Public Lectures

Ravee Choksombatchai  was born in Bangkok, Thailand. She holds a Master of Architecture degree and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She was the recipient of the 1996 Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship Award from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for a project on film space and domestic space in Japan from 1930 to 1960 entitled Seamstress of the Senses. She has been a visiting critic at number of schools, including UCLA, SCI-Arc, California College of Arts and Crafts, and Rhode Island School of Design. She was a Cass Gilbert Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota in 1993 and currently serves as one of the advisors for Public Art Review journal.

Professor Choksombatchai is a principal of LOOM, a collaborative practice of art, architecture, and environmental design founded in 1991. LOOM explores the relationship between sensual perception and physical production. The work of LOOM takes the form of architectural commissions, the design of public spaces, and art and architectural installations. Some of LOOM's work includes the Woman Suffrage Memorial (awarded first prize in competition and a 1998 Visionary Design Progressive Architecture Award), Knox Garden (1996 Progressive Architecture Citation Award and AIA Honor Award), Public Space Atlanta  96 International Competition (Honorable Mention), an installation entitled "Physical Hygiene" at the Southern Exposure Gallery in San Francisco, and several commercial interiors and residences in the U.S., Thailand and Taiwan. Current work includes the Onan Observatory and Sidereal Terrace in southwestern Minnesota; an architectural installation for the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, in the year 2000; an installation entitled "Seamstress of the Senses"; and the design of a rug collection for Elson & Co. She was the recipient of the 1996 Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship Award from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design for a project comparing film space and domestic space in Japan from 1930-1960. Teaching includes design studio and seminars in architectural theory, focusing on representation, site and aesthetics.

To read about some of Professor Choksombatchai's works, lectures and writings go to Loom studio website

April 15, 2003
Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio

Diller + Scofidio is a collaborative, interdisciplinary studio that combines architecture, the visual and the performing arts and is primarily involved in experimental work that takes the form temporary and permanent site-specific installations, multi-media theater, electronic media, and print, as well as architectural commissions. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio are the recipients of the MacArthur Foundation Award, the first fellowship given in the field of architecture. They have been named finalists for a National Design Award from The Cooper Hewitt Museum and were awarded an Obie for Creative Achievement in Off Broadway Theater for Jet Lag, a James Beard Foundation Award for Best New Design for the Brasserie, and a Progressive Architecture Design Award for the Blur Building. They have also recently received the MacDermott Award for Creative Achievement from M.I.T, the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, the Tiffany Award for Emerging Artists, and fellowships from the Graham Foundation, the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism, the N.Y. Foundation for the Arts. D+S is currently working on the Institute for Contemporary Art, a commissioned new museum in Boston, Blur, a media pavilion for Swiss EXPO 2002, Brooklyn Academy of Music Cultural District, a master plan for BAMLDC in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas, a new theater for the Wooster Group in that district, evansandwong, a concept store, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Facsimile, a permanent installation for the new Moscone Convention Center expansion in San Francisco.They are finalists in a selected international competition for the Museum of Art & Technology in New York for EyeBeam Atelier. Recently completed projects include: Travelogues, a permanent installation at the new JFK International Arrivals Terminal in New York. The Brasserie, in the Seagram Building, New York, Master/Slave, an installation at the Cartier Foundation in Paris, Slither, 104 units of social housing in Gifu Japan, Jet Lag, a multi-media work for the stage in collaboration with The Builders Association, EJM1: Man Walking at Ordinary Speed and EJM2: Inertia, two dance collaborations with the Lyon Ballet Opera and Charleroi Danses, all currently touring the U.S, Europe and Asia, Refresh, a web project for the Dia Art Foundation; The American Lawn: Surface of Everyday Life, an exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, InterClone Hotel, an installation at the Ataturk Airport for the Istanbul Biennial, and Pageant, a video installation for the Johannesburg Biennial. In the last several years D+S has completed X,Y, a permanent installation for a pachinko parlor in Kobe Japan, Jump Cuts, a permanent video marquee for the world’s largest Cineplex theater, San Jose CA, Moving Target, a collaborative dance work with Charleroi/Danses Belgium, Business Class, a collaborative theater work with Dumb Type and Hotel Pro Forma for Copenhagen Cultural Capital, Indigestion, an interactive video installation; Subtopia, an electronic project for the ICC Gallery in Tokyo, and Pageant for the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Installations of Diller + Scofidio have been commissioned by the Cartier Foundation, the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum NY, the Walker Art Center Minneapolis, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and Gallery Ma in Tokyo, among others. Their work is in the permanent collection of MoMA, SFMoMA, the Fond National d’Art Contemporain, various FRACs in France, the Musee de la Mode in Paris, and many private collections. Retrospective of their work is on view at the Whitney Museum from March 1st 2003. Elizabeth Diller is Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and Ricardo Scofidio is Professor of Architecture at The Cooper Union. Their bi-lingual book, “Back to the Front: Tourisms of War /Visite aux armee: tourismes de guerre” was published by the FRAC Basse-Normandie. A book of their work, “FLESH,” was reprinted last year by PAP.

Learn more about architects and their works at:

Archined news
Archibot: architecture cafe
DIA center for the arts
Eyebeam

March 10, 2003
KieranTimberlake

KieranTimberlake Associates LLP is an award-winning and internationally published architecture firm noted for its research, innovation and inventive design and planning services. Founded in 1984 by Stephen Kieran, FAIA and James Timberlake, FAIA, and located in Philadelphia, the firm is comprised of fifty professionals. KieranTimberlake Associates' projects include the programming, planning and design of all types of new structures and their interiors; and the renovation, reuse and conservation of existing structures. The firms' clients include arts and civic organizations, cultural and educational institutions, and private residential clients.

Stephen Kieran, FAIA received his Bachelor's degree from Yale University, magna cum laude, and his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of the Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, 1980-81. Prior to his partnership in KieranTimberlake Associates, Mr. Kieran was employed by Allan Greenberg (1976-78) and Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown (1978-82). He is a member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) and a registered architect in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and North Carolina. In addition to his activities at the firm, Mr. Kieran is currently an adjunct associate faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania's Architecture Department. Along with his partner, he has served as Eero Saarinen Distinguished Professor of Design at Yale University and has taught at Princeton University

James Timberlake, FAIA received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit, with honors, and his Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, with honors. He is a recipient of the Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, 1982-83. Prior to his partnership in KieranTimberlake Associates, Mr. Timberlake was employed by Louis Sauer Associates (1976-77) and was an Associate of Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown (1977-84). A registered architect in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC and an NCARB member, he is also an adjunct associate faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture. In addition, he has served as Eero Saarinen Distinguished Professor of Design at Yale University with Mr. Kieran, and has taught at seven universities including Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Their latest book "Manual: [the architecture of KieranTimberlake]", published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2002, as well as "Ornament", published in Philadelphia : Graduate School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, c1977 are on display in the Architecture Library. .

To read more about architects and their works, to read full text of their lectures and articles go to Kierantimberlake.com .