Young & Ayata formed a partnership in New York in 2008 to explore the conceptual and aesthetic possibilities of architecture and urbanism. The practice is dedicated to both built commissions and experimental research. The practice views the reality of contemporary building as a provocation for architectural form, material and technology. In following these trajectories it is necessary to understand architecture in its historical processes. Michael Young and Kutan Ayata, both principals teach and view the educational experience as crucial to the continual development of architectural ideas.
Young & Ayata is one of two first prize winners in the International Competition for the New Bauhaus Museum in Dessau, Germany. Recently, they were finalists in the 2015 MoMA YAP Program in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2014, the partners were the recipients of the Young Architects Prize from Architectural League of New York, their entry in the open international competition for the Dalseong Citizen's Gymnasium in South Korea received an honorable mention, and their submission for the Pamphlet Architecture 35 publication was also given an honorable mention. A manifesto titled "The Estranged Object: Realism in Art and Architecture", written by Michael Young with the projects of Young & Ayata was published in the Spring of 2015 by the Graham Foundation; an exhibition with the firm's work in relation to this publication was on display at the Graham Foundation in Chicago. In 2015, the Firm's work was also exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art-New York, the Istanbul Modern and Princeton University.
