11.05.2022
"Women in Architecture" exhibition is opening this week at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen, with an installation by Ensamble Studio.
"Women in Architecture" discovers untold stories of women in architecture, presenting viewers with "A Room of One's Own", a topic that is developed with the help of three installations by three international women-led architecture studios–Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Helen & Hard Architects and Ensamble Studio–, which present their thoughts on what the essay by Virginia Wolf inspires them.
Along the three installations the exhibition comprises a series of spaces in which visitors can learn about Danish architecture and the women who played a fundamental role in the construction of Denmark.
The exhibition continues with DAC's 2022 season and will open to the public from May 13th to October 23rd, 2022.
For more information, visit the official exhibition website at: https://dac.dk/en/exhibitions/women-in-architecture/
09.05.2022
RIBA Books has published volume 4 of its "Design Studio" collection, titled “Working at the Intersection: Architecture After the Anthropocene".
The book –edited by Harriet Harris and Naomi House– is a collection of articles and case studies that explore the intersectionality of environmental and social justice, paving the way toward inclusive architectural engagement. It includes an essay by Ensamble Studio on the re-imagination of Ca'n Terra, an abandoned quarry on the island of Menorca that the studio recently transformed into architecture.
The book is available on RIBA Books website at: http://ow.ly/BqzG50IlzIU
20.04.2022
We are thrilled to announce that Ensamble Studio is a recipient of the 2022 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture.
The Academy’s award was established in 1955 with the inauguration of the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize and has expanded to include four Arts and Letters Awards. The Arts and Letters Award in Architecture is given to architects whose work is characterized by a strong personal direction, and this year's recipients include Florian Idenburg & Jing Liu, Sharon Johnston & Mark Lee, and Anthony Titus along with Ensamble Studio. Winners were chosen by the jurors Toshiko Mori, Marlon Blackwell, Peter Eisenman, Steven Holl, Annabelle Selldorf, Nader Tehrani, and Meejin Yoon.
Check the official announcement and more information on the following link: https://artsandletters.org/pressrelease/2022-architecture-award-winners/
21.03.2022
Débora is joining the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, to give an online lecture in their Architecture Engaged Spring Term 2022.
ARCHITECTURE ENGAGED is a collective of conversations, symposiums, creative talks, exhibitions, and events in which USC Architecture engages the Los Angeles community and the global public in innovative thought, practice, and social impact - by connecting architecture thinking to systemic challenges for individuals, cities, and regions.
The lecture will present some of the built works of the office to discuss their diverse contexts and interconnected research agendas.
The lecture will take place today, March 21st at 6pm PST. To register, please visit: https://arch.usc.edu/events/debora-mesa-molina
17.03.2022
Arquitectura Viva has recently published number 9 of its “Maestros” series, the third book dedicated to "Maestros Españoles", written by Luis Fernández Galiano, and including an essay about Ensamble Studio.
"From the plethora of architects who gave wings to the Modern Movement to the young creators who are transforming today's world, passing through those who with their words put together the theoretical discourses of the century, each of these nine books offers twenty biographical reviews and commentaries on outstanding projects, small brushstrokes of a great family portrait in which national and international figures, from yesterday and today, concur."
In "Ensayos de Ensamble", Luis highlights the creative trajectory of Antón and Débora, and how their practice has managed to bring together the constructive and the imaginative, engineering and the arts.
You can learn more about “Maestros” series at: https://arquitecturaviva.com/articulos/coleccion-maestros
14.03.2022
Débora and Antón are joining an online conversation tomorrow Tuesday, March 15 at 6:00 PM Mountain Time with Tippet Rise co-founders Cathy and Peter Halstead, artistic advisor Pedja Muzijevic, and other members of the Tippet Rise team.
"Back to Tippet Rise: Summer 2022" will present the upcoming concert season, this year's concerts calendar, and the four new artworks that are being installed amidst the rolling foothills of Tippet Rise by Ensamble Studio, Patrick Dougherty, Ai Weiwei, and Mark di Suvero.
To register (free admission), please visit: https://linkin.bio/tippet-rise
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02.03.2022
Débora is presenting the Bethune Lecture today at the School of Architecture and Planning of the University of Buffalo. Titled "ENSAMBLE STUDIO: RE-" the lecture will discuss projects that reuse, recycle, and reimagine materials and places.
The event is part of the “Looking Askance” Spring'22 Lecture Series, and will be live-streamed on Wednesday, March 3, at 6PM EST. To register, please visit:
https://archplan.buffalo.edu/events/2022/deboramesa.html
28.02.2022
Archivo de Ideas Recibidas has released their edition #101 in which they interview Antón García-Abril.
Archivo the Ideas is an interdisciplinary research project, lead by the Peruvian filmmaker Asiel Nuñez, that seeks to promote the people who "contribute to the contemporary creative ecosystem from art, design and architecture."
The interview follows Antón presenting Ensamble Studio and giving some insights on the office, from his mentors as a young architect to our latest research.
The complete interview can be found at the following link (in Spanish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_Cy3cHzjJ0
25.02.2022
TOTO has just made public the video of the Gallery Talk between Antón, Débora and Sou Fujimoto.
Organized online and in conjunction with our monographic exhibition at TOTO Gallery-MA, the talk was moderated by architectural historian Sen Kuan and followed the theme of “How Heavy? How Light?”.
The talk explores “the source of ideas of each architect who creates innovative architecture, looking ahead to the future of architecture” and developed the relationship and intersections between the works of Ensamble Studio and Sou Fujimoto.
The complete talk can be found at the following link:
17.02.2022
Our project Ca’n Terra is the winner of the 2022 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards.
After over 110,000 votes, the original selection of 4,500 projects was narrowed to only 75 finalists –5 per each of the 15 categories– and filtered down even more to the 15 best works, with Ca’n Terra as the final winner in the Houses category.
With finalists from five continents, the 2022 Building of the Year Award represents the best architecture published on ArchDaily and includes establishment firms such as MVRDV and Kengo Kuma alongside previously unsung heroes, such as PALMA and HANGHAR.
Check out project and the rest of the winners at the following link:
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1.12.2021
Ensamble Studio is part of Architectural Digest's 2022 AD100 list of top firms in architecture and design.
The selection includes 100 leading visionaries, icons and innovators from different corners of the world, featuring firms like OMA, Norman Foster, BIG, Frank Gehry, Kengo Kuma or Tadao Ando. We are honored to be surrounded by admired colleagues!
Find the complete list of offices and categories at the following link:
http://archdg.co/wkgot8X
1.12.2021
Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa are giving a master lecture on "Architecture of the Earth, an evolution of the methods for building spaces" this Wednesday, December 1st, at AOA Chile (Association of Architecture Offices of Chile).
The lecture, organized by Ruta País Foundation, the AOA Chile, MK Chile and IDDEA Foundation will follow a journey through a series of projects that explore intimate connections between landscape and architecture.
The event will be live-streamed on Wednesday, December 1st at 5pm EST from the AOA youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkVsLtI9dpzCvlYh1Zv1m3A
2.11.2021
Débora Mesa is joining Clemson University School of Architecture for their Fall 2021 Lecture Series, to present the next Richard O’Cain Lecture.
The lecture series, titled "Change! Architectural Experiments in a Changing Society" focuses on the current uncertainty about the future of society, and the invited speakers are asked to present "ideas and projects from their different perspectives, imagining the built environment as an open and changeable territory".
Join the ZOOM event on Wednesday, November 3, at 3PM EST in the fo the following link: https://clemson.zoom.us/j/95440357933
14.10.2021
Débora Mesa is joining Pratt Sessions 22, titled "Contextual Mediums - Water/Earth", alongside Kunlé Adeyemi from NLÉ, where they will discuss how their practices use earth and water respectively as major elements in their projects.
The event, convened by Pratt GAUD and Professor Jing Liu, will associate the two primary areas of research on which the GAUD curriculum concentrates (Contexts/Mediums) linking them to the School of Architecture theme for Fall 2021: "Land".
The event takes place this Thursday, October 14th at 6.30 pm EDT. Complete info and registration for the event can be found at the following link: https://pratt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqfuGopzssH9M-CZALYiHnvXwjw2OmEww-
15.09.2021
Debora Mesa is inaugurating the fall lecture series at the School of Architecture and Interior Design, part of the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati.
The topic of the lecture, Architecture of the Earth, explores the relation between architecture and land through works like The Truffle, Structures of Landscape and Ca’n Terra.
The online lecture will take place today at 4:30pm EST via this link: https://linktr.ee/daapsaid
08.09.2021
Ensamble Studio is awarded the 2021 Marcus Prize, a renowned achievement in international architecture.
The Marcus Prize was established in 2005 as a biennial, international architecture award that recognizes emerging architects for their outstanding work to date, as well as the promise of their future contributions to the field of architecture.
Through the vision and support of the Marcus Corporation Foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning accepts biennial nominations for the Marcus Prize. Ensamble Studio was selected from a pool of accomplished nominees from 19 countries and five continents.
“Ensamble’s name, processes, and practice reflect the extraordinary times we’re living in,” said Lesley Lokko, 2021 Marcus Prize juror. “The combination of an outstanding firm and an outstanding prize bodes well for the future of all our built environment professions, not just architecture.”
We are honored to follow Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (2019), Studio Gang (2017), REX (2015), Sou Fujimoto Architects (2013), Kéré Architecture (2011), Elemental (2009), Barkow Leibinger (2007), and MVRDV (2005), as the new recipients of this important prize.
You can find more info about the award at: https://uwm.edu/sarup/make/partners/marcus-prize/
19.08.2021
Tippet Rise on Tour: August Festival will premiere seven new short performance films between August 19 and August 22. The films capture gorgeous classical music performances in wonderful and unusual locations across the country, from a tractor barn in Colorado and Ensamble Studio’s Cyclopean House in Massachusetts to the Noguchi Museum in New York City.
Backstage Gathering: The first night of the August Festival will kick off with a live “backstage” gathering via Zoom. Tippet Rise artistic advisor, Pedja Mužijević, and the art center’s co-founders, Cathy and Peter Halstead, will host a conversation with Ensamble Studio’s Débora Mesa and Antón García Abril. Mesa and Abril are not only the extraordinary visionaries behind the Cyclopean House in Brookline, Massachusetts, here at Tippet Rise they created three much-loved sculptural landmarks: the Domo, the Beartooth Portal, and the Inverted Portal.
You can find more info on the events and how to join at:
https://tippetrise.org/virtual-events
16.08.2021
Débora Mesa is joining Log'rithms In Reorigination roundtable, alongside architects David Erdman, Kunlé Adeyemi, Jing Liu, and Philip Yuan, to speculate about new, sustainable origins for architecture.
This panel, convened by Cyhthia Davidson and hosted by City x Venice Italian Virtual Pavilion, will be discussing how innovation is not always what’s new and what is next, but can involve the reuse of buildings, building systems, materials, infrastructures, trades, craftsmanship, and landscapes.
The event takes place this Thursday August 19th at 4:30pm +2 GMT. Complete info and list of roundtables at the following link: https://www.anycorp.com/logrithms
21.07.2021
GA Document has recently published its number 157 International 2021. It includes one of Ensamble Studio's latest projects, Art Rock, Desert Rocks for AlUla, showing in two full-size pages part of the work we developed for Alaula.
GA Document defines itself as “A global architecture magazine that selects works from a unique perspective. Including the world's dynamic architectural designs ”.
You can discover the contents of the complete issue at:
https://www.ideabooks.nl/9784871402538-ga-document-157-international-2021
02.07.2021
"Ensamble Studio: Architecture of the Earth" is now open at TOTO Gallery · MA in Tokyo, Japan.
TOTO has just released a new video with footage from the exhibition assembly and a message from Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa combined with a tour of the gallery.
The exhibition can be visited until September 12, 2021. The gallery is open to the public with free admission, but advance reservation is required. More info at the Gallery's website: https://bit.ly/2SmDR48
25.06.2021
The exhibition "Ensamble Studio: Architecture of the Earth" is now open at TOTO Gallery・MA in Tokyo, Japan.
The exhibition offers three distinct spaces through which the theme unfolds: Laboratory of Ideas, Garden of Towers and Audiovisual Landscapes. Research and design materials -mainly models, 3D scans and videos- from different built and unbuilt projects create an itinerary that goes from the world of ideas to their materialization and experience.
The exhibition can be visited until September 12, 2021. The gallery is open to the public with free admission, but advance reservation is required. More info at the Gallery's website: https://bit.ly/2SmDR48
08.06.2021
We are thrilled to announce the launch of "Ensamble Studio: Architecture of the Earth" a project that we have been developing during the last year for TOTO, and that has resulted in a monographic exhibition and book.
Architecture of the Earth presents a series of research and professional projects conducted by Ensamble Studio for two decades. Though developed at different times, in different geographies, and under disparate conditions, together they contribute to reflect upon the relation between Architecture and The Earth, or the print that as humans we leave in our environment. Reading landscapes, recycling them, reinforcing their crust or using it as mold, projects like The Truffle in Costa da Morte, Structures of Landscape in Montana or Ca’n Terra in Menorca are built leveraging the natural potential of places and creating synergies that transcend the usage of land and landscapes as mere sources for endless exploitation.
The exhibition opens in Tokyo, Japan, at TOTO Gallery・MA, on June 24th, and can be visited through September 12th, 2021. It orchestrates numerous concept models and audiovisuals, as the two most successful means to develop our ideas and communicate them.
The book, published by TOTO publishing and designed by Spread, with photographs from Iwan Baan, will be available from June 8th, 2021.
Find more information from TOTO at: https://bit.ly/3g3sg3a
We want to thank everyone at TOTO for this amazing opportunity, Iwan Baan for traveling the world and capturing our work through his, and Tomoko Sakamoto for the extraordinary design of the book that so beautifully presents the ideas and realizations building this topic.
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19.05.2021
Tippet Rise Art Center has collaborated with filmmaker Hamid Shams to produce the movie Land & Sky: The Inspiration of Tippet Rise.
Created remotely during this past fall and winter –Hamid Shams had never visited the site– the film features astonishing new footage of the Tippet Rise landscape and works, interviews with Tippet Rise artists –including Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa as authors of the Structures of Landscape– and performances by the Calidore String Quartet and Anne-Marie McDermott.
The premiere of Land & Sky will take place on May 20. The celebration event starts at 5:30pm MDT, with a live pre-film ZOOM conversation between Tippet Rise co-founders Peter and Cathy Halstead, Tippet Rise Artistic Advisor Pedja Muzijevic, filmmaker Hamid Shams, and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott. Following this discussion the film premiers on Tippet Rise website at 6:00 PM MDT. To attend, watch and get additional information, please click here.
05.05.2021
MAS Context has just released "Radical Logic: On the Work of Ensamble Studio", their first book, and a monograph on our firm's work that celebrates 20 years of practice.
The book is edited by Iker Gil, includes an extensive interview to Antón and Débora, and features texts by Antonio Basanta, Domenica Bona, Cathy and Peter Halstead, K. Michael Hays, Sharon Johnston, Christian Kerez, Mark Lee, Rafael Moneo, and Nader Tehrani, illustrating the built projects and models with photographs by James Florio.
Coinciding with the launch of the book, an online talk is scheduled for Thursday, May 6, at 6pm CST, where Antón and Débora will share an overview of the work of Ensamble Studio across time.
Follow this link for more information on the book:
https://www.mascontext.com/news/mas-context-launches-its-new-book-radical-logic-on-the-work-of-ensamble-studio/
and on Thursday's talk (RSVP): https://mascontext.com/events/mas-context-spring-talks-2021/radical-logic/
Our very special thanks to Iker Gil, James Florio and the talented team that has made this book possible! And for the generous support of this project by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and Chuck Thurow.
27.04.2021
Antón García-Abril is joining the School of Architecture of the University of Granada (Spain) to give a lectio magistralis which will be the closure lecture of this 2020/2021 academic year.
The lecture “ON:OFF” will propose an immersion into the processes of conception and materialization of the works of Ensamble Studio, presenting examples from both the on-site Architecture of the Earth series –The Truffle or Ca'n Terra– and the off-site projects –such as Hemeroscopium House or Ensamble Fabrica.
The lecture will be in Spanish and takes place on Wednesday, April 28th at 19:00 CET, broadcasted live through the School's YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5dXBjHTAiU
26.04.2021
Antón García-Abril is participating in MITdesignX event "Design >> Fast-Forward" to discuss "Modular Construction / Modular Real Estate".
The two-day online symposium will host conversations with innovators, visionaries and academics, from global firms to startups, who are "accelerating new systems and products for design, cities, and the human environment" in this second year of a pandemic that is challenging our rules and norms and does not have a clear end date.
On the first day of the event (April 26th at 1:30pm EST) Panel 2 focuses on new radical solutions for building spaces and how the industry is adapting to them to respond to topics such as fairness and equality in housing and labor. In this session, Antón will be presenting how WoHo Systems, the start-up he recently co-founded, is redefining the way buildings are designed, fabricated and assembled.
Check more information and the full agenda here:
https://www.designfastforward.mit.edu/
23.04.2021
2G has launched its issue number 82, a monograph dedicated to Ensamble Studio. Edited by Moisés Puente, the monograph includes introductory texts by Philip Ursprung –Earthwards– and Bjarke Ingels –Practicing Preachers–, a closure text by Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa –Modus Operandi– and photographs by Iwan Baan.
The monograph presents a comprehensive selection of built, unbuilt, competition and research projects. Starting with the Hemeroscopium House in Madrid and concluding with The Tent, our most recent investigation in Galicia, presented here for the first time.
We cannot thank enough 2G team and the contributors for their participation and invaluable insight.
29.03.2021
Débora Mesa is joining CAADRIA's 2021 roundtable "Innovation Re-Origination", convened by David Erdman and hosted by the School of Architecture of
The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The panel will be discussing how the displacement of the origins of existing contexts can constitute new, future origins; and how innovation can happen within hybrid and mixed systems. As an alternative to the clean singularity of 20th century and its wholistic ground-up construction, panelists Elora Hardy, Philip Yuan and Jing Liu, alongside Débora, will focus the conversation on small-scale designs that draw concisely from their context, minimizing displacement and use of resources, and having thus the capacity to innovate and re-originate.
The event takes place this coming Tuesday, March 30th at 8am EST / 8pm Hong Kong. Complete info and list of roundtables at the following link:
https://caadria2021.org/roundtables#Roundtable_2
25.03.2021
Architectural Digest has published a story on Ensamble Studio in their last issue, including an interview with Débora Mesa & Antón García-Abril accompanied with images by Tony Luong and Iwan Baan.
The story follows the "innovative designs" of Ensamble Studio in "a voyage of discovery". From the early projects in Spain to the latest multifamily housing projects in the US; from the massive landscape projects that manipulate the earth and pioneer new ways to build to the light, high-tech prefabricated houses.
You can read the complete article at:
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/ensamble-studio-brings-an-avant-garde-edge-to-their-innovative-designs
22.03.2021
Ensamble Studio is giving an online lecture for the American University of Sharjah as part of the Spring Semester lecture series of the College of Architecture, Art and Design.
The online lecture will present the work of the office in diverse contexts, revealing the research and theories that underlie all built work. It will take place on Tuesday, March 23rd at 6pm GST (10am EST) and will be held via Zoom. For more information please follow the link to the American University of Sharjah website: https://www.aus.edu/media/events/ensamble-studio-on-site-off-site
02.03.2021
Beatrice Galilee and Phaidon have recently published Radical Architecture of the Future, "an important and fascinating collection of original projects by unique thinkers in the world of architecture and spatial design". The book brings together community-focused designs, site-specific and virtual installations, landscapes, photography essays and architectural projects, under the categories of visionaries, insiders, radicals, breakthroughs and masterminds. Our work Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana is thrilled to be part of this inspirational assemblage.
Beatrice Galilee is a curator, writer, critic and lecturer of contemporary architecture and design. Formerly the associate curator of Architecture and Design at The Met in New York, she is currently director of "The World Around: Architecture's Now, Near & Next", an architecture summit and cultural platform that has recently showcased another of our projects: Ca'n Terra.
Get more information on the book at:
https://www.phaidon.com/store/architecture/radical-architecture-of-the-future-9781838661236/
26.02.2021
Arquitectura Viva has launched AV Monographs 230 "Ensamble Studio – Structures and Experiences".
With introductory texts by Luis Fernandez-Galiano ("Assemblage Essays") and Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa ("A Round Trip"), the monograph celebrates twenty works and twenty years of practice.
From the early projects in Santiago de Compostela –Musical Studies Center and SGAE Headquarters– to the most recent ones -Ca'n Terra in Menorca and Ensamble Fabrica in Madrid-, Arquitectura Viva creates a comprehensive monograph that presents the interplay between structure and experience through a series of built and unbuilt projects.
Thank you Arquitectura Viva for this beautiful gift! And congratulations on your great team.
Discover the full monograph at:
https://arquitecturaviva.com/publications/av-monografias/ensamble-studio-2-5
08.02.2021
Débora is joining The University of Texas at Austin with an online lecture for the Spring 2021 series of the School of Architecture.
The lecture will propose a journey through the work of Ensamble Studio. It starts in a quarry, to build SGAE Headquarters in Santiago de Compostela, and arrives to another quarry, transforming the abandoned into inhabitable space, Ca’n Terra, the house of the Earth.
The lecture will take place digitally on Monday, February 8th at 1:30pm EST and will be live-streamed on the Texas Architecture YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJS9a_AUbsZfhRYBXojeu-Q
29.01.2021
Ca'n Terra has been selected to take part in The World Around Summit 2021, where it will be live-streamed along with 19 groundbreaking architecture and design projects from the past year that represent "the now, near and next for architecture and design".
The 2021 Summit is happening on Saturday, January 30, and will take place online in residence at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. It will bring together some of the world’s the most innovative international practitioners offering a virtual and live tour of cities and cultural institutions around the world.
The event will feature both streamed and local in-person discussions and registration is free: https://bit.ly/3rh1Kqy
18.01.2021
Domus has launched its issue 1053, with architect Tadao Ando as guest editor 2021, and "Light" as the main topic. Ca'n Terra, in Menorca, is part of the project selection featured.
In his first editorial, Tadao Ando explores how "natural light has conquered the zenith of architecture in all eras and places, from the ascetic light of northern Europe to Japanese houses’ intimate shadows" and illustrates how humanity is losing its sensitivity to natural light as we get surrounded by increasingly more sources of artificial lighting.
Ca'n Terra is presented as an opportunity to rethink a dwelling using only light and stone carvings and is included in the architecture section as an example of "primitive light", as opposed to the "filtered light" examples by Anna Heringer and Frida Escobedo, and the "light without shadows" projects by Álvaro Siza, Carlos Castanheira and Atelier Alter Architects.
Discover the contents of the complete issue at:
https://www.domusweb.it/en/news/gallery/2021/01/07/domus-1053-on-newsstands-initiation-by-light.html
25.11.2020
Casabella has published its issue 915 this month featuring Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana (USA) and Ca'n Terra in Minorca (Spain).
The projects are presented by Francesco Dal Co, who explains the origin of Tippet Rise Art Center; and Francesca Chiorino, who compares Ca'n Terra to "the myth of the cave" by Plato –inverted in this case– where an inhospitable and abandoned cave is reclaimed, bringing the leftover place back to live and giving it new meanings.
Both projects are accompanied by images from Iwan Baan and Ca'n Terra also includes 3D scans to provide a glimpse of what we found during our first visits to the site.
More info and the complete issue at:
https://casabellaweb.eu/2020/11/16/915-novembre-2020/?fbclid=IwAR0zTW61GvNQ51KnHLisSgp-y0AeBAX3Vcuir10u43OdrAe4dA5Z7mzfO9E
12.11.2020
Débora Mesa is giving an online lecture this Thursday for the Technical University of Berlin, as part of the "Positionen" series organized by Jacob Van Rijs (MVRDV).
This will be the inaugural conference of the winter semester 2020, which focuses on the theme "Uninhabited" and aims to reformulate the architectural imaginary of the the uninhabited areas on the outskirts of Berlin.
We hope you are able to join the lecture, from your home, office or home-office, this Thursday, November 12 at 7:30pm CET.
The lecture will be in English and via Zoom from the following link: https://bit.ly/35hrudl
28.10.2020
Ensamble Studio is giving an online lecture for the School of Architecture and Design of the University of Los Andes, as part of the #SeñalesDelFuturoArqDis series.
Señales del Futuro (signals of the future) is a series of online meetings with international guests to discuss about Architecture, linking knowledge from different disciplines and areas of the world with the aim to raise possible scenarios for the near future.
The online lecture will connect Débora –from Boston, MA– and Antón –from Ensamble Fabrica in Madrid, Spain– with a live tour of Ca'n Terra in Menorca and a global audience.
It takes place this Wednesday, October 28 at 10am Colombia / 11am EST / 4pm CET. More info and link to the Google Meet: https://arqdis.uniandes.edu.co/senales-del-futuro-ensamble-estudio/
22.10.2020
We are thrilled to announce the launch of WoHo, a startup founded by Ensamble Studio principals Antón Garcia-Abril and Débora Mesa, together with Israel Ruiz, former EVP and Treasurer of MIT. WoHo brings together the invaluable experience of its partners, investors and team members, after years of research, development and innovation in design, engineering and construction.
The mission of WoHo is to transform the way spaces are conceived and created, enabling a new way to build. Find WoHo online at: http://woho.us/
17.07.2020
‘T’ Space Gallery in Rhinebeck, NY is opening its 2020 season with the launch of an online virtual-reality exhibition of Ensamble Studio’s work in progress: Ca’n Terra in Menorca, where viewers can immerse themselves in the space of a former sandstone quarry from their own homes.
With the overarching topic "Architecture of The Earth", the online exhibition frames a way of practicing and experiencing architecture that seeks balance between human actions and the environment. Here the idea of "comfort" is revisited, reconnecting architectural space with the natural elements.
The creative process, from observation to materialization, is described in three steps: Discovering (the Scan), Carving (the Action), and Living (the Atmosphere); and a virtual tour expands the digital content of the project, including 360º images and hyperlinks to drawings, 3D scans, photographies and videos.
The opening event will take place this Saturday, July 18 at 3pm EDT with a livestream featuring Antón and Débora making a live presentation of the project and accompanied by a poetry reading by Marie Howe and a percussive performance by Fast Forward, which will bring together architecture, poetry and music.
More info on the event and (free) tickets to the livestream can be found here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-opening-for-ensamble-studio-marie-howe-fast-forward-tickets-108156501006
The exhibition will be available through ’T’ Space’s website from July 18 to October 31, 2020: https://tspacerhinebeck.org/
23.04.2020
Débora Mesa will give an online lecture as one of the three leading figures invited by the Institute of Technology in Architecture (ITA) of ETH Zurich this semester, "to contribute to interdisciplinary discussions on the construction of the future and on societal issues such as digitalization, resource efficiency, and energy transition". Débora will be presenting how Ensamble Studio uses, appropriates and innovates technologies to better serve the architectural ideas supporting their projects. The online lecture, available on ZOOM, will take place on April 28th at 18:00 CEST.
You can get access by registering here: ethz.ch - Details
27.03.2020
As cultural institutions close their doors as a response to the global coronavirus pandemic and while we stay home to help "flatten the curve", Architectural Record reminds us that thanks to Google Arts & Culture we can virtually visit our favorite museums around the world.
Take a digital tour of the Guggenheim in NYC or the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, tune into the Youtube channel of the Menil Collection in Houston to attend artists' talks or, if you feel like taking some fresh air, explore Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana where our Structures of Landscape and other impressive works will give you shelter!
01.03.2020
RIBA announced on Wednesday 18 September that Ensamble Studio, led by architects Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa, would be granted the 2019 RIBA Charles Jencks Award.
Here, Lily Jencks and David Gloster, Director of Education at RIBA, introduce the 2019 winners, Ensamble Studio, as they deliver their winning lecture.
Find out more about the RIBA Charles Jencks Award here: https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/riba-charles-jencks-award
28.02.2020
Débora Mesa is joining @UCLA for the symposium "LA-ND: The Future of Land Value in LA", part of the IDEAS Event Series and hosted by Jeffrey Inaba and the IDEAS Urban Strategy Studio.
The symposium analyzes LA's connection to land and how the land and its mountains, valleys and water channels define the street grids of the city, where the terrain has also been moved and shaped, transforming the original topography of fields, hills and canyons into neighborhoods.
With the last effects of climate change, this idea of designing and transforming the land has increased the risk of climate disasters. However, at the same time it is probably also the best way to confront these new extreme climates.
LAND will explore the history and future making of land and urban strategies to improve the quality of life in LA. It takes place this February 29 at 4pm, at the IDEAS campus near Culver City. More info at: https://aud.ucla.edu/news-events/events/symposium-land-the-future-of-land-value-in-la
06.01.2020
Antón García-Abril is presenting “Architecture of the Earth” today, February 06, at Nebrija University.
The lecture will offer an itinerary through works that explore the boundaries between architecture and landscape, architecture and geology, architecture and art; works that open intriguing conversations about the nature of architectural space, design and construction methodologies, materials and context; works that discover how structures can be extracted from the guts of the earth and what spaces and experiences such actions enable.
The lecture will be held at the Fab Lab of the School at 9:00am.
29.01.2020
Antón García-Abril joins as guest speaker the 38th edition of Cevisama’s Architecture and Design Forum. His lecture will take place next Tuesday, February 4, at 4 pm in the Events Centre of Feria Valencia (Auditorium 1-A). With the title “Ca'n Terra”, the lecture will present in detail the transformation of an abandoned quarry in Menorca into architecture.
The Architecture and Design Forum, curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano, will bring together the work of Ensamble Studio, Morphosis, RCR, BIG, Barozzi Veiga, Ecosistema Urbano and Benedetta Tagliabue.
Entrance is free of charge but attendees must register in order to reserve a place.
More information about the program at: cevisama.feriavalencia.com - Home - Cevisama
28.01.2020
Ensamble Studio's work in progress is featured in the latest issue of “AV Proyectos”. This bilingual publication, by the Spanish publisher Arquitectura Viva, focuses on architectural competitions, projects and works under construction, providing a fresh insight into the topics that keep us excited. Ca’n Terra, one of our ongoing adventures takes the cover.
Take a look at the publication in the following link: arquitecturaviva.com - AV Proyectos 95 - ENSAMBLE STUDIO
11.12.2019
The Financial Times Magazine features Ensamble Studio in an article that highlights how climate change is prompting architects to build innovative underground structures.
Ensamble Studio’s works, from The Truffle (Costa da Morte, 2010) to Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center (Montana, 2016) and Ca’n Terra (Menorca, 2019), are defined as “some kind of ancients monolith, somewhere between land art and Stonehenge, [...] dramatic, theatrical space that is as much about the nature of architecture and dwelling as it is possible to be [...] underground and excavated space is somehow the essence of the material, an intense exploration of the inside of the rock.”
Read the article here: propertylistings.ft.com - Could you live in a subterranean home? | FT Property Listings
02.10.2019
Ensamble Studio travels to London to attend the ceremony of the 2019 RIBA Charles Jencks Award. On Monday, November 4, Principals Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa will receive the award, present a conference and converse with Paul Finch, the editorial director of The Architectural Review, during a special event at the Royal Institute of British Architects. In this special occasion Architecture will be celebrated, thanks to the generosity of the polymathic architect Charles Jencks, who created the Award in the first place and who will be very especially missed.
More details on the event are available here:
eventbrite.co.uk - RIBA Charles Jencks Award 2019 - Ensamble Studio
31.10.2019
Antón García-Abril participates in the annual AIA Colorado 2019 Practice + Design Conference as Keynote speaker with the lecture “ON:OFF”.
The lecture proposes an immersion into the processes of conception and materialization of Ensamble Studio's works: from the intensive use of on-site resources to the use and development of off-site technologies that dislocate manufacturing from on-site assembly.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 31st, at 3:45 PM at the Beaver Run Resort and Conference Center in Breckenridge.
For more info : cvent.com - AIA Colorado 20189Practice + Design Conference
30.10.2019
Antón García-Abril is lecturing todayWednesday, October 30, at the University of Colorado in Denver, as part of the College of Architecture & Planning Fall Lecture Series. The lecture will be held at the Gallery Space of the School at 5:30pm, preceded by a reception at 5pm.
The full lecture series schedule can be found here: architectureandplanning.ucdenver.edu - College of Architecture and Planning
29.10.2019
Antón García-Abril joins the School of Architecture of the Cooper Union as guest speaker on the occasion of the inauguration of the XIV edition of the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (BEAU), from October 30 to December 1, 2019.
Under the motto “Más habitar, más humanizar” (“More living, more human”), the exhibition will be complemented by a program of conferences both at the Cooper Union and the Cervantes Institute in NYC, which will include presentations by MAIO Architects, Leven Betts Studio and WOJR, along with Ensamble Studio.
The event will take place on Tuesday, October 29, in The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union, at 7 pm.
Click here for more information: cooper.edu - XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism VII Diploma Project Exhibition | The Cooper Union
24.10.2019
Débora Mesa is keynote speaker today at Denver Design Week. Her talk, organized by Women in Design (WID) will present how her firm Ensamble Studio pushes the boundaries of Architecture from different fronts, discovering untapped opportunities in the contexts they interact with. The event will start at 5:30pm in Space ANNEX.
For more information, please visit the WiD website www.widdenver.org
23.10.2019
Débora Mesa is lecturing today at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) of Kent State University in Cleveland, OH, USA. She will be presenting the work of Ensamble Studio reflecting on how ideas become built architecture. The lecture is part of CAED Fall Lecture Series and will take place in Cene Lecture Hall at 6:15pm.
For more information, follow the link: http://aiaakron.org/event/kent-state-university-fall-lecture-series-debora-mesa/
18.10.2019
Anton Garcia Abril and Débora Mesa are guest speakers at Yokohama Graduate School of Architecture this fall. The lecture, moderated by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, will take place this coming Monday October 21, 2019, at 16:30 pm in Y-GSA Power Plant Hall.
The lecture will dive into the ideas and methodologies behind Ensamble Studio's work.
For more information, follow the link: y-gsa.jp - 横浜国立大学大学院／建築都市スクール “Y-GSA”
10.10.2019
Débora Mesa is presenting "Structures of Landscape" this coming Monday, October 14 at Princeton University, as part of the School of Architecture’s Fall 2019 Lecture Series on the theme "Atmosphere". The lecture will offer an itinerary through works that explore the boundaries between architecture and landscape, architecture and geology, architecture and art; works that open intriguing conversations about the nature of architectural space, design and construction methodologies, materials and context; works that discover how structures can be extracted from the guts of the earth and what spaces and experiences such actions enable.
The lecture will start at 6 pm, in the Betts Auditorium of the School of Architecture. For more information, follow the link: soa.princeton.edu - Lecture: Débora Mesa | Princeton University School of Architecture
28.09.2019
Today we open the doors of Hemeroscopium House to celebrate Open House Madrid 2019, organizing a public tour inside.
Open House is a worldwide movement that takes place one weekend every year in 40 cities, opening up cities and their public buildings, offices, private houses and studios that are usually not easily accessible. The event aims to make the architecture of our cities accessible for free to the citizens, allowing them to experience the buildings for themselves.
Welcome home!
More info (in Spanish) at: openhousemadrid.org - Casa Hemeroscopium Ensamble Studio | Open House Madrid
23.09.2019
NESS magazine features in its second issue a dedicated section on ENSAMBLE STUDIO, following an interview with principals Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa. The document highlights some of the ideas and methodologies behind Ensamble Studio's work and examines the dualism between prefabricated systems and dramatic landscape structures.
The magazine is been presented at the Leslie-Lohman Museum in New York, today from 6.00pm to 8.00pm.
More info at: https://nessmagazine.com/you-are-invited-to-the-ness-nyc-launch/
18.09.2019
Ensamble Studio is the recipient of the 2019 RIBA Charles Jencks Award. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has made the announcement public today.
The RIBA Charles Jencks Award is given to an individual or practice that has recently made a major contribution internationally to both the theory and practice of architecture. It was established in 2003 and past recipients include Alejandro Aravena (2018), Niall McLaughlin (2016), Herzog & de Meuron (2015), Benedetta Tagliabue (2013), Rem Koolhaas (2012), Eric Owen Moss (2011), Steven Holl (2010), Charles Correa (2009), Wolf Prix (2008), Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos (2007), Zaha Hadid (2006), Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Farshid Moussavi (2005), Peter Eisenman (2004) and Cecil Balmond (2003).
The award will be presented on Monday, November 4 at a special event in RIBA London, chaired by Charles Jencks and including a lecture by principals Débora Mesa and Antón Garcia-Abril.
Tickets to attend the Ensamble Studio 2019 Charles Jencks Lecture are available at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/riba-charles-jencks-award-2019-ensamble-studio-tickets-73085742423
10.09.2019
Ca'n Terra, our most recent project, has been nominated for the "Beazley Designs of the Year 2019" and is on display at the Design Museum in London.
Beazley Designs of the Year is an annual celebration of the most original and exciting products, concepts and designers across the globe, showcasing designs that inspire, represent change in their field and capture the moment in time. Amongst them, Ca'n Terra is the House of the Earth, a project that recovers an abandoned quarry and brings it back to life.
The exhibition opens tomorrow, September 11 and will run until February 9, 2020. For more information, visit the museum's website: designmuseum.org - Beazley Designs of the Year
09.09.2019
Débora Mesa is lecturing this coming Wednesday, September 11th, at the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA), an event organized in partnership with the School of Architecture at Georgia Tech. The lecture will dive into the work of the office reflecting how a scientific understanding of architecture allows for the creative freedom to build on past innovations, mix imagination with reality, and improve our quality of life.
The lecture will take place at 7:00 pm in the Rich Theater of the Woodruff Arts Center, located directly across the street from MODA.
For more information, follow the link: https://www.museumofdesign.org/calendar/2019/9/11/architecture-lecture-dbora-mesa-of-ensamble-studio
19.07.2019
Under the motto "Architect the Future", MMA CEO & CMO Summit 2019 brings together an inspiring line-up of speakers and global thought leaders who are helping to lead the transformation their industries with new and creative ideas.
Amongst them, Debora Mesa will present works and methods through which our practice pushes the boundaries of Architecture, untapping opportunities in the contexts we interact with.
The event will take place in Sonoma, California, USA from July 21 to July 23, 2019.
For more information on the agenda or to join the waiting list: mmaglobal.com - MMA CEO & CMO Summit 2019
#ShapeTheFuture
10.07.2019
Ensamble Studio is part of “Mutazioni”, an international exhibition curated by Antilia Gallery in the medieval tower of the Melodia Castle, Ruvo di Puglia, Italy; open to the public from July 12 to July 27, 2019. The exhibition aims to open a window into a possible future and "to search for tools and strategies for a mutation - of thought even before action - environmental, economic and social." With our featured work "The Truffle" we explore how to blend the boundaries between architecture and nature, looking for more visceral conversations between the two.
For more information : http://www.novenovenove.org/
facebook.com - nove nove nove
05.07.2019
Our project of a Start-Up Center in Seoul (South Korea) is featured in the latest issue, n°151, of GA DOCUMENTS "INTERNATIONAL 2019", along with other 38 ongoing projects all over the world. This project, located in the Changdong-Sanggye area, north of Seoul City, is part of an urban regeneration plan that aims to transform this region into a new economic and cultural center. The project departs from an understanding of the infrastructural nature of the site and the diversity of uses to be accommodated under the same roof, to build a platform for living, working and learning.
Learn more about this publication here: https://www.ga-ada.co.jp/english/ga_document/gad151.html
14.05.2019
Architecture, Landscape and Music come together in Domo at Tippet Rose Art Center, where every summer an extraordinary series of concerts is programmed. This musical interpretation of Johannes Brahms's Intermezzo Op.177, No.2, performed by pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, is testimony of a unique encounter in nature. Do not miss the video, filmed by Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTygrj8ByS8
08.05.2019
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (NYC, USA) opens "Nature", its 2019 Design Triennial, on Thursday, May 9. The exhibition, co-organized with Cube Design Museum (Kerkrade, Netherlands), presents the work of sixty-two international design teams who are "forging meaningful connections with nature."
The exhibition features Ensamble Studio's Petrified River –an installation composed of a hill, a river and a pond, made of concrete– that serves as metaphor of the rich landscape that Manhattan once was, when it was still known as Mannahatta or “island of many hills”.
For more information on the exhibition follow the link: https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/nature/
03.05.2019
Débora Mesa joins ETH Zürich as guest speaker in its 2019 Spring Lecture Series. On May 6, at 6 pm, in building HIL E4. This lecture series brings together different perspectives about architecture as a cultural and social act, with participants like Saskia Sassen, Lara Almacergui or Thomas Hirschhorn, along with Débora.
Click here for more information: https://bit.ly/2Fi2oNf
27.04.2019
Financial Times presents "the houses that architects build for themselves", featuring Hemeroscopium House (Madrid, Spain) and Cyclopean House (Brookline MA, USA) that Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa designed, built and inhabit, amongst the works of other architects like Frank Gehry, Lina Bo Bardi, Albert Frey or Le Corbusier.
The article –by Edwin Heathcote– explores the meaning and roles that a house plays in architect's private lives and how they manage to balance personal desires and practical needs, making it possible to live in one's own project.
Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/2Lg7hNd
02.04.2019
Calderona House, a recent project by Ensamble Studio, is featured in the annual exhibition and special issue n°163 of "GA HOUSES PROJECT 2019", along with over 50 other ongoing residential projects all over the world.
This project, located in Extremadura (Spain) revives the memory of the preexisting settlement found on the site, exposing the new domestic spaces to the landscape. Over the vestiges of old masonry walls, other stones are built, free from any architectural predetermination so that they can accommodate to the orography and result in new spaces, shaded areas, sheltered rooms, and framed views.
Visit GA gallery in Tokyo from March 23 to June 2, 2019, or learn more detailed information about the project in ga-ada.co.jp - GA gallery
01.04.2019
Hemeroscopium House is part of “The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes” on Netflix (episode 1, season 2, part B)
Award-winning architect Piers Taylor and actress/property enthusiast Caroline Quentin visit it on their trip to Spain, speculate on the spatial and constructive qualities of its prefabricated parts, swim in the flying pool and interview Antón Garcia-Abril seeking some answers to the multiple questions that the house brings to their minds.
Watch the full documentary on Netflix:
netflix.com - Netflix France - Watch TV Shows Online, Watch Movies Online - The World's Most Extraordinary Homes | Netflix
28.03.2019
Antón García-Abril is invited by Valerio Olgiati to the Architecture Academy at Università della Svizzera Italiana in Mendrisio, to participate in the lecture series "La Casa da Vivere": a forum for architects to talk about how they think and plan living spaces. The lecture explores the diverse nature of the domestic spaces designed by Ensamble Studio and the means and methods used to build them.
More information about the event at:
usi.ch - Valerio Olgiati invita - Conferenza di Antón García-Abril
27.03.2019
National Geographic travels to Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana, and discovers its unparalleled mixture of nature and art. The February/March 2019 issue of its Traveler Magazine narrates the experience of visiting this magic place where three years ago we completed three Structures of Landscape: Beartooth Portal, Inverted Portal and Domo, that today serve as shelters, acoustic spaces and large-scale scultptures simultaneously.
Enjoy the article by Eve Conant with photographs by James Florio at: nationalgeographic.com - See the wildest art destination in the West
25.03.2019
“Petrified River” departs from Ensamble Fabrica, setting off to NYC where it will rest for a few months on the grass of Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, as part of its 2019 Design Triennial "Nature". As a metaphor of the transformation of the island from Manhattan to Manhattan, "Petrified River" embodies the devitalization of natural resources that urbanization processes involve.
Learn more about "Nature" here: https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2019/01/31/cooper-hewitt-and-cube-announce-projects-for-the-2019-design-triennial/
21.03.2019
MIT's magazine Spectrum features in its last issue "Opening Doors", the article "Stones and Beams", following an interview with Antón García-Abril in which basic notions about how (and where) buildings can be made are challenged. The article highlights some of the ideas and methodologies behind Ensamble Studio's work in the pursuit of a difficult balance between research and practice in architecture.
Read the full article in: https://spectrum.mit.edu/winter-2019/stones-and-beams/
08.03.2019
Ensamble Studio is one of the top 50 US interior architects and designers for 2019, according to AN Interior magazine. We are honored to be part of a great list of teams able to “demonstrate novel and exciting approaches that push the envelope in how we inhabit residential, hospitality, retail, and work spaces.”
As highlighted by the editors: “Masters of material, the architects of Ensamble Studio use the latest technologies and techniques in their quest for dramatic interior spaces.”
For more information on selected firms: aninteriormag.com - AN Interior presents its top 50 interior architects and designers for 2019 - AN Interior
01.03.2019
Hemeroscopium House of Ensamble Studio is featured in the new book ”Architect at Home” of the Australian publisher “The Images Publishing Group”.
The book features the homes of a range of leading architects from around the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, and Europe.
Mor info at : https://imagespublishing.com/uk/store/pv/9781864708134/architects-at-home/introduction-by-john-v-mutlow/
27.02.2019
Débora Mesa will join the event “The Form in Question” today, February 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, at GSD, Gund Hall Piper Auditorium.
“The Form in Question” refers to discussions underway now in architecture that are re-conceptualizing architectural form in relation to its old dialectical partner, function. Since its inception, the form/function binary has become increasingly dispersed and complex. This event brings three diverse practices/offices together—each of which has established (tacitly or intentionally) a different relation to both the history and contemporary use of these terms. These practices are also experimenting with the resulting shifts in typological frameworks and imperatives, and new programmatic configurations. The purpose of this event is, in part, to edit some of these terms—form, function, typology, program—in order to dismiss them in favor of other concepts or to render them anew for continued use in our time.
For more details on the event and the participants: gsd.harvard.edu - “The Form in Question” - Harvard Graduate School of Design “The Form in Question” - Harvard Graduate School of Design gsd.harvard.edu
19.02.2019
Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center is featured in the new monographic by Divisare Books, with photographs by James Florio.
Box Set #28 showcases a photographic series by American photographer James Florio about Ensamble Studio's work for Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, USA. The four issues included in the set narrate Florio's journey across the landscape of Tippet Rise Art Center during four moments —the different seasons of the year—, capturing "the sensational change of nature and the mutation of architecture within the place".
Check the set, released on Monday 1st October, at the following link: https://divisare.com/books/divisare/boxsets/13689
14.02.2019
Debora Mesa and Antón García Abril of Ensamble Studio have been included in the inaugural volume "Pratt Sessions Volume 1", that presents conversations from an ongoing lecture series in Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (GAUD) program as a distributed symposium—curated and yet open-ended.
More info at: http://www.originalcopy-nyc.com/pratt-sessions-2017
Available now, please visit: http://www.appliedresearchanddesign.com/book/pratt-sessions
24.01.2019
Débora Mesa's TED Talk on Ensamble Studio's Radical Craft is now online at go.ted.com/deboramesamolina
From TED's editors: "What would it take to reimagine the limits of architecture? Débora Mesa Molina offers some answers in this breathtaking, visual tour of her work, showing how structures can be made with overlooked materials and unconventional methods -- or even extracted from the guts of the earth. 'The world around us is an infinite source of inspiration if we are curious enough to see beneath the surface of things,' she says."
This talk was presented at an official TED conference TED Salon: Radical Craft on November 8, 2018.
15.01.2019
Ensamble Studio work is part of the exhibition "MISCELLANEOUS FOLIES", coordinated and produced by CIVA, with the assistance of the INSTITUT FRANCAIS in Paris.
CURATORS AND SCENOGRAPHY: Benjamin Lafore & Sébastien Martinez-Barat, architects, with the valuable assistance of Michel Mathy and Cédric Libert.
The exhibition will take place in Kanal — Centre Pompidou, Quai des Péniches 1000 Brussels, from January 22 to March 22 2018.
For more information : http://kanal.brussels/en/exhibitions/miscellaneous-folies-1
6.12.2018
Swiss magazine Archithese is featuring Ensamble Studio's work in their new 4.2018 issue "Landart | Earth Architecture", which will be launched today with a lecture by Antón García-Abril.
The event, titled "Inhärent Spezifisch" –Inherently Specific– will present Ensamble Studio's most radical projects, describing how construction materials are linked to site, and how land is used to construct the works.
The lecture takes place in the Willy G. S. Hirzel Auditorium of the Landesmuseum in Zurich at 6pm. For more information on the event (in german), follow the link: https://www.archithese.ch/de/ansicht/inhaerent-spezifisch-ensamble-studio-kommen-nach-zuerich
19.11.2018
Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York hosts today the book launch of UNFINISHED, published by ACTAR, as extension of the exhibition that was awarded with the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016, and is on view in the Atrium Gallery until February 8 2019.
UNFINISHED, curated by lñaqui Carnicero and Carlos Quintans, showcases inventive works by Spanish architects who have managed to navigate periods of scarcity and global crisis. Cyclopean House by Ensamble Studio is part of a rich selection of works able to optimistically exploit the potential of architecture.
The book launch takes place today, November 19 2018 at 6 pm and with a conversation between Stan Allen, Sunil Bald, Iñaqui Carnicero, Kenneth Frampton, Cristina Goberna, Maria Hurtado, Anna Puigjaner, Julio Salcedo, Nader Tehrani and Débora Mesa.
More information at: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/calendar/unfinished-celebration-and-book-launch
Antón García-Abril is giving a lecture in Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University this Wednesday November 14th, presenting the research and built work the office has been developing throughout almost two decades and our approach to on-site vs. off-site construction methods.
The lecture takes place in Knowlton Hall’s Gui Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. More info at the link: https://knowlton.osu.edu/event/ant%C3%B3n-garc%C3%ADa-abril-ensamble-studio
25.09.2018
Reader's House in Matadero Madrid celebrates Open House Madrid 2018, organizing a public tour inside the buildings.
Open House is a worldwide movement that takes place one weekend every year in 40 cities, opening up cities and their public buildings, offices, private houses and studios that are usually not easily accessible. The event aims to make the architecture of our cities accessible for free to the citizens, allowing them to experience the buildings for themselves.
Join us for the visit next Sunday, September 30th, at 11am!
More info (in Spanish) at: http://www.openhousemadrid.org/5718-2/
07.09.2018
Cyclopean House one of "44 Low-resolution Houses", an exhibition curated by Michael Meredith, designed by MOS/Studio Lin and organized by Princeton University School of Architecture.
The exhibition showcases 44 projects from contemporary architects, through "a double technological and representational-aesthetic lens". Showcased works are considered low-resolution as a result of their appearance or construction system: houses that do not resemble traditional houses, houses that manifest their construction –noticeably showing joints and raw materials, giving an "unfinished quality" to the work– and houses composed of primitive geometric forms –yet arranged in an unfamiliar or abstract style–.
The exhibition will take place in the North Gallery at Princeton University School of Architecture, opening on September 11 and closing on November 9, 2018.
For more information and the full list of participants: http://soa.princeton.edu/44lowresolutionhouses
12.06.2018
This week, Antón García-Abril is visiting the new Liangzhu Campus of China Academy of Art, where he will give a lecture as part of the opening celebrations. The new Liangzhu campus, designed by Yonghe Zhang, is located in Hangzhou, and is a great destination where tradition meets today’s needs.
Find more details (in Chinese) in the following link: http://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2064473
31.05.2018
Today Antón García-Abril is visiting the School of Architecture and Design of IE University in Segovia, Spain, as special guest: participating in the final reviews of the 2018 Undergraduate Thesis Projects and culminating the day with a lecture on the work of Ensamble Studio.
30.05.2018
Débora Mesa Molina has been appointed Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design at Georgia Tech School of Architecture, where she will continue to develop academic initiatives that advance architectural design and construction methodologies, and empower students to have a voice in the making of our built environment. The Ventulett Chair is made possible by a generous endowment created in honor of Georgia Tech alumnus Tom Ventulett, founding partner of tvsdesign in Atlanta and is intended to "engage an exceptional practitioner with a record of international leadership and excellence in architecture."
More information in: arch.gatech.edu - School of Architecture | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA
Todos los videos
21.05.2018
Antón García-Abril will be lecturing at Milano Arch Week, a festival dedicated to architecture and the future of cities that under the name “Urbania, a look at the future of cities” will host a rich program of conferences, exhibitions, performances and events open to the public. Ensamble Studio's lecture will take place on May 25, at 8.30 PM in the Salone d’Onore of the Triennale di Milano. Other speakers between May 23 and May 27 include Kazuyo Sejima, Carrillo da Graça, Bjarke Ingels, Jacques Herzog, Toyo Ito, Alberto Campo Baeza and Sou Fujimoto, among others. For more information and the complete agenda visit: milanoarchweek.eu - Milano Arch Week 2018
18.05.2018
GA Houses launched this month its number 157, “Project 2018”, featuring a rich variety of residential works in progress across the globe, including our latest project: Ca’n Terra, that transforms a former Mares stone quarry located in the island of Menorca, Spain, into a domestic space: “If the history of civilization has greatly evolved transforming ideas into built work, in Ca’n Terra, the process is inverted and history interpreted to transform it into architecture”.
More information at: ga-ada.co.jp - GA HOUSES 157
03.05.2018
“Housing + [Exhibition]”, organized by the MIT Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism opens today as the culmination of two years of design and research inquiry involving faculty, students and practitioners from around the globe. The exhibition includes Ensamble Studio & POPlab's shared research on ultralight construction technologies as well as ten new architecture and urban design models from faculty-led workshops that test multi-scalar housing solutions. The 4-week research studio developed by Adèle Naudé Santos and Débora Mesa Molina with 11 MIT students and local communities in Cartagena, Colombia, is part of this series. From May 3 until September 14 of 2018 the exhibition will take place in the Okawa Lobby of MIT Media Lab. For more information, visit: http://lcau.mit.edu/exhibit/okawa-lobby-mit-media-lab/housing-exhibition.
12.04.2018
Ensamble Studio is “Meeting in the Mountains” this week in an event organized by AIA Billings. Debora Mesa will be here presenting two radically different approaches to the means and methods to design and build architecture, reflected through the firm's works. Her talk “Ensamble Studio: Off-site/On-site” goes from the development of off-site technologies that dislocate manufacturing from site assembly in some of their residential projects, to the intensive use of onsite resources in works like Structures of Landscape, located at Tippet Rise Art Center, in Fishtail, Montana, a few miles away from where she will be talking.
The event takes place from April 12th to April 14th 2018 in the Northern Hotel, Billings, Montana. See the full program here: aiabillings.org - Meeting in the Mountains « Billings Architecture Association
04.04.2018
Antón García Abril is 2018 CriticalMASS Distinguished Visiting Critic at the School of Architecture of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He will be presenting his lecture “On/Off” this Friday April 6th 2018 at 1pm in Storrs Lecture Hall. For further information visit: coaa.uncc.edu - Lecture: Antón García-Abril, Ensamble Studio (Madrid) | College of Arts + Architecture | UNC Charlotte
03.04.2018
Ensamble Studio is taking part in the Spring Events 2018 at Syracuse University School of Architecture, that celebrates a special lecture series organized by Randall Korman and focused on the topic of façades. Debora Mesa Molina will be presenting some of the firm's work, reflecting on On-Site versus Off-Site architectures and their belonging to context. It will take place today in Slocum Auditorium at 5:30pm.
More information in: soa.syr.edu - Calendar — Syracuse Architecture
15.03.2018
Modern in Denver visits Tippet Rise Art Center in their Spring Issue with the article “Curating the wild”. Images and descriptions of the project are accompanied with the ideas and impressions of the founders and the different teams that worked in it, such as Ensamble Studio, that developed the vision for the land with Structures of Landscape: “The massive pieces are cast from the land, channeling nature in their geological form. They powerfully frame the landscape for the visitor”. Don’t miss the whole article in: view.publitas.com - Modern In Denver - Modern In Denver - Spring 2018 - Page 134-135
07.03.2018
#MadeInETSAM Exhibition opens today at the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSAM), displaying the work of some of their alumni to discuss the role of Women in Architecture. Debora Mesa, who graduated from ETSAM in January 2006, is part of this empowering group!
More info at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/174538050000126/
16.02.2018
Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa will be speaking at Design Indaba Conference 2018, the annual do-tank at the intersection of innovation, business, social impact design and creative expression. Taking place on February 21-24 2018 at the Artscape Theatre Centre in Cape Town, the Design Indaba Festival is a showcase of some of the most inspiring works in design and creativity. They will be part of a lineup of design thinkers, artists, exhibitions and performances from Africa and the rest of the world.
More information in: designindaba.com - Design Indaba's Festival of creativity 2018
15.02.2018
14.02.2018
Structures of Landscape @Tippet Rise Art Center has been nominated for consideration for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2016/17! The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize is given by the IIT College of Architecture and biennially recognizes the most distinguished built work of the North and South American continents. The prize will be awarded to the best architecture, in its most broad definition, with this third cycle considering work completed between January 2016 and December 2017.
Take a look at the outstanding selection of nominated works here: http://arch.iit.edu/prize/mchap/selected-works/all/all/nominated
12.02.2018
Anton García Abril kicks off the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design 2018 Spring Lecture Series with his lecture “On/Off” as part of the internationally known exhibit “Export: Spanish Architecture Abroad”. It takes place on February 12th in the COAD Theater of the Gerald Hines College of Architecture and Design of the University of Houston.
More information in: uh.edu - Opening Lecture and Reception for
29.01.2018
Débora Mesa Molina will be presenting the lecture “Ensamble Studio: OnSite/OffSite” in the Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium of Cornell University next January 30th at 5:15 pm. In it, she proposes an immersion into the processes of research that lead to the realization of the firm's American works.
More information in: aap.cornell.edu - Débora Mesa Molina (Ensamble Studio): OnSite/OffSite | Cornell AAP
22.01.2018
Ensamble Studio work is part of the exhibition "Inscriptions: Architecture Before Speech" curated by K. Michael Hays and Andrew Holder and organized by Harvard University GSD. “Inscriptions” is a broad survey of work that problematizes, resists, and exceeds signification by appealing to other kinds of cultural engagements, agreements, and fantasies of architecture’s origins.
Big Bang Towers, Hemeroscopium House, Musical Studies Centre and Tabula Acustica, amongst a wide selection of projects by Harvard University Graduate School of Design faculty and other emerging practices across the American academy, are in the curators' words "born of the original human postulate to claim a place in the world, to confirm having been there, to make and mark a difference."
The exhibition will take place in the Druker Design Gallery, Gund Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, from January 22 to March 11 2018.
For more information and a full list of participants:
11.12.2017
Ensamble Studio’s Cyclopean House has been listed as one of Dwell Magazine’s top 10 Prefabricated Homes of 2017. Its lightweight construction technology that enabled easy transportation from Spain (Madrid) to EEUU (Boston) is one of its unique features. Take a look at all great prefabs on the list: https://www.dwell.com/article/dwells-top-10-prefabs-of-2017-2d513feb
23.11.2017
Structures of Landscape has been featured in “Archipaper. Blueprint drawings”: an exhibition and publication about young Spanish architects, curated by Mario Suárez and promoted by the Directorate for Cultural and Scientific Relations at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), that "outlines through its projects an important twist in the conception of the architectural activity".
The full text is available here:: https://issuu.com/publicacionesaecid/docs/archipaper_cat__logo
6.11.2017
Ensamble Studio will be opening the Spain GSD 2017/2018 lecture series at Harvard University. On Wednesday, November 8 at 6:30pm, Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa will present their work at the Piper Auditorium of GSD Gund Hall, located in 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
More info at the following link: facebook.com - SpainGSD Lecture: Ensamble Studio
3.11.2017
Ensamble Studio is taking part in the 2017 Administrators Conference, organized by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and hosted this year by the University of New Mexico. Antón García-Abril will present the keynote lecture on November 3, 2017 at 6.30pm in the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. More info at the following link. https://goo.gl/h58zbU
23.10.2017
Arquitectura Viva launched this October its number 198, featuring Structures of Landscape by Ensamble Studio at Tippet Rise Art Center. The article shows details about the Structures' constructive process, from previous models to detail drawings . Do not miss the full article at the following link: https://issuu.com/ensamble-studio/docs/ensamble_studio_arquitectura_viva_1
19.10.2017
Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning at the University of Michigan runs this weekend the Fall 2017 Practice Session nº5, led by Ensamble Studio partners Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa. The session kicks off on Friday October 20 with a lecture about the firm's work under the title "The House as Prototype", followed by a three-day workshop that will immerse 24 students into an intense research experience related to an ongoing project of the office. The workshop will conclude with a review and discussion with Giovanna Borasi and Nader Tehrani as invited jurors; and an exhibition that will last through October 27 at Taubman College Gallery.
For more information visit: https://taubmancollege.umich.edu/events/2017/10/20/practice-session-no-5-lecture-d%C3%A9bora-mesa-and-ant%C3%B3n-garc%C3%ADa-abril-%E2%80%9C-house
16.10.2017
Ensamble Studio and Hong Kong based Rural Urban Framework get together this evening at Pratt GAUD Sessions 04 with an invigorating discussion on “New Architectural Contexts”. The session delves “on the extent to which architecture is able to “re-originate” the context. Join the discussion at Higgins Hall Auditorium, 6pm.
13.10.2017
The Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans has launched the catalog for its first edition “Marcher dans le rêve d’un autre”, on show from October 13 2017 to April 1 2018 at Frac Centre. The publication, edited by the curators Abdelkader Damani and Luca Galofaro, offers a common space for the latest research of over forty contemporary architects "to discuss about the 'other of their architecture' and to consider dream as the meeting point for utopia, experimentation, prospective and memory." Structures of Landscape and Towers of Landscape are the two projects presented by Ensamble Studio as a reflection on the geological nature of architecture...
Available for download from: http://www.lespressesdureel.com/EN/ouvrage.php?id=5885&menu=
12.10.2017
Ensamble Studio is one of the 71 participants that make the First Edition of Orléans Architecture Biennial, running at French FRAC Centre from October 13 2017 to April 1 2018. Curated by Abdelkader Damani and Luca Galofaro with the theme “Walking through someone else´s dream”, the 2017 Biennial is “constructed as a confluence of memory: accrued memories - works of the collection - and future memories”. In Les Turbulences, Ensamble Studio contributes to this interrelating dialogue with Structures of Landscape and Towers of Landscape, revealing past, present and future dreams. Some of which have already come true.
For more info visit the website: https://en.biennale-orleans.fr/artist/ensamble-studio-anton-garcia-abril-et-debora-mesa/
11.10.2017
Pasajes Arquitectura included our project Structures of Landscape at Tippet Rise Art Center in its last number. Read about Beartooth Portal and Domo in the magazine’s issue 144.
05.10.2017
Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana is named the “Best Museum of the Year, North America” by the 2017 Leading Cultural Destinations Award, a platform created to explore, recognize and promote the world’s best destinations for cultural experiences. Beartooth Portal, Inverted Portal and Domo, from our Structures of Landscape series, are inherent part of this "unexpected oasis that presents concerts by world-renowned musicians and young artists, and large-scale contemporary sculpture on a 10,260-acre working sheep and cattle ranch". For more info visit the website: lcdawards.com - Leading Culture Destinations
03.10.2017
Ensamble Studio visits Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design. Antón García-Abril will present the office´s work in Hancock Auditorium at Blacksburg Campus on October 4, 2017 at 7.00pm. The following day students can participate in a morning conversation session with Ensamble Studio’s principal. For more information visit the official website: archdesign.vt.edu - VT a+d · school of architecture + design, Virginia Tech · lectures › antón garcía-abril
28.09.2017
RIBA Europa talk series kicks off on October 3 2017 with its first session EUROPA 1: SPAIN + PORTUGAL, in which Ensamble Studio is taking part. Débora Mesa will present the office's work and method in conversation with other three practices: MAIO, Fala Atelier and Skrei. The discussion, chaired by the curator of Victoria and Albert Museum, Mariana Pestana, aims to "explore the commonalities and differences of architecture practices".
For more information visit the official website: architecture.com - EUROPA 1: SPAIN + PORTUGAL
22.09.2017
Ensamble Studio partners Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa are joining Columbia GSAPP lecture series this fall. On September 25, 2017, they will be presenting the office’s work in the Wood Auditorium of Avery Hall. A conversation with architect and professor Mimi Hoang and a Q&A Session will join.
For more information visit the official website: arch.columbia.edu - Ensamble - Columbia GSAPP
19.09.2017
Ensamble Studio is participating in the Architecture and Design Film Festival taking place in Tippet Rise Art Center, between 22-24 September, 2017. During this premier event, eight feature-length documentaries and three short ones will be presented to contribute to “a deeper understanding of the ways in which landscape, sculpture and architecture can amplify one another’s voices”. On September 23, Design and Architecture radio host Frances Anderton will be moderating a panel discussion with Antón García-Abril, Peter Halstead and Stephen Talasnik. The following day, guests will be able to take a guided tour of the Art Center that includes Ensamble Studio’s Structures of Landscape, and participate in a Q&A Session with the architects.
13.09.2017
As part of Harvard GSD public lecture series 2017, on September 14, Anton Garcia-Abril will be participating in the symposium “New Materialisms: Histories Make Practice | Practices Make History”, happening at the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
"This event brings together historians, critics and practitioners to discuss the complex ways in which architecture is imagined, made and interpreted.
Under the main objective of the potential reciprocities between history and practice, the discussion intends to unravel the effort of contemporary architects to align their work with versions of history."
Ensamble Studio is participating in the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, curated by Artistic Directors Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee.
This second edition of the biennial will unite different exhibitions and installations under the theme 'Make New History' between September 16, 2017 and January 7, 2018. In the Cultural Center’s Yates Hall, Ensamble Studio is contributing to the contemporary exploration of the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition, designing one of the 18 new monumental columns that will redefine the space of the hall.
For more information visit the official Chicago Architecture Biennial website: chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org
Cyclopean House, one of our recent works, is U.S. Building of the Week!
"Built in a residential neighborhood of Brookline, on top of an existing residual garage structure, it is the result of some highly innovative thinking on lightweight construction and suburban homes' function.
Prefabrication productivity and efficiency are matched with creative design and high quality construction at a reasonable cost."
Ensamble Studio visited 2017 CHART ART FAIR in Copenhagen to support young and newly established architectural practices from the Nordic region.
Debora Mesa was part of the Architecture Competition Jury, together with Bjarke Ingels (BIG), Bjornstjerne Christiansen (Superflex), Simon Frommenwiler (HHF), Claus Andersen (Andersen Contemporary), Klaus Kastbjerg (Union Holding A/S) and Dorte Foss.
Under this year's theme 'THE LIVING CITY', selected participants showed great level of creativity and boldness experimenting with recyclable materials and ingenious technologies to design pavilions that host some of the event's activities.
Check out the projects and teams here: chartartfair.com - CHART SOCIAL
Ensamble Studio is participating in Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival 2017 this week. On July 21 at the International Architecture and Design Conference, DATUM:KL, Antón García-Abril and Débora Mesa will present the work of the office, under the thematic of the event: POWER is / and / to / with / of / for ARCHITECTURE, "to invigorate and to open discussions towards BETTER ARCHITECTURE, BETTER CITIES!"
On Saturday, June 17, Débora Mesa will participate in the special symposium that’s part of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s Centennial celebration. The symposium brings together top art historians, artisans, contemporary artists and architects to examine topics related to western American sculpture. Here we will present our recent work Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana, where the boundaries between architecture, art and landscape diffuse. For registration and to see the full program of the event, click on the image above.
Antón García-Abril, Principal of Ensamble Studio, joins the Pritzker Prize recipient, Wang Shu, for a MIT summer workshop in Hangzhou, China; with students from MIT, Southeastern University (SEU) and the Chinese Academy of Art. The workshop is a continuation of the rural workshop developed by Wang Shu and MIT Professor Adele Santos. In the workshop they will design and build two small public buildings on a site adjacent to last year’s village.
During the workshop students will have the opportunity to work intimately with a rural village in China, learn construction techniques through mock-ups with local craftspeople and builders, and design two civic structures that will be selected and built by the local government.
Great news! Antón García-Abril Ruiz has been granted licensure as an American Registered Architect by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through BEFA program by National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
Structures of Landscape at Tippet Rise Art Center, was selected by the jury to be awarded with Architizer A+ Awards in the category "Concepts-Architecture +Art". The Jury, comprised by leaders who are actively shaping the world we live in, as Sou Fujimoto and Bjarke Ingels, evaluated the projects based on the following criteria: form, function, innovation, intent and reality.
Debora Mesa is a panelist in the ‘Origination Symposium’ organized by the Georgia Tech School of Architecture, College of Design. She will speak on Origination in Design and Collaboration on 11th March and her session will be held in the Reinsch-Pierce Family Auditorium, 9.20am onwards.
Ensamble Studio is participating in the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2017. The second edition of the Biennial will be held from September 16 to January 7, 2018 at the Chicago Cultural Center under the theme ‘Make New History’. We look forward to working with the artistic directors Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee and the entire Chicago Architecture Biennial 2017 team.
The Cooper Union, NYC is hosting in its Foundation Building Ensamble Studio Inside Out during March 6-26. The exhibition proposes an immersion into the processes of conception and materialization of the firm’s works. Within the framework of this event Debora Mesa Molina will give a lecture on March 8, expanding the conceptual and methodological processes presented by the exhibited work.
Back in December 2016, at the Architecture Association of London, Debora Mesa and Anton Garcia-Abril talked in detail about their project "Structures of Landscape for Tippet Rise Art Center" and how it relates to other Ensamble Studio projects.