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Think/Make:
Della Valle Bernheimer by Andrew Bernheimer
and Jared Della Valle
Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
Paperback, 192 pages
Expanded
Practice: Höweler + Yoon Architecture / MY Studio
by J. Meejin Yoon and Eric Höweler
Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
Paperback, 208 pages
By architecture's standards the offices
that are the subjects of these two monographs published
by Princeton Architectural Press are babies. Adding together
the office's years of existence brings one close to 25 years,
a point at which many architects hit their stride. That
these two offices have monographs devoted to them at a point
in their careers that can easily inspire jealousy illustrates
a few traits of young firms today: the opportunities afforded
architects at earlier ages, the role of computers in architectural
design, and the creative (re)definition of architectural
practice today, in many cases where buildings aren't the
primary focus. I'll discuss each monograph in relation to
these three traits.
Started in 1996 after winning a competition
for a plaza redesign at 450 Golden Gate Plaza in San Francisco,
Brooklyn-based Della
Valle Bernheimer (D-BD) have since built an impressive
range of different types and size of buildings; the competition
did not pigeonhole them as shapers of public spaces in front
of modern office buildings. Their initial competition win,
like Maya
Lin's even more youthful success with the Vietnam Veteran's
Memorial, has given confidence to young architects looking
for that breakout opportunity to launch a practice. For
many it does not come, but for D-BD and others it has more
importantly been an opportunity to develop ideas that still
inform their work. While it may not seem like the folded
surfaces of the plaza relate to their single- and multi-family
residences of late, the importance of relating to site,
program and client is clear. And of course the importance
of realizing ideas is clear in the monograph's title but
also in their decision to act as developer on a number of
projects. This expansion of their role as designers enables
them to drive projects, not just shape them. As a collection
of their most important buildings, including two recent
condo buildings near The
High Line, this monograph excellently documents the
process and results of each design, from early sketches
to details and the usual finished photography. It should
be commended particularly for its clear and concise text,
which includes contributions from Aaron
Betsky, Guy
Nordenson and ARO.
Founded in 2000, Boston's Höweler
+ Yoon Architecture / My Studio (HYA) stakes out much
different territory than D-BD. Sure, the usual single-family
residences that are many young architects' means of survival
are here, but so are installations, interactive displays,
books, exhibition designs, and even dresses. More than D-BD,
whose use of computers is present but not pervasive, HYA
use technology to explore the effects of such on the human
condition and social interaction. Their "expanded practice"
that embraces design from the scale of the body to large
buildings and urban spaces is the result of what Andrew
Payne and Rodolphe el-Khoury in their essay here call, "the
new plastic freedom afforded by the digitalization of the
design process." Yet the human body, its movements,
sensations and experiences are at the forefront, not forgotten
in a whirl of bits and bytes. The way visitors to the Olympics
in Athens interacted with their White
Noise / White Light installation below the Acropolis
illustrates the strong conceptual underpinnings of projects
that are still easy to understand and appreciate at the
level of experience. But what is striking about the over
25 projects collected in this monograph is how notions of
beauty play a role in their designs, if not admitted by
Yoon and Höweler. Aesthetic considerations extend from
the process drawings to the renderings, the built product
and the monograph itself. The diagrams in the last that
diagram the various themes used to structure the book --
they gloss the book's cover, too -- have a certain beauty
that is born from the representation of the objective and
subjective traits of the contents; a fitting expression
for a studio working at the intersection of technology and
experience.
or 
for Think/Make
or
for Expanded Practice
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