UNStudio

Profile of UNStudio

Business Name

UNStudio

Location

Netherlands

Services

Architecture

Website

http://www.unstudio.com

Ben van Berkel

Principal(s)

Ben van Berkel (born 1957)

• Ben van Berkel studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987.
• UNStudio established by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos

Caroline Bos (born 1959)

• Studied History of Art at Birkbeck College of the University of London.
• In 1988 she founded Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau with the architect Ben van Berkel, extending their joint theoretical and writing projects to the practice of architecture.

Philosophy

UNStudio is a Dutch architectural design studio specializing in architecture, urban development and infrastructural projects. The name, UNStudio, stands for United Studio referring to the collaborative nature of the practice. At the basis of the practice are a number of long-term goals, which are intended to define and guide the quality of our performance in the architectural field. We strive to make a significant contribution to the discipline of architecture, continue to develop our qualities with respect to design, technology, knowledge and management and to be a specialist in public network projects.

We see as mutually sustaining the environment, market demands and client wishes that enable our work, and we aim for results in which our goals and our client's goals overlap. The office is composed of individuals from all over the world with backgrounds and technical training in numerous fields. As a network practice, a highly flexible methodological approach has been developed which incorporates parametric designing and collaborations with leading specialists in other disciplines. Drawing on the knowledge found in related fields facilitates the exploration of comprehensive strategies which combine programmatic requirements, construction and movement studies into an integrated design. Based in Amsterdam, the office has worked internationally since its inception and has produced a wide range of work ranging from public buildings, infrastructure, offices, residential, products, to urban masterplans.
UNStudio avoids preconceived choices of style, and develops an architecture that is derived from research in which questions of organizational structures take centre position. UNStudio understands the changing role of architects. New production methods developed by the building industry, the current trans-national condition of architecture, new design techniques and the changed, more functionally complex, nature of the architectural project itself have led us to develop new working strategies.

The practice favours an integral approach to architecture; a non-hierarchical, complex, generative and integral design process that takes on board all aspects of architecture. Time, use, circulation, construction and all other material and virtual systems and underlying values are studied, visualized, related to each other, and finally joined into an inclusive organizational structure. The shifting fields of engineering, urbanism and infrastructure form some of the most important parameters of architecture. These fields exist concurrently in one project. The new integral visualization of a project challenges the imagination to also make that switch from construction to spatial effect to organization.

Background

• Founded: 1988
• Offices: 1
• Design team: 80

Key projects

• Mobius House, Het Gooi, NL, 1993-1998, single family house
• Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam, NL, 1990-1996, Urban Bridge
• Arnhem Central, Arnhem, NL, 1996-2010
• La Defense Offices, Almere, NL, 1999-2004, Office complex
• Galleria Department Store, Seoul, Korea, 2002-2004, Facade and interior renovation
• Hotel Castell, Zuoz, CH, 2001-2004, Hotel & Hamam
• Ponte Parodi, Genoa, IT, 2001-2009, Harbour redevelopment
• Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, D, 2001-2006, Automobile Museum
• VilLA NM, Upstate new York, USA, 2000-2007, Single family house
• Theatre Agora, Lelystad, NL, 20002-2005, Theatre and Congress centre

Key publications

• UNStudio, Tachen monograph, Los Angeles, November 2007
• Buy me a Mercedes-Benz, Actar, Barcelona, May 2006
• UNStudio Design Models, monograph by Thames & Hudson, London, April 2006
• Love it Live it, monograph issue by DD magazine, Seoul, April 2004
• UNFold, (Nai Publishers) Rotterdam 2002
• Move, (Goose Press) Amsterdam 1999
• Ben van Berkel, monograph issue by El Croquis 72.I, Madrid, May 1995
• Mobile Forces, monograph by Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1994
• Delinquent Visionaries, a collection of essays, by 010 Pubishers Rotterdam 1993, reprint 1994
• Ben van Berkel, monograph by 010 Publishers, Rotterdam 1992

Key awards

• 2007, Charles Jencks Award, RIBA, London, UK
• 2006, Red Dot Design Award (Circle Sofa)
• 2006, Ingenieurbaupreis with Werner Sobek Ingenieure (Mercedes-Benz Museum, Berlin, DE)
• 2006, AIT Office Application Award Best Innovative Concept (La Defense Offices, Almere, NL)
• 2005, ANWB Award, best parking garage in the Netherlands (Parking garage, Arnhem, NL)
• 2004, Belgian Steel Award (Prince Claus Bridge, Utrecht, NL)
• 2004, British Steel Award (Prince Claus Bridge, Utrecht, NL)
• 1999, Dutch Concrete Award (Mobius House, 't Gooi, NL)
• 1991, Charlotte Kohler Award
• 1983, Eileen Gray Award