All installations will be free and open to the public from Saturday, December 3,
through Sunday, December 11, 2011, nightly from 6pm to 10pm.

Participants in this year's DesCours include:
01 Casey Hughes + Hiroshi Jacobs
02 Travis Bost
03 Scott Berger + Rebecca Miller + Kevin Muni (MaMBo)
04 Jennifer Harmon (cyanitecture) + Spencer Kroll + Benjamin Thomas
05 Florian Tuercke (urban audio) + René Rissland (eyland 07)
06 Anthony Vanky (e15)
07 Christophe Gauspohl + Mario Schambon + Leviathan
08 Drew Shawver + Jonathan Marcantel + Allison Bohl
09 Noa Younse + Steven Tsai + Carson Smuts (SPACESHIP)
10 Igor Siddiqui + Matt Hutchinson (PATH/ISSSStudio)

Please return to this page for the most current
DesCours 2011 architect/artist locations, descriptions, and images.

INSTALLATION 01   |   1000 St. Charles Avenue (AIA New Orleans Center for Design)
Casey Hughes + Hiroshi Jacobs
Los Angeles, CA + Washington, DC

TITLE: Vector Knot

DESCRIPTION:
Vector Knot is the second iteration in a series of studies on the relationship between dimensionality and flatness, exposing the unique qualities of 1D, 2D, and 3D. The installation utilizes the individual and combined potential of each dimension, exploring how lines can suggest surfaces, and how surfaces in turn can suggest volume and enclosure.

The perception of volume from a series of closely spaced lines is echoed in mathematics. Vector Knot's spaces are composed of doubly ruled surfaces (hyperbolic paraboloids) — which by definition can be described by infinitely tangent lines in two opposing directions. Space is only implied (through lines), leaving the creation of enclosure (through surface and volume) up to the viewer. The coexistence of the 1D, 2D, and 3D in Vector Knot offers an oscillating experience that is simultaneously volume and line, spatial and flat.

Vector Knot specifically studies the 3D spline curves that are created by the bungee connections to the wire guide cable. Conventionally a spline is a device for drawing complex curves. It consists of a long strip of flexible wood that is fixed at a number of vector knots (weighted points) to hold a smooth curve. The spacing, direction, and force of the bungee connections determines the curvature of the spline guide cable.

Vector Knot is made up of 6,000 feet of custom-made 1/8"-diameter black bungee cord and fixed in place by over 700 hardware connections.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Casey Hughes Architects
www.chughes.net
Casey Hughes is the principal of Casey Hughes Architects, a Los Angeles–based architecture firm that engages experiential, organizational and cultural issues through research and design. Casey is a licensed architect in the state of California and a LEED Accredited Design Professional certified by the United States Green Building Council.

Casey has worked on a wide range of architectural projects including design, documentation and construction management of single and multi-family residences, retail and restaurant spaces, as well as educational and cultural facilities.

His design work has won several awards, including first place in the Lyceum Competition for which he received a six-month travel grant to research architecture in Japan and the American Institute of Architects' Henry Adams Medal for Excellence in Architecture. Casey’s work has also appeared in books and periodicals, including Dwell and The New York Times.

Casey received a Bachelors in Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), graduating as valedictorian. He also holds a Masters in Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) where his work was selected to appear in numerous publications and exhibitions.

Upon graduation from the GSD, Casey taught an architecture studio in the Harvard GSD Career Discovery Program. He has also taught advanced graduate architecture studios at the Boston Architectural College and has served as a critic at several other universities, such as Woodbury University and University of Southern California.

Casey has served on the Advisory Committee for the Saturn Elementary School since 2009.

Hiroshi Jacobs
www.hilojacobs.com
Hiroshi Jacobs is an educator, architect, and installation artist working in Washington, DC. His personal and professional design work has appeared in numerous publications and exhibitions, including A+U, ArchDaily, Studioplex, Harvard GSD Platform, Works in Progress, the 2010 Venice Biennale, and the Harvard Arts First Festival.

Hiroshi is currently a lecturer and studio critic with The Catholic University of America, School of Architecture and Planning where he teaches a third-year general design studio and co-teaches an advanced graduate level course in parametric design. From 2009–2011, he served as an Adjunct Lecturer with the Tulane University School of Architecture, where he taught courses in Building Information Modeling (BIM) and computational design. In 2011, he taught an architecture design studio in the Harvard Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program, and from 2009–2011 he was the principal instructor for numerous workshops in digital design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Hiroshi has more than a decade of experience with BIM technology and is the founder and director of RevitCity.com, an online community of Revit users with over a quarter-million members. Professionally, Hiroshi has facilitated the use of BIM technology on more than 100 design projects; and in his capacity as Applications Administrator at RTKL, he consulted with the U.S. Department of State Overseas Building Operations on various BIM integration research projects.

Hiroshi received his Master in Design Studies degree from Harvard University, where he was the recipient of the Daniel L Shodek Award for Technology and Sustainability. He received his Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees from Tulane University.

INSTALLATION 02   |   800 Carondelet Street (Stephens Garage)
Travis Bost
Cambridge, MA

TITLE: HYDROFIELD

DESCRIPTION:
"The Pig Goes Down the Python"
— Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Summer 2011

The flooding along the Mississippi River in 2011 was the worst seen since the catastrophic 1927 event. Though widespread destruction was common upstream of New Orleans, the event passed largely unnoticed just blocks from this installation behind earthen levees. This installation is an effort to make visual, and to comment on, the interconnected field of hydrology and humanity that is the Mississippi Valley. It presents this otherwise hidden dynamic system through real hydrological data, collected in the field by the US Army Corps of Engineers in an altered temporal and spatial condition that makes palpable the movement of water between the cities of New Madrid, MO; Memphis, TN; Helena, AR; Arkansas City, AR; Vicksburg, MS; Natchez, MS; Baton Rouge, LA; and New Orleans, LA as well as the influence of human development on the system.

As the lights of the field of modules flicker rapidly, the installation begins telling the story of the 2011 flood through the heights of the river gages in each of these cities starting November 1, 2010. Every two seconds, the balloon of each station is raised or lowered based on the level of the river at the given day in history and the severity of the river's height is reflected in the gradient from blue to red. The flood crescendos in the middle of the year and slowly recedes to its low condition at the last reading on October 31, 2011. At this time the story begins anew. While the story unfolds visitors are invited to proceed through the field of balloons where their presence impacts the function of each module, thus implicating human presence with the worsening flood conditions. By overcoming forms of concealment and externalization — whether by earthen walls, vast distance, or time — through data processing, a new more fluid conception of the hydro/geo–graphy appears.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Travis Bost is a designer of architecture, natural systems, urbanism, information and environments. He is currently developing thesis research related to flexible urban-natural environments driven by real-time data as part of the Master of Design Studies program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, MA.

INSTALLATION 03   |   923 Constance Street (St. Joe Lofts)
Scott Berger + Rebecca Miller + Kevin Muni (MaMBo)
New Orleans, LA + San Francisco, CA

TITLE: Rendezvous

DESCRIPTION:
Rendezvous is an interactive installation which explores the relationships between spatial planes — ceiling twists into wall, seating, then floor — blending the space into a singular three-dimensional experience. The translucent canopy is made of an aggregate of components, joined together by an overlapping of material, similar to a formation of migrating birds. Rendezvous is a place for people to gather, a specific place and time for people to assemble and present themselves. The aggregate form of Rendezvous stretches from within the courtyard to the outer limit of the carriage way, creating a visible yet sensitive marker at the street edge. Seating causes people to linger, bringing the public together in a space that is normally private, and viewers will be able to discover the project at a closer level. Shadows are a key component of the installation. Primary shadows will be cast from the pattern created by the overlapping panels, followed by shadows cast from existing elements within the courtyard. Finally, a more subtle overlay of shadows will be created by the movement of people through the project, creating a dynamic and constantly changing space.

INSTALLATION 04   |   923 Constance Street, courtyard space #2 (St. Joe Lofts)
Jennifer Harmon (cyanitecture) + Spencer Kroll + Benjamin Thomas
Ann Arbor, MI

TITLE: Starfield

DESCRIPTION:
We see the night sky as a flat plane punctuated by intense pinpoints of starlight, mostly unaware of the vast distances that light has traveled to reach our own planet. For centuries we have looked at the network of stars and woven mystical narratives into the points of light, seeking answers, stories and guidance. Starfield recreates the constellation Draco and presents us with a new view of our night sky, providing a three-dimensional lacework from the stars that cast their light upon us. Starfield brings to New Orleans a small portion of the sky so that we may feel closer to the heavens and surrounded by the celestial light that bathes us at night.

Starfield's triangulated structure creates a unique mesh derived from the relative positions of the stars surrounding the constellation Draco. Each star becomes a point where the structural members meet. By filling the roofless void of a courtyard, the flattened image of the sky is replaced by a new reality. As visitors move under the installation, the constellation and the night sky are released from their earthbound image and are presented as a new and dynamic experience.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Cyanitecture
Founded by Jennifer Harmon, Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture, Cyanitecture, a multi-disciplinary design practice that explores the relationship between convergent practices in architecture, graphic design and fine art.

Jennifer Harmon
Jennifer Harmon is a Lecturer in Architecture at the Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning at the University of Michigan and the Principal and Founder of Cyanitecture. In 2010, she was awarded the Inaugural Graham Foundation Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony for her interdisciplinary investigations between Art and Architecture. Her research interests explore the relationship between memory and space in both personal and collective realms, which often reveal the distortion that is a result of the parallax between perceived/remembered spaces versus the built environment. Jennifer's extensive backgrounds in advertising and graphic design are of great influence to her architectural practices. Her talents have led her to a successful practice as a lead designer on major hospitality and education projects which have gained national recognition through their successful execution and completion.

Spencer Kroll
Kroll's interests lie in the applications of architecture within the breadth of untamed landscape with intentions to influence and design minimal footprint conditions in constrast to the consumption habits of the 21st century. Supported by a background in design and outdoor conservation, Spencer is drawn towards a hands-on craft of careful execution with a direct impact on the immediate environment. Kroll is finishing his Master of Architecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Miami University.

Benjamin Thomas
Thomas focuses on the social role of architecture as it relates to community-based design. He aims to have a career that champions flexible, social architecture without ambiguity. As a designer and assistant project manager at Paul Davis Restoration and Remodeling of SEWI he gained valuable experience in hands-on construction, project management and scheduling, and architectural design. During his employment, Thomas worked on multiple award winning projects, including a NARI-Wisconsin silver award for a whole house restoration under $250,000. Benjamin is currently finishing his Master of Architecture at the University of Michigan and graduated Magna Cum Laude with honors in major from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

INSTALLATION 05   |   743 Camp Street (Lighthouse Building)
Florian Tuercke (urban audio) + René Rissland (eyland 07)
Nuremberg, Germany

TITLE: outside > in

DESCRIPTION:
The interactive installation outside > in transcends public space to an audiovisual abstraction. The basic idea is an sensory transformation of urban space on a sonic as well as on a visual level. The outside world will be filtered, reflected, mirrored and rearranged in the theater. Inside and outside space are brought together and combined to a temporary new space condition that merges two realities to a subtle correlation.

The architect René Rissland and the sound artist Florian Tuercke collaborate on various projects, whereas the reassessment of urban space and sound is their common ground.

With this site-specific installation they aim to offer a new perception of New Orleans' urban reality.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
René Rissland (D)
Architect, Urban Thinker and Designer

born in Borna (Germany), lives and works in Nuremberg. He studied Architecture at the Postgraduate Program for Architecture and Urban Research — akademie c/o — of the Nuremberg Academy of Fine Arts.
Since 2011 he is assistant professor at the Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences Nuremberg.

In 2006 he founded the office eyland 07. The office’s field of interest focuses on the peripheral areas of architecture and city planning, often working in interdisciplinary teams together with landscape architects, artists, musicians and sociologists. The relationship of architecture and sound is one of the topics of focus in the work of eyland 07.

www.eyland.de
www.tunedcity.net

Florian Tuercke (D)
Sound and Media Artist

born in Nuremberg (Germany), lives and works in Nuremberg. He studied art and art in public space (postgrad.) at the Nuremberg Academy of Fine Arts.

Since 2007 he works as a freelance artist and realizes projects in public space on a national and international level.
He is also involved in different interdisciplinary urban projects together with architects, musicians and sociologists.
The relation of space and sound is one of his field of work.

www.urban-audio.org
www.stadt-akustik.de

INSTALLATION 06   |   301 Magazine Street, 3rd floor
Anthony Vanky (e15)
Cambridge, MA

TITLE: Flight Attentive

DESCRIPTION:
As air travel has become ubiquitous and utilitarian, the introduction of the A380 and 787 show air travel's power to capture the imagination of the general public, and captivate them with images of shared cultures, and the promise of an interconnected, global community. Adequately reflecting the popular excitement of flying, in Andy Warhol's words, "I just can't get over the crazy feeling I get when I look out and see the clouds and know I'm really up-there." Yet, even with the knowledge of these transit infrastructure coming and going frequently above our heads, the network is otherwise hidden — no real sense of the logics, rhythms and patterns of what is moving above us.

This project seeks to make evident this network in architectural space, allowing for one to observe the tracks from Louis Armstrong Airport. By using FAA real-time data, the flight activities of the previous 24 hours are condensed into an evening and rendered through an actuated, field of airplanes. Locally, the movements of visitors initiate other playful tracking games within the space of the installation. Thus, the architectural space is transformed throughout the night as a replay of the day and of the moment, serving as a means of engaging both data and the dynamism of the New Orleans region and its economy.

INSTALLATION 07   |   200 Carondelet Street, bank space (American Bank + Trust Company Building)
Christophe Gauspohl + Mario Schambon + Leviathan
Chicago, IL + New York, NY

TITLE: Orogenous Zones     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orogeny

DESCRIPTION:
This installation is an interactive social experiment that explores the ideas of man's dominance over nature, which paradoxically proves nature as eminent power. It addresses ideas of fractal geometry and its analogies to the formation of natural phenomena, such as mountain erosion, coral growth and cloud formations. Constructed in the historic Orpheum Theater, this piece is both spatially immersive and interactive via the use of sensor-driven audio.

Wrapping its complex network of skeletal rope structure are two layers of folding and undulating "skin." In a parasitic fashion, the installation invades the classical theater space by weaving in and out of the spacious voids. By physically enveloping its audience, the piece is conceived to have a very visually enticing and welcoming aesthetic, both during the day and at night. Projected onto the surfaces are various abstracted motion graphics imagery that help ground the spatial narrative, while revealing some hidden layers.

Like the majority of our projects, this is a highly eco-friendly installation made largely from salvaged materials.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Christophe Gauspohl
Since 1996, Christophe has been creative co-director of M5, a Chicago-based multidisciplinary artist collective which orchestrates large-scale interactive exhibits fusing installation, video, fashion and performance. After receiving a degree in architecture from Georgia Tech, his passions have led him to creative residencies in 6 cities over several continents. Christophe strives to harmoniously fuse various mediums while embracing the ever-prevalent dialogue between the constructed and the organic. His current projects explore the intersections of architecture, design, fashion and performance. Christophe is the director/founder of UNscene, the country's most widely distributed urban guide, which collectively promotes (via print and web) a network of independent businesses and events throughout twelve cities nationwide.

Mario Schambon
Mario Schambon is a Colombian-born artist and musician currently residing in New York. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, his early interest in the arts and music would prove to be a driving force for him in the following years. After Attending the Atlanta College of Art he traveled to Canada and interned with the Shadowland Puppet Theatre working on the Askenazi Festival at Harbour Front and a pilot for the CBC. After returning stateside he began working primarily in sculpture and created commissioned works for the Bonarroo Music Festival as well as for the city of Roswell, GA. In 2008 he was awarded the commision for The Wanderer National Memorial in Jekyll Island, GA. Recent Projects have included two new murals with the Sunday Southern Art Revival group for the City of Atlanta, a tour of the US as part of Atlas Sound and numerous collaboration and performances with artist such as Damo Suzuki, Sonia Sanchez, Mike Khoury and Dance Elixir.
Currently he is a working member of Helado Negro a music project from Brooklyn.

Leviathan
Leviathan is a design-focused production studio specializing in the creation of large-scale visual experiences across all media. The emerging studio's leaders are champions of breakthrough design and branding who draw from backgrounds within the world's leading digital agencies, production companies, visual effects and motion studios. Also leveraging the talents of extraordinary storytellers, software developers, producers and artists, Leviathan develops cutting edge content that maximizes the greatest capabilities of today's media platforms, from broadcast to experiential installations.

INSTALLATION 08   |   212 Loyola Avenue (Saratoga Building)
Drew Shawver + Jonathan Marcantel + Allison Bohl
Lafayette, LA + New Orleans, LA

TITLE: WETLANDS IMMERSION

DESCRIPTION:
There is no element more fundamental to the unique landscape condition of Southern Louisiana than water. Its pervasiveness in shaping the topography, climate, culture, technology, agriculture, and landscape as a whole is undeniable, yet its ubiquity often remains largely unseen. Its phenomenal presence in the land has dictated historically unprecedented infrastructural control and transportation systems, designed to maintain this pervasive level of physical and psychological separation from an otherwise inhospitable environment.

This installation is designed to bring occupants into direct contact with properties and processes of the Louisiana wetlands, both familiar and unseen. It is a spatial and multi-sensory manifestation of this viscous environment, heightening occupant awareness of the hydrological landscape we inhabit at drastically varying scales. It simultaneously accommodates an active sedimentation filtration system, vivifying the underlying process responsible for the formation of Louisiana's topography by the Mississippi River; an iridescent wall of swamp water and floating aquatic plants, exposing a glowing cross-section of the wetlands' underbelly; and a translucent double-skinned humidity wall, making visually apparent the presence of water in the air, imprinted with large scale multiple exposure photographs of the wetlands by Louisiana artist and film maker Allison Bohl. The overall experience is one of overlapping and contrasting vantages. It is simultaneously up-close and distant, physically engaging and visually compelling, a visceral exposition of perceived landscape phenomena and a diagrammatic representation of the complex processes that shape them.

The space acts as a rural Louisiana artifact within an urban Louisiana context. A venue for visitors to reconsider their relationship to the wetlands by allowing them to experience it within the urban context of New Orleans, a city whose very existence is dependent on its ability to insulate itself from its natural environment.

For more images and information about this installation, please download this PDF (4.62MB).

Special thanks to Trapolin-Peer Architects for supporting this installation.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
After completing his architectural thesis investigating the reuse of ruins and barns in rural Virginia, Drew Shawver went on to intern in the design studio of Tom Kundig in Seattle, and later to work in the architecture studio of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects in Toronto, Ontario. In addition to currently pursuing his own design research, he is a visiting instructor of architecture and design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Jonathan Marcantel is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's School of Architecture and Design, whose thesis focused on the use of algae as an emerging technology and its potential for use in the creation of public space. He is currently practicing architecture in New Orleans at Trapolin-Peer Architects.

Allison Bohl is a Louisiana artist, filmmaker, photographer, and graphic designer, who graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a concentration in experimental media. Her documentary films depict the unique culture, food, agriculture, and landscape of Southern Louisiana. Along with Peter Dehart, Allison is a founding partner at MakeMade Designs in Lafayette.

Technical support provided by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Center for Ecology and Environmental Technology. Additional project support from Trapolin-Peer Architects.

INSTALLATION 09   |   129 University Place (Orpheum Theater)
Noa Younse + Steven Tsai + Carson Smuts (SPACESHIP)
New York, NY + New Orleans, LA

TITLE: inBloom

DESCRIPTION:
This installation aims to create a dynamic relationship between the exhibit and the onlooker. With all the technology available today, we hope that we can facilitate a stronger link between our consciousness and the environment we impact.

The intention of the design is to use simple methods of construction and electronics to create a visually compelling installation.

The presentation consists of a floating field of blossoms that are interactively linked to various hot spots around the site. Each blossom pulsates slowly while hovering in the dimly lit space. As the participant walks through the exhibit the blossoms react inversely to their position. When it detects a prolonged presence the idle pulsating stops and the blossom flowers. While the user remains in the hot spot the expanded blossom is frozen until they move on. When this happens, the blossom retracts until it returns to an idle state.

Taking advantage of the dimly lit space, the blossoms expose themselves through a transformation of both form and light. The glow from each blossom changes in color temperature and intensity depending on the duration of the user interaction.

Though the presentation is a simple one, a level of complexity is generated from the interaction of the participants — creating a conscious understanding of the environment they are in.

For updates on inBloom's progress, please visit SPACESHIP's blog.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
SPACESHIP is a dynamic design collective composed of Carson Smuts, Steven Tsai, and Noa Younse. All three graduated from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in 2011.

Their passion for design stems from a belief that all scales of creativity contribute to the progress of society and culture. They believe they have a responsibility as designers to develop new ways of thinking and new tools to address the varying scales of urbanization taking place all over the world. They look to the natural, urban and social fabric for guidance in their work.

At the core of their designs is the ability to discover a project's potential through experienced eyes. They have amassed a diverse body of work as individuals and bring together their interests when addressing the complexities of a new project. Sustainable design is inherent to each project and is approached with the desire to improve the quality of the user's experience while respecting the formal and functional parameters. They often employ digital design in conjunction with traditional and emergent fabrication methods to explore the design formally and test the structural and material constraints. SPACESHIP sees each component of the creative process as an opportunity to further the understanding of design exploration and theory.

INSTALLATION 10   |   1445 Pauger Street
Igor Siddiqui + Matt Hutchinson (PATH/ISSSStudio)
Austin, TX + San Francisco, CA

TITLE: Bayou-luminescence

DESCRIPTION:
Bayou-luminescence is an architectural installation that fuses material surface, structural volume and lighting effects into an immersive spatial experience. Its title is a play-on-words that refers to bioluminescence, a phenomenon whereby living organisms produce and emit light. Like a strange creature in the night, the installation glows from within, casting intricate shadows far beyond its envelope, while luring visitors to enter its tactile interior.

Cast from translucent urethane rubber, and highly differentiated in its pattern geometry, the ornamental synthetic skin is stretched over a double-curved steel framing system. The resultant lace-like pattern expands the range of opulent surfaces found in the New Orleans region, from the alligator skin and tropical vegetation of its natural landscape to the wrought ironwork and provocative lingerie in the city. Scaled so that it is larger than a single body, but smaller than a conventional room, the self-supporting volume is both a temporary skin for the individual inside and a lantern that through intricate illumination transforms a larger social space. Composed of two conjoined forms — one which embraces a vertical site element and another which is to be walked into — the overall volume suggest that, in morphogenetic terms, it may be a part of a larger, cellular condition, and that it is thus a part of a greater system. Structurally, the volume utilizes the tension between the elastic rubber surface and the rigid metal frame.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:
Matt Hutchinson, RA
PATH, San Francisco, CA + Brooklyn, NY
www.patharc.com

As an architect/fabricator, Matt Hutchinson believes in the reciprocal relationship between designing and making. Interests in the potential convergence of traditional technique and digital process inform his own architecture and design practice — PATH. He operates PATH as an open and collaborative model with work that employs physical prototypes, fabrication consulting, and speculative research.

Hutchinson's previous professional design experience, ranging from Vincent James Associates (Minneapolis), to SHoP Architects (NYC), and to FACE Design (NYC) (among others) has afforded him a diverse and truly multi-disciplinary perspective. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture at Kent State University and his Master of Architecture at Yale University, where he received the Eero Saarinen scholarship and was twice a finalist for the H. I. Feldman design prize, the school's highest design honor. Currently he is a registered architect in the state of New York.

Matt has taught several undergraduate architecture studios and accompanying Visual/Digital Media courses at the California College of the Arts since 2008. He also taught the Spring 2009 Solar Decathlon Studio — a part of the widely recognized "Refract House" entry.

Igor Siddiqui
ISSSSTUDIO, Austin, TX + Brooklyn, NY
www.isssstudio.com

Igor Siddiqui is the principal and co-founder of ISSSStudio, a practice whose body of work has, since 2006, included product designs, interior environments, and buildings. He is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture. His work has been presented and exhibited at numerous public venues, including the Center for Architecture and Flux Factory in New York, Gallery 3A in San Francisco, the Ogden Museum in New Orleans, the Bakery Design Collective in San Diego, and Axis Gallery in Tokyo.

Among his recent publications are essays 'Surface Fatigue' in Sophia Vyzoviti's book Soft Shells: Porous and Deployable Architectural Screens (Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 2011) and 'Tessellated Floorscape (2010– ): interior acts of production, siting and participation' in IDEA Journal (Queensland University of Technology, 2011). He has also been profiled and interviewed for SNAP magazine, suckerPUNCH Daily and Archinect.

His professional experience includes work for Kohn Pedersen Fox (1998 99) and 1100 Architect (1999 2006), both in New York City. Prior to his tenure-track academic appointment at UT, Siddiqui taught at the California College of the Arts, Parsons the New School for Design, New York Institute of Technology, Transart Institute at Danube University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Tulane University, followed by a post-professional Master of Architecture degree from Yale University.

DesCours 2011 PARTICIPANT AGREEMENT (PDF, 42KB)

Past DesCours architects and artists include:

2010
Eric Bury + Farid Noufaily
Elizabeth Chen + Arthur Terry
Chimera+
Michael Cohen + Sarah Weisberg
Hamilton Anderson Associates
Haruka Horiuchi
John Kleinschmidt + Andy Sternad
Luftwerk
John Manaves (Protostudio)
Eric Nulman
Ed Richardson + April Clark (Clark | Richardson Architects)
Gernot Riether
Doris Sung
Wendy Teo Boon Ting + Mingli Chang
TZCO (Thaddeus Zarse)

2009
Christophe Gauspohl + Scott Carter + Mario Schambon
Hiroyuki Futai + EP3 (Musashino University)
Marshall Brown + Dana Carter
Jennifer Hiser
Hideyuki Ando + Tetsutoshi Tabata + Maria Adriana Verdaasdonk + Junji Watanabe
Grégoire Diehl (Smoothcore)
Sadi Brewton + Jonathan Davies
Mary Hale
Tiffany Lin + Mark Oldham (LinOldhamOffice)
Leah Nanpei + Koko Hovaguimian (nan.ko studio)
Jimmy Stamp + Sergio Padilla + Frederick Stivers (NO/other) + Gumbo Labs
Francis Bitonti + Brian Osborn
Virginia San Fratello + Ronald Rael (Rael San Fratello Architects)