As we are all well aware, architecture is a tough practice involving a lot of competition. It usually takes a considerable amount of time for architecture firms to make strong portfolios.
Nevertheless, there are some special firms that, despite their young age, managed to cause a global impact in no time. Working in a Small Architecture Firm Provides Special Benefits; these young architects do not just aim to transform the earth’s builtscape but also change people’s lives. Here are the 3 Young Architecture Firms Set to Change the World.
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Young Architecture Firms Set to Change the World:
1. People’s Architecture Office (PAO)
PAO is a Chinese firm whose mission is to serve the masses. Their buildings address daily realities in different communities at an international level. These startups approach each of their designs as a set of problems to arrive at the most humane solutions.
Photography by © Rui Zhu
Their Courtyard Plugin House, for example, was for the millennium-old courtyards where some families informally resided. It is a modular system that one can literally ‘plug’ into the courtyard to provide the dwellers with modern living facilities. How so? The plugin house is made of light panels that provide structure, insulation, wiring, plumbing, and openings all packed in one piece. Watch its assembly by clicking the image below:
Courtesy of PAO
Likewise, their Tricycle House, Mrs. Fan’s Plugin House, and Plugin Tower are all low-impact houses, in some cases with no foundations, which promote sustainability, affordability, and a healthy lifestyle.
2. TYIN Tegnestue Architects
Norwegian graduates, Andreas G. Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad came together to make this firm in 2008. Their objective is to provide realistic and immediate solutions for people living in poor and underdeveloped countries around the world. Up till now, they have life-changing projects in Thailand, Burma, Haiti, and Uganda.
Photography by © Pasi Aalto
Community participation is a key element of their design approach. For this reason, they first spend at least a few months just making a friendly connection with the people they would build for. As a result, the locals actively contribute to the design and building processes.
TYIN Architects are also pretty fond of reusing different objects in their structures in a creative way. We can see this strategy in their use of old tires to make urinals for an orphanage in Thailand.
Courtesy of TYIN Tegnestue
The firm also teaches us how one simple structure can turn a slum into a well-functioning sustainable community. TYIN Architects built Klong Toe Community Lantern in the largest slum of Bangkok where crime and drug abuse were widespread.
They kept a central football court which limited the structure footprint to 12m x 1.2m while the height went up to 5m. This low-budget project utilized available materials to create an open-air space with seating, metal railings, and playful climbing areas. The Community Lantern turned Klong Toe into a safe, enjoyable, and social area in the heart of Bangkok.
You can learn plenty of practical architectural solutions to solve social problems at their website.
3. NLÉ
Led by Kunlé Adeyemi, NLÉ aims to improve social, economic, and environmental conditions through their work. The firm has groundbreaking projects in China, Korea, Italy, and Nigeria. Their main interest is to tackle problems resulting from climatic changes and rapid urban growth in coastal communities.
Photography by © Laurian Ghinitoiu
Examples of this include the floating school in Makoko (a flood-prone area of Lagos) and MFS II, the floating school in Venice. Both designs adapt well to their local conditions and are easy to assemble; it takes a maximum of 10 days and 4 builders to assemble each.
NLÉ’s other contemporary projects are also strictly embedded in their urban contexts, like the Green Line Arts Center in Chicago. The Center welcomes local as well as international arts to form an identity for the neighborhood it’s built-in.
We hope that these 3 Young Architecture Firms never grow old.
