Agency-Agency
Founded by Tei Carpenter, the practice seeks out an expanded agency for architecture’s role in society, engaging both buildings and the systems beyond buildings. The practice is currently involved with three types of design work: non-profit, client-based built projects; competition-winning speculative designs; and self-initiated sponsored research fueled by a sense of optimism and the possibility for public engagement. Methodologically, the practice combines research, teaching, and design to engage in discussions within the discipline and more broadly.
MABU + Matt Burgermaster
MABU’s work focuses on the material, spatial, and environmental leftovers of others. Both by choice and by coincidence, much of the firm’s work re-imagines buildings produced by a modernity that has exhausted itself. The things we discard don’t just go away, nor are the trash heaps of history only filled with old junk. In this new era where everything has been altered by human activity, the MABU chooses to recognize old buildings as material and cultural resources.
N H D M / Nayhun Hwang + David Eugin Moon
NHDM is a collaborative practice for design in research in architecture and urbanism, founded in 2010 by Nahyun Hwang and David Eugin Moon. The practice strongly believes in the agency of architecture to articulate and address complex social, political, cultural, and environmental issues. Contemporary cities and their extended geographies serve not only as subjects of investigation but as sources of critical inspiration and fertile testing grounds for experimentation and transformation.
Only If
Only If is a design practice for architecture and urbanism founded in 2013 by Karolina Czeczek and Adam Frampton, AIA. Their work is based on an intimate engagement with construction processes, local policies and conditions, and cultural and community organizations. The firm translates urban techniques to an architectural scale to rethink qualities of duration and change. Only If believes that, rather than imposing additional complexity, the role of the designer is to envision simple gestures and forms to impose structure, coherence, and identity.
P.R.O. – Peterson Rich Office
Founded by Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, P.R.O. advocates for an expanded role for design that crosses disciplinary boundaries. P.R.O. believes that design professionals are able to play the role of imaginative mediator, consensus builder, and trusted ally to multiple stakeholders simultaneously. This privileged role, one often overlooked by traditional firms, is not easily played by those outside of the practice.
The honourees were announced last week at the city's Center for Architecture, which organises the awards with the American Institute of Architects' New York (AIANY) chapter.
The jury was: Beatrice Galilee, Daniel Brodsky Associate Curator of Architecture and Design, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Dan Howarth, US Editor, Dezeen; Jeffrey Inaba, Principal, Inaba Williams; Andrés Jaque, Founder, Office for Political Innovation; Hilary Sample, AIA, Principal and Co-founder, MOS Architects; and Rosalyne Shieh, AIA, Partner, Schaum/Shieh.
