, but t he process of autopoesis through intricate entanglements of discreet agents. Computational patterns are understood as deep in its potential to produce expressions on various scales. Biot(h)ing’s projects range from the scale of fashion accessories and product design to large scale structural and urban fields.
biot(h)ing has published work in a number of journals including the AD issues on Digital Tectonics edited by David Turnbull, Designing for a Digital World edited by Neil Leach, a forthcoming AD issue on Network Practice and MIT publication on Non- Standard Praxis. Additional publications include an issue of 306090 by Princeton Architectural Press. Recent and forthcoming exhibitions of biot(h)ing’s work include the 2003 Prague Biennale, the 2004 Sydney Biennial, Architectural Biennial Beijing, MOMA PS1 and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Trento (MART).
William J. Mac Donald
KOL+MAC studio
Born in Milford Massachusetts. Mac Donald obtained his B.Arch., from Syracuse, 1979; Studied at the Architectural Association (London), 1978; and got his M.S., Architecture and Building Design, Columbia, 1982. In 1988 Kolatan and William Mac Donald founded KOL/MAC Studio.
The firm’s projects are produced entirely on the computer from the early conceptual phase, through schematic design, design development and working drawings. This affords a smooth interface with the consultants and the subcontractors with whom the digital information is shared, and who work directly off of the architectural drawings not only to generate their own set of drawings, but “in the case of the subcontractors” to actually make the various building parts. KOL/MAC Studio examines these and other groundbreaking changes in the relation between design and actual construction.
KOL/MAC Studio has received a number of honors such as the “Forty under Forty” [an honor bestowed once every ten years on the best forty architects in North America under the age of forty]; A New York Foundation for the Arts grant for “Outstanding Work”; a Progressive Architecture Award, an AIA award, and the New York Architectural League Emerging Voices Award. The firm’s work has been exhibited among others in the “Non Standard Architectures” Exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; the “Work spheres” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; the “Housings” exhibition at Artists Space, NYC; and the “Design Culture Now, National Design Triennial” at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, NYC; the FRAC in Orleans, France; the Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany; and the Global Architecture Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. In addition, KOL/MAC Studio’s projects are in the permanent collections of the Museums of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, as well as the FRAC in Orleans and the CNAC at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Publications include Non-Standard Architectures, Centre Pompidou [2003]; Index Architecture: A Columbia Architecture Book [2003]; Archi-lab: Future House, Radical Experiments in Living Space [2002]; Archi-lab: Radical Experiments in Global Architecture [2001]; Architecture and Science, [2001]; Contemporary Techniques in Architecture [2001]; Young Blood [2001]; “The Computer School”, in Architecture Magazine [2000] Contemporary Processes in Architecture [2000]; Architecture Must Burn: A Manifesto for an Architecture Beyond Building [2000]; Design Culture Now, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum [2000]; Workspheres, Museum of Modern Art [2000]; and The Un-Private House, Museum of Modern Art [1999];
Current Projects include Harunoglu Residence, Istanbul Turkey; Ost/Kuttner Residence, Charlottesville, Virginia; Resort Hotel and Private Villas, Gebekse, Marmaris, Turkey; Raybould House, Sherman, Connecticut; Video Game and Physical Environment, Tokyo, Japan; Mass Customized Furniture, patent pending, Museum of Modern Art “Work Spheres” Exhibition; “Housings”, Design/Research project on Mass Customized Pre Fabricated housing.
Neil M. Denari
NMDA Architects
Neil M. Denari Architects is a Los Angeles based office dedicated to exploring the worlds of architecture, design, urbanism, and global cultural phenomenon. We have been working across multiple continents since 1988, designing at all scales for a variety of clients and conditions. We seek out projects that demand new and innovative solutions to the complex issues facing the world today. Whether in a piece of furniture or in an urban design plan, our ambitions always are to materialize these questions in a powerful, evocative, and functional way. The work of the office has become, over the last 10 years, an influential force in the culture of contemporary architecture. Today, we continue to develop through new projects our repertoire of design possibilities. NMDA’s commitment to design innovation and construction excellence has been demonstrated in award winning projects such as l.a. Eyeworks, the Endeavor Talent Agency, and in our built projects in Japan for the Mitsubishi United Financial Group.
Long considered to be one of the pioneers of the use of computers in architectural design and visualization, NMDA has produced a body of work that has fused the physical and the graphic worlds in unprecedented ways. From our groundbreaking installation in Tokyo’s Gallery MA in 1996 to our current explorations, we have relentlessly pursued the development of “cultural ergonomics”, i.e. those forms that “fit” our contemporary life. Although NMDA operates on a global level, Los Angeles and it’s landscapes and cultural institutions play an important role in the development of our work. From cinema and television to advanced forms of technological production, Los Angeles provides a rich context to draw inspiration from.
As a full service office, NMDA is currently engaged with urban design, building design, interiors, landscape design, and graphic design commissions. We often collaborate with innovative consultants, artists, and designers in the development of projects- the list includes artist Mel Chin, 2X4 of New York, FRONT fa?e consultants of New York, the Brand Architect Group of Tokyo, LA based- artist Jim Isermann, BBM art group of Berlin, and Richard Massey Graphic Design.
In the past three years, NMDA has won 5 AIA Honor awards and a 2005 Progressive Architecture Award. Our work has been recently exhibited at the MOCA Los Angeles, San Francisco MOMA, the Mori Museum in Tokyo, and MOMA New York. Recent magazine and book publications have included Architect’s Today (Laurence King Publishers), IMAGES (Prestel), Atlas of Contemporary Architecture (Phaidon), Architectural Record, Architecture Magazine, Architecture NOW 3 (Taschen), The Monitor Magazine, and FRAME Magazine.
Neil Denari has been at the forefront of architecture and design for the last 20 years. Prior to launching NMDA, he lived and worked in New York from 1983-87 where his work explored the technical and formal impact of technology on architecture. While there, he worked as a senior designer at James Stewart Polshek and Partners and exhibited his work at numerous museums and galleries. He studied at the University of Houston (B Arch 1980) and Harvard University (M Arch 1982). Denari moved to Los Angeles in 1988 and began NMDA. In 2002, he was given both the Richard Recchia Award and the Samuel F.B. Morse Medal for architecture from the National Academy of Design in New York for distinguished work in the field. Denari is the author of two bestselling books, Interrupted Projections (TOTO 1996) and Gyroscopic Horizons (Princeton 1999). He is a registered architect in New York and California and from 1997-2001, was the Director of SCI-Arc, the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He has taught at various schools including Columbia University, the Bartlett, SIT Tokyo, and UT Arlington. Neil Denari holds the position of Professor-in-Residence in the Architecture and Urban Design department at UCLA.
Hernan Diaz Alonso
Xefirotarch
Hernan Diaz Alonso is the principal and founder of Xefirotarch, an award winning design firm in Architecture, Product and Digital Motion with practices in Los Angeles. He currently teaches full time, as an studio design, visual studies and is the Thesis coordinator at SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, and is a design studio professor at the GSAP – Columbia University, New York
He received his architecture degrees from the National University of Rosario, Argentina, and from Columbia University’s AAD Program, from which he graduated from with honors and received several design awards. In 1996, he worked as a designer in the office of Enric Miralles in Barcelona and in 2000-2001 he was senior designer at Eisenman Architects in New York.
Diaz Alonso has lecture widely around the world: Architectural Association of London, MIT, University at Penn, Cambridge; Archilab, Orleans France; Nexus,IDCA Conference, Aspen Colorado; U C at Berkeley; Pratt Institute, UCLA, Columbia University; Princeton University; University of Kentucky; Sciarc, etc
He receive several awards, among which are: PS1 MOMA YAP, First Prize, Pusan International Competition, 1st Honorable Mention; Miami + Beach International Biennale, Honorable Mention; Dublin U2 Landmark Tower International Competition, Final selection; Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky Metro Design Plaza International Competition, First prize; Completion of the Flag Memorial National Building, Honorable Mention; Rosario, Argentina, Catholic University Competition, 2nd Mention.
Diaz Alonso’s work has been largely published, in the books Design Series 4 (catalogue of the solo show) Session (co editor), “Next Generation Architecture” (cover) by SFMoMa’s curator Joe Rosa, Nexus, Blobejcts and beyond, s, and multiple publications among others: Architectural Record , New York Times, Mimarlik , Wired, Domus, SPA Design, Los Angeles Times, Log, Metropolis, Icon, AD, Frame, L’Arca, A+U, Volume, W, International Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Praxis, Perspecta, Arquine, Clarin, La Nacion, Prophecy, B-Guided, 34, Archilab Catalogue, Venice Biennale 2004 metamorphose, Arquitectura Argentina del Siglo XX.
His work is has been exhibited among many others group shows, in the 2006 London Biennale
Beijing Biennale, Korea Art Biennale / 2005 Washington National Building Museum, USA,“Tools of imagination”, Emerging Design, Spain, Beyond Image, Italy, Frac Centre, France, Traveling Exhibition of the new Acquisitions of the Collection /2004 Venice Biennale, Metamorphose; Archilab, Orleans France; The naked City, Beijing Biennale; “Glamour”, San Francisco MOMA; 2003 / Previous exhibitions include: “Emotional Rescue”, SCIARC Art Gallery; “Blue Diamond 66’“, Artist Space, Soho, New York; “Mobility”, Rotterdam Biennale; “Beyond Media”, Florence Italy.
His first solo show is currently on display in the San Francisco MoMa, and will travel in 2006 to the Art Institute in Chicago. His first solo show in Europe is schedule for May 2007 at the MAK centre in Vienna.
In Addition to the publication of the “design Series Catalogue”, his first Monograph is schedule to appear on December of 2006 publish by AADCU (China)
His work is part of the permanent collections of the FRAC (France architecture collection) , the San Francisco MoMa and the New York MoMa.
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