Matthias Slavens was born in Salinas, California in March of 1986. From then and for the following decade Matthias moved to Florida, Hawaii, and eventually Alaska where he attended high school in Chugiak, Alaska. He earned his High School diploma in 2004 and enrolled at University of Alaska,Anchorage where he found interest in German Studies, art, sociology, and building construction. On a whim Matthias moved to Portland, Oregon, and studied at Portland State University in the Architecture department while, working full time at a leather goods store in downtown Portland. After a couple years Matthias became interested in moving East and took Residence in Brooklyn, New York as an Architecture student at the Pratt Institute. In 2010 he completed his thesis expressing the disconnect between contemporary urban life and what the modernists had actually planned while earning his B. Arch. Upon graduation Matthias was offered the Hartell Scholarship at Cornell University with a full teaching assistantship. Matthias finished his Master’s of Architecture with a concentration in Theory and Discourse in 2011, while doing independent research in the Tjaden school of Fine Art the deals with experimental print mediums using technological and analog methods of printmaking to postulate new strategies, and an overall different position of Architectural Representation. Matthias has maintained his residency in Upstate New York and continues his architectural curiosities through construction of readymade-objects dealing that have a great deal to do with light and mechanics.
Hartell Award, Grant
Cornell University
Merit Scholarship, Scholarship
Pratt Institute
AIGA Design Award, Scholarship
New York, AIGA Foundation