Architectural Practice- UNStudio
UNStudio 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.Talking about his architectural firm Van Berkel said, 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 to 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. We favor an integral approach to 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.
He added that with our practice, we discovered that the role of architects requires a new type of expertise which can synthesize knowledge gained from analytic studies - incorporating data from various other disciplines - and can generate knowledge specific to a question or a project. Within UNStudio, we work with 'Knowledge Communities,' research groups focusing on key-design questions, including an integrated approach to sustainability, a synergetic research of programme and planning and the reverse engineering of smart design parameters based on construction, material and geometry.
Throughout over 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 our centrally located offices in Amsterdam and Shanghai, enables us 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 China, South-Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Germany and the USA, among others.
Some of the prestigious projects of the firm include; the New Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart (Germany 2006), the large scale mixed-use project Raffles City in Hangzhou (China 2008 - 2012), the Galleria Department Store in Seoul (2005), the urban and architectural plan for 81 residential towers of I'Park City in Suwon (2007 - 2012 KR), department store Star Place in Kaoshiung (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).