Seven young and creative architecture firms were named as recipients of AIANY’s New Practices New York awards for 2012. Now in its fourth iteration, the biennial award established in 2006 and sponsored by Hansgrohe “honors firms that have utilized unique and innovative strategies, both for the projects they undertake and for the practices they have established.” This year’s New Practices honorees are SLO Architecture, Holler Architecture, Abruzzo Bodziak Architects, Marc Fornes and the Very Many, Formless, The Living, and Christian Wassmann. Winners will be featured in an exhibition opening June 14 at the Center for Architecture, participation in the AIA national convention, and, of course, a free subscription to The Architect’s Newspaper (the competion’s media sponsor).
Abruzzo Bodziak Architects
From the jury: “An inspiring—and very consistent—portfolio; a serious and mature practice for its relatively young age. Good dialogue between ideas, practice, architecture, client, builder, and consultants.”
Holler Architecture
From the jury: “It was refreshing to see the ‘systems approach’ to sustainability that was evident in their work. The architects were careful to treat the complex processes with rigor and to leverage them to inform their innovative design propositions.
formlessfinder (Garret Ricciardi and Julian Rose)
From the jury: “John Cage once said that an experimental act is one where the outcome is not known in advance. For Garret and Julian, matter and ideas are one. The perform material experiments not with a specific outcome in mid, but in an authentic spirit of exploration—sometimes ugly, often surprising, the results are materially rich and experientially suggestive.”
Marc Fornes & The Very Many
From the jury: “Marc Fornes designs and builds meticulous constructions that are formally intricate, tactile, and experientially complex. The one and the many have never been so many. He is a highly sophisticated scripter and user of complex software but he is also a canny, hand’s on maker of things, and it is this interplay between the virtual and the real that makes his work so compelling.”
The Living
From the jury: “We loved the blend of invention, humor, and the deep conviction that the work done should make the world a better place. The communication of their research is done in ways that are elegant and absolutely visceral.”
SLO Architecture
From the jury: “The 3 projects presented in this portfolio—Bronx River Crossing, Bushkill Overflow, and Harvest Dome—display a compelling and unified vision of architectural research. In their selection of what to focus on, who to work for and how to bring an architectural perspective to regional concerns they take seriously their claim to “explore how nature can transcend preconceived boundaries to trace new trajectories of urban life.” Their formal creations-developed in dialog with users and the public- all bring a light, sensitive touch to their sites and show promise that SLO can themselves transcend preconceived boundaries of community architecture.”
Christian Wassmann
From the jury: “Although we all had difficulty in navigating through the folding portfolio, when we did we found a coherent sense of exploration. Ideas were pursued at various scales and through various media and techniques—there is a clear sense that a true and thoughtful practice is in formation.”
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