Knowledge Matters: UNStudio

Description

The profession 'architect' has expanded in recent years, not just in terms of the cultural influences, but equally with respect to scientific advances. The inventive economy has also led to new lifestyle choices and a new role for the architect and architectural practice. We talk of an architecture that is either pre-crisis or postcrisis, the latter resulting in a call for responsible architecture (affordable, sustainable, attainable and healthy). This change has led to changes in the UNStudio practice; the introduction of Knowledge Platforms and the development from a network to a knowledge practice about UNStudio's developed Knowledge Platforms, to help architects to run a better studio and to share knowledge.

Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos established the Amsterdam-based van Berkel & Bos in 1988, which became UNStudio in 1998. Van Berkel was appointed the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2011. Caroline Bos is co-founder of the architectural firm UNStudio. She also writes, lectures and teaches architecture at various schools.