UNStudio

Introduction

UNStudio, founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, is a Dutch architectural design studio specializing in architecture, urban development and infrastructural projects. The name, UNStudio, stands for United Network Studio referring to the collaborative nature of the practice.

Throughout more than 20 years of international project experience, UNStudio has continually expanded its capabilities through prolonged collaboration with an extended network of international consultants, partners, and advisors across the globe. This network, combined with the centrally located offices in Amsterdam and Shanghai, enables UNStudio to work efficiently anywhere in the world. With already over seventy projects in Asia, Europe, and North America, the studio continues to expand its global presence with recent commissions in among others China, South-Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Germany and the USA.

As a network practice, a highly flexible methodological approach has been developed which incorporates parametric designing and collaborations with leading specialists in other disciplines. The office has worked internationally since its inception and has produced a wide range of work ranging from public buildings, infrastructure, offices, residential, products, to urban masterplans. Pivotal UNStudio projects within these fields include; the New Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart (Germany 2006), the large scale mixed-use project Raffles City in Hangzhou (China 2008 – 2013), the Galleria Department Store in Seoul (2005), the urban and architectural plan for 88 residential towers of I’Park City in Suwon (2007 – 2012 KR), department store Star

Place in Kaohsiung (TW 2009), private family house VilLA NM in Upstate New York (USA 2007), the Agora Theatre in Lelystad (NL 2007) and the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam (NL 1996).

In 2007 UNStudio was named Architect of the Year 2006-2007. In that same year Ben van Berkel received the Charles Jencks Award, while a year later the Mercedes-Benz Museum won the German Hugo-Häring Preis. Ben van Berkel was recently appointed the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Attainable design

UNStudio is committed to the promotion and practice of sustainable design. Environmental issues such as economic, social and ecological sustainability are considered from the initial stages of each project both at a global and local level. It is through looking at both financial and social feasibility that the term ‘Attainability’ was coined within the office. Attainability is simply the contraction of the word ‘affordable’ and ‘sustainable’ but it speaks to the inclusive approach embedded within the practice. Concurrent to the objectives of UNStudio the ambition of the client is paramount in order to realize successful sustainable features in any project. We are currently developing several projects with LEED, BREEAM and DGNB certificates.

Integral Methodology

The practice favors an integral approach to architecture; a non-hierarchical, complex, generative and integral design process that takes on board all aspects of architecture. Time, use, circulation, construction and all other material and virtual systems and underlying values are studied, visualized, related to each other, and finally joined into an inclusive organizational structure. The shifting fields of engineering, urbanism and infrastructure form some of the most important parameters of architecture. These fields exist concurrently in one project. The new integral visualization of a project challenges the imagination to also make that switch from construction to spatial effect to organization.

Responsible Approach

UNStudio understands the changing role of architects. New production methods developed by the building industry, the current transnational condition of architecture, new design techniques and the changed, more functionally complex, nature of the architectural project itself have led us to develop new working strategies. We are interested in helping our clients develop an insight into a location, its problems and potentials. This insight then serves as a decision making tool for those responsible for the planning of the location in question. The architecture we propose results from our continuous search for the balance between a process-oriented approach with its unknown outcome and an enduring professional vision.

Projects

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  V on Shenton

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  Park & Rijn Towers

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  Driftwood & Silk Squares, Parador Laminates Edition ‘No Limits’

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  Star Place, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

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  Galleria Centercity

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  VilLA NM

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