SO – IL

39. Tricolonnade
Shenzen, 2011
Play

38. Antwerp Province Hall
2011
Work

37. Full Circle
2011
Reflect

It is a seminal year for architecture in America. Minoru Yamasaki completes the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world. Louis Kahn delivers a canonical pair as well – the Phillips Exeter Academy Library and the Kimbell Art Museum. Yale gets its independent Architecture School, located in a bush-hammered concrete castle-like mammoth of a [...]

36. Shanghai Meicang Waterfront
Shanghai, 2011
Play

35. Pollination
Chengdu, China, 2011
Play

34. Linked
Wulpen, Belgium, 2011
Play

33. Meissen
Amersfoort, the Netherlands, 2011
Play

32. Costa House
Lexington, KY, 2011
Live

31. Abstainability
2011
Reflect

In a brief moment of anxiety, not uncommon in our current role of “Promising Architects,” a condition that allows for the quick recalibration of one’s own position before the “show is on,” I felt we should consider “broadening our appeal.” How can our firm, SO – IL, become more attractive to more clients now that [...]

30. Sinfonia Varsovia
Warsaw, Poland, 2010
Play

29. Flockr
Beijing, China, 2010
Play

28. In Tension
New York, USA, 2010
Play

27. Voracious Fast
2010
Reflect

Now that we have entered a phase of involuntary fasting, any anxiety that the architect is destined to turn into the marginalized hunger artist of our time, soon to be replaced by an omnivorous beast – be it a construction consortium, plan-buro or engineering mammoth - seems foolish...

26. In Bloom
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2010
Play

25. The house that used to fly
2010
Reflect

As the Narita Express, the train between airport and city, dips under the Sumidagawa River on its journey toward Tokyo Station, it passes a monstrous looking structure; a colossal spaceship on massive piers, festooned with a demonic oculus and lined with pulsing red lights...

24. Pole Dance
2010
Play

23. XYZ Dance and Music Center
The Hague, The Netherlands, 2010
Play

22. Kukje Art Center
Seoul, South Korea, 2010
Play

21. Relations
2009
Reflect

Oedipus and Kronos never reached Japan. For in this country it is not inevitable that a young architect instantaneously commits patricide upon leaving his master, nor is it given for a master to impair his “renegade’s” prospects.

20. Zenith Nadir
2009
Play

19. Party Wall 1&2
2009
Live

18. Open Fort
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2009
Live, Play, Work

17. Conversation with Ivan Chermayeff
2009
Reflect

After going through the entire process of designing his house with SO-IL, Ivan Chermayeff suffered some of the misfortunes of the recent financial crisis. This conversation explores his hopes for the house, and his sentiments after choosing to not proceed with the project.

16. Brittle Blocks
Maastricht, the Netherlands, 2009
Live

15. Future Archeology
2009
Play

14. Learning from Japan
2008
Reflect

Besides the release of Ready to Die by the Notorious B.I.G. (‘94) and SMLXL by Rem Koolhaas (‘95), few events during my student years impacted my development as an architect more than ...

13. Wedding Chapel
2008
Play

12. Derek Lam Atelier
2008
Work

11. Chermayeff House
2008
Live

10. Private Museum
The Netherlands, 2008
Play

9. Cutting Fabric
2008
Reflect

The opening of a new Yoji Yamamoto boutique in Manhattan early February went almost unnoticed by the progressively more architecturally minded New York public...

8. Sunnyside Up!
Queens, New York, 2008
Play, Work

7. The Culture of Decongestion
2008
Reflect

Be it well documented examples as Detroit and the eastern part of Germany, or lesser known cases elsewhere, vast regions of in the world are being left abandoned as a result of globalization, natural disasters and demographic trends. This is not a new phenomenon; however...

6. Nursery School
Prato, Italy, 2008
Play

5. SANAA’s Foreign Mission
2008
Reflect

a+u magazine, #449: “Thank you for making SANAA international.” The words of appreciation Kazuyo Sejima used at my farewell party from the firm last November, at a new Italian osteria near the office in Tokyo, were engaging. I started in early 2000, first as intern, then as staff focusing on the firms work outside [...]

4. Beautiful Rough
2007
Reflect

Domus #909: The New Museum of Contemporary Art opened its new building in downtown Manhattan to the public in early December. The roughly 6000m{2}, eight-story structure of loosely stacked boxes provides the institution a perfect platform for the advancement of new ideas, in a time and place where they [...]

3. Smoke and Mirrors
2007
Play

2. New Sobriety
2002
Reflect

A recent interest has developed in the phenomenology of diagrams in mathematics, cognitive science, and architectural theory. Traditionally, the diagram is used as a rational tool for analysis and design in these fields, as an abstract representation of a more complex system. [...]

1. Tokyo Park
1998
Play

12/16/11, 2nd place in Antwerp Province Hall competition

10/24/11, Chengdu Biennale opens

10/07/11, Kukje mock-up complete

09/28/11, SO – IL reveals design for a community center in Wulpen, Belgium

07/31/11, Kukje Gallery reaches highest point

05/20/11, SO – IL exhibition in KAdE, Amersfoort, NL

05/18/11, SO – IL to design Frieze NY

05/03/11, SO – IL selected for prestigious design competition in Antwerp

04/07/11, Talk: Domus @ Milan Furniture Fair

03/09/11, Exhibition: BROODWORK | It’s About Time

03/03/11, Winner AIANY 2011 Design Award

02/25/11, TV: Architecturen

01/11/11, Columbia GSAPP 2/2/2011 lecture

01/11/11, Learning from Japan in top 10 reads of re:place Magazine

12/28/10, SO – IL selected for invited competition in Wulpen, Belgium

12/15/10, Finals of Brown-Forman Visiting Chair at UK

12/15/10, 3D Movie, Pole Dance at yearly office party

12/06/10, Exhibition,”To Be Determined” opens in Beijing

10/10/10, Lowest point reached at Kukje

09/20/10, Opening, Flockr Pavilion in Beijing

09/09/10, Exhibition, “Three Projects” opens in Lexington, KY

06/26/10, Opening, Pole Dance at MoMA PS1

06/22/10, Florian wins prestigious Dutch award

05/14/10, Winner AIA NY Young Practices Award

05/10/10, SO-IL Nominated for Iakov Chernikov Prize

11/22/09, Talk, Performa 09

11/13/09, Book Launch, “Learning from Japan”

10/17/09, Talk with Qingyun Ma at LA Forum

09/20/09, Press, NY Mag – The Cubicle Is the New Loft

09/14/09, Competition Finalist for UPto35 Student housing competition in Athens, Greece

05/17/09, Talk, HomeRoom

02/12/09, Exhibition, Contemplating the Void at the Guggenheim Museum

07/25/08, SO – IL OFFICE LTD. established in NY