MCDOWELLESPINOSA is an award-winning architecture and design practice based in Brooklyn, New York and Charlottesville, Virginia. We focus on the transformation of waste, excess and the ordinary into new spatial and material realities. These investigations are explored at diverse scales and formats from the city to the object and from architecture to product design. The practice was initiated by a project entitled water fuel, which has obtained international recognition and was awarded first place in the Self-Sufficient City competition held by the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia.

MCDOWELLESPINOSA was founded in 2010 by partners Seth McDowell and Rychiee Espinosa. McDowell is an architect/educator/builder who has worked in the offices of Huff + Gooden Architects and Work Architecture Company.  Espinosa is an architect who has worked in the offices of Steven Holl Architects, Bernard Tschumi Architects and Morphosis Architects. This partnership produces a hybrid entity that is stimulated by the tensions between east/west, north/south, female/male, biological/artistic, clean/dirty, and technical/conceptual.