SHoP Architects at SpazioFMG per l'Architettura Milano

SHoP Architectsis the protagonist of the new “episode” - the ninth - of The Architects Series. The event organised by The Plan for SpazioFMGperl'Architettura, exhibition gallery and showroom, located in Milan, of the two top brands of the Iris Ceramica Group: Iris Ceramica and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti. The New York studio picks up the baton left behind by theBIG – Bjarke Ingels Group. The documentary focused on the studio founded by Bjarke Ingels was presented as part of the Fuorisalone 2019 events and will be available in the coming weeks directly on the SpaceFMG website, where it is already possible to catch up on all the previous episodes featured as part of the series.

A room renewed and finished for the occasion with new elements, totemic pulpits highlighting the versatility and colours of the new ceramic slab collections produced by the Iris Ceramica Group , hosted the lecture presented by Corie Sharples, co-founder of the SHoP Architects studio and guest of the inauguration of the event.
The title of the event, "workSHoP”, was a play on words intended to reflect and introduce the studio’s approach to design and its general working method.
SHoP Architects is based in Lower Manhattan, in New York City (NY). The studio was founded in 1996 by 4 partners with different backgrounds and, unusually, not all from the world of architecture. In 1996 the four founders of the firm, Christopher Sharples, Corie Sharples, Gregg Pasquarelli and William Sharples, introduced an unconventional design method that went beyond the architect's specific skills and questioned the commonly accepted practical models of the time, but with a very specific purpose: “improving the quality of public life”. Every design idea is developed as an integration of tradition and innovation, conventional systems and materials, combined with innovative technologies. The 4 founders and the approximately 180 collaborators who today support them, are committed to “challenging” the classic construction process, proving that contrary to what one is led to think, “beauty and technological skills are not mutually exclusive” (The Plan).

The design method adopted by SHoPArchitects, the very subject of Corie Sharples’s lecture illustrated through the presentation of some of the firm’s most recent projects, calls into question commonly accepted models, taking advantage of a range of different skills beyond the traditional ones characteristic of an architect. The architects create a 360-degree project that takes into account the site, the cultural and economic environment, the customer’s physical needs, the eventual budget constraints, as well as construction, branding and marketing techniques together with possible post-occupancy issues. A modus operandi that has earned the studio highly prestigious projects and clients, with a portfolio that includes Google, Uber and the US State Department. This, together with many national and international awards including: the National Academy Distinguished Achievement Award, the Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Architecture Firm in the World” and the Smithsonian/Cooper Hewitt’s “National Design Award for Architecture”. Specific projects completed by the studio have also been recognised with special awards including: the Best Tall Building Americas 2018 awarded by the CTBUH to the American Copper Buildings, the AIA DC Design Awards "Grand Award" for the Midtown Centre and two recent NYCxDESIGN prizes for the 111 W 57th St and Pier 35 buildings.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Title: The Architects Series A documentary on ShoP
Location: SpazioFMGperl'Architettura, via Bergognone 27 - Milan, Italy
Date: June 13 – September 13 2019 (closed in August)
Photos: Mauro Consilvio

www.shoparc.com
www.spaziofmg.com

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