Today I had the pleasure of getting to know more about Evan Stoller of Stoller Works. I sent him a list of questions and he answered me with a the fascinating story of his career path and all of these beautiful photographs. Take it away Evan!
Stoller with his Rail Table
My mother was a painter and my father photographed modern architecture. Modernism was kind of a religion in our home. Living with the works of family friends such as the Eameses, George Nakashima and Alexander Calder was an education in design.
After studying architecture at Pratt Institute I began doing sculpture in NYC. My friends and I rented an abandoned cheese factory in what was to become Tribeca. For five years I had a fabulous skylit studio and produced a series of animal sculptures that culminated in a 9’ x 9’ frog that was designed to jump in the rain. To me, The Frog was my first real-world study in architecture. Organic systems were interpreted, organized and overlaid within an aluminum and spring steel skeletal system. The concept of a moving animal developed along an architectonic path of questions and creative solutions.
Stoller’s Frog Sculpture
My wife Phyllis and I moved out of the city to an abandoned airport, and then to a disused gas station. I began making larger sculptures that were influenced by the lattice construction of cranes and the structural purity of bridges. I completed works that appeared more functional – things that looked like organic lifting devices and sculptures such as ‘Ramp’:
Ramp
‘Ramp’ is a 30’ long incline topped with asphalt. I called them ‘standing structures’ and they developed from, and as an expression of, the environment in which they were displayed. Some stood on long skids for optimal ground support or had pod-like feet to resist sinking into the turf. My sculptures were becoming supporting structures, close relatives of the tables I’m doing now. I completed a huge environmental sculpture in NYC that brought me back into the world of architecture. ‘Maya Station’ was an array of 40’ tension trusses spanning six 20’ tall towers and 10’ tall gates. My inspiration were the forms and spaces of a Mayan city. The sculpture defined an environment on an architectural scale, and after it’s completion I became an architect.
Maya Station
Architectural commissions are a real ‘through the looking glass’ experience. The thrill and complexity of architecture is always a voyage through the unexplored, an arduous but incredible experience. We built our own home and I began designing a series of houses, studios and more recently a medical clinic and a theater.
Stoller’s Home
A painting studio by Stoller
My most recent sculpture seems like both an architectural model and a huge piece of exterior furniture. ‘Hudson Ecliptic’ is a modular 40′ diameter circular form that floats over rough terrain. It’s constructed from 120 cellular units that each display a tiny painting. Seeming like a chain of galleries, the sculpture becomes a miniature museum.
Hudson Ecliptic
Stoller Works furniture started as custom pieces for architectural clients. I strive to express structural clarity and demonstrate an efficiency of of materials and fabrication. Working with big beams I invented a system to reinforce thin beam slices with tension rods and bolt them into extremely strong and rigid trestle assemblies. With remainders of deep rolled structural sections I make standing desks and podium tables.
My tables combine high-tech trestle structures with the warm surface of wood tabletops. We use walnut and ash from known sources and avoid the use of pollutants in manufacturing our products. All our plywood is FSC certified and coated with UV-cured finishes.
Hey All! I realize since I’ve now seen this video, that the whole world probably has (well, approximately 150K people) but it’s pretty neat. Who knew the Ukrainians had such mad light engineering skills?
This is the Annie Residence, Austin Texas, by Bercy Chen Studio LP. I love the blues and grays next to the leaves and the way the glass reflects the trees in this shot. Here’s a little more about the project:
The house was built for two families in Austin and therefore is split into two living areas. The house consists of two pavilions connected by a glass hallway.
The design was greatly influenced by different regions and cultures. Both the use of the roof as an outdoor living space and the shading devices are derived from Moorish architecture. The body of water and the spatial continuity between inside and outside was inspired by Asian architecture. while the structural transparency of the volumes and the minimalist aspect of the interior was derived from Japanese pavilions.
The house is constructed of a modular steel frame. The frame is infilled with prefab thermasteel panels to minimize construction on-site waste. The structural frame is exposed, showing the construction process and articulating the house’s facades. The repetitive modular method, as well as the prefabrication allowed for greater efficiency during construction.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharon Portnoy, an architect featured on the A.I.A.S.F. House Tour in Marin County. When I asked her about her inspirations, she mentioned MacKay Lyons Sweetapple Architects so I immediately searched for their work on the internet. Ah yes, I spent another hour away from working and browsed their entire portfolio. In addition to designing beautiful buildings and showing them via spectacular photography, they include models and sketches as simple as this one, sketches that portray just how much they have thought about site planning and space:
I’ll tempt you with a few images here (it’s really hard to choose just one; at last count I had swiped twelve), but I’ll highly recommend you check out their website. Also, if you just feel like “I want to go to there!”, they have designed some cottages in Nova Scotia that you can rent. I am not sure I’ve seen a more sublime spot than the one they are situated upon. For more information about staying there, visit The Shobac Cottage and Studio Rentals site. Here’s a peek at their setting:
What better time to be inspired by SANAA than the Monday after they won the Pritzker Prize? We’ve featured a few of their projects here on Hatch over the years, and it’s great to have this honor make us appreciate their entire body of work as a masterful collection. As you peruse their work, take note of the way they handle the relationship between inside and out, and how they work with surface and its qualities of reflection, transparency, and tranlucency. It’s a constant play that pays meticulous attention to views. I also appreciate the way they consider the context of their built works. I’m kind of bummed that I’m writing this after perusing only photos, and that I’ve never experienced one of their spaces anywhere but in two-dimensions. First on my list: DIOR in Tokyo!
Anyway, the first time they popped up on my radar was with the The Toledo Glass Pavilion:
One project that created a ton of buzz here in the states was the Jenga-like New York Museum of Contemporary Art in Hell’s Kitchen:
One I had not seen until I started poking around on the interwebs was the Zollverein School:
Congratulations to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA!
All images from e-architect, except for first New York Museum of Contemporary Art picture from here. Be sure to check out the photo media kit on the Pritzker site as well.
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