Six winners for the 2014 New Practices New York competition

The AIANY New Practices Committee officially announced the winners of the 2014 New Practices New York competition at the Center for Architecture in New York this week.

The portfolio competition acknowledges young architecture and design firms and promotes their innovative work. Qualified firms had to be founded no earlier than 2004 and be based in New York City's five boroughs.

Out of 64 entries, the jury selected six winners:

• NAMELESS Architecture
• Bittertang
• dlandstudio architecture + landscape
• Fake Industries Architectural Agonism
• form-ula
• PARA-Project

The jury featured: Alejandro Zaera-Polo - Architect, AZPA, and Dean of Architectural Design, Princeton University; Elaine Molinar, AIA, Director Strategic Planning and Business Development, Snøhetta;  Jing Liu, Principal of SO-IL; and William Menking, Editor-in-Chief of Architects Newspaper and Professor at Pratt Institute

Winning firms will be featured in the New Practices New York exhibition at the Center for Architecture on Oct. 1, 2014 - Jan. 17, 2015.

NAMELESS Architecture:

"NAMELESS Architecture is a concept-based design practice run by Unchung Na, Sorae Yoo and Kiseok Oh. After establishing NAMELESS in New York, the practice has since  expanded into Seoul, South Korea. By exploiting synergies created between the two cities, NAMELESS Architecture primarily responds to locality, while employing an inter-urban nomadic approach as a physical strategy in the global era. Ranging from ephemeral pavilions to more enduring buildings and cultural infrastructures, their works explore new possibilities for architecture at the edges of the discipline."

Bittertang:

"Bittertang is a small design farm run by Antonio Torres and  Michael Loverich, who strive to bring happiness into the built  world by referencing the pleasurable world that surrounds us. Our work explores multiple themes, including pleasure, frothiness, biological matter, animal posturing, babies, sculpture and coloration, all unified through bel composto. Explorations are based in digital and visceral matter. Although trained as architects, our interests and methodology associate us closely to the organization of a farm. Bittertang material is bred, coaxed and grown to yield tasty morsels, beautiful new exotic beasts, and fertilizer for future growth."

dlandstudio architecture + landscape:

"Dlandstudio presents a new model of design practice that  transforms urban infrastructure systems for storm water capture, climate resilience and park creation. We ferret out  broken systems, proposing alternative visions across scales, and act as a catalyst for change to improve the resilience of environments from the unit, to the neighborhood, to the campus, to the city with significant grant funding. Dlandstudio is a State and City certified WBE founded by Susannah Drake, FASLA, AIA."

Fake Industries Architectural Agonism:

"Fake Industries Architectural Agonism is an architectural office of diffuse boundaries and questionable taste, orchestrated by Cristina Goberna and Urtzi Grau from their offices in New York, Sydney, and Barcelona, that explores the power of Replicas, i.e. both literal reproductions of existing works of architecture and, in a sense denoted in romance languages, responses to previous statements."

form-ula:

"form-ula’s core design principal explores the play between 'culture of performance' and 'performance of culture.' These interchangeable conceptual frames of “culture” and  “performance” are driven by scale, program, global postioning, energy, and material flow.  Form-ula was founded by three individuals coming from three very different places, but sharing a common interest to be part of a design process that takes a multitude of ideas and relationships to produce exciting architecture: Ajmal Ismail Aqtash, Richard A. Sarrach, and Tamaki Uchikawa."

PARA-Project:

"PARA-Project is an office for architecture based in New York City with a commitment to speculation and collaboration. PARA works on projects of varying scales and media: from commercial, institutional, and residential work, to events and international competitions. Led by Jon Lott, PARA is currently working on two projects for Syracuse University, a private residence on Skaneateles Lake, and the new home for Van Alen Institute (with the Collective-LOK)."

Images courtesy of the 2014 New Practices New York competition.