Having recently visited the works of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien (and having listened to them lecture about their professional and sometimes personal life), I got thinking about the dynamics of an architecture couple.
Is it healthy for your marriage/relationship? Do they make each other sleep on the couch for disagreeing on designs? Do they get.. creative? Will they drown their kids in Legos?
On that note, how many big-named couples can we come up with? I'll shoot off the obvious ones that come to mind:
Tod Williams + Billie Tsien
Ricardo Scofidio + Elizabeth Diller
Denise Scott Brown + Robert Venturi
Amale Andraos + Dan Wood
Laura Briggs + Jonathan Knowles
Anyone here who is married to or is dating a fellow architect that can chime in?
gruen
Mar 27, 14 9:06 pm
Gruen & Mrs. Gruen.
We argue hard about design, but it does improve it. And if course, I'm always right, so that helps, lol.
Actually, we do very different things in the profession, so we don't overlap that much.
I read somewhere that architect-architect married couples have a sky-high divorce rate. But on the other hand, I know a few, and they all seem pretty happy together. Having said that, most of them seem to be like Mr. & Mrs. Gruen: doing very different things within architecture.
Tony Robins
Mar 28, 14 8:20 am
Well theres the whole myth that any couple working together will get sick of each other. But from personal experience, I know that it can actually strengthen a relationship.
spqr
Mar 28, 14 9:13 am
Marion Weiss + Michael Manfredi
Michael Meredith + Hillary Sample
Sheila O'Donnell + John Tuomey
Roshi
Mar 28, 14 9:53 am
you would say that tony robins
cncguy
Mar 28, 14 2:34 pm
My wife and I work together, design together, have 3 kids that want nothing to do with architecture, and just celebrated 20 years of marriage. Not easy to do but I wouldn't change a thing.
gbear
Mar 28, 14 3:01 pm
Iwamoto+Scott
x-jla
Mar 28, 14 4:21 pm
I see an opportunity in here for an archinect dating site...
chigurh
Mar 28, 14 4:21 pm
a more interesting question is how do architecture couples come to be?
long hours at school together?
instructor humps student?
long hours at work together?
principal architect cheats on partner with intern?
shared passion for a profession?
snooker-doodle-dandy
Mar 28, 14 5:52 pm
chigurh.....Sad to say I have seen all of them. However on a good note both my better half and myself are Architects. Let me tell you she can pick a chicken bone clean like you have never seen when it comes to design. I look at it as all for the better. My comments on the other hand I try to encourage her to look at other options. We have been doing it since 2000, and I don't regret a moment of it. I guess were lucky!
Miles Jaffe
Mar 28, 14 6:39 pm
I have multiple personality disorder. Does that count as a couple? One usually wants to strangle the other.
bowling_ball
Mar 28, 14 8:57 pm
Are Couture and Rashid partners? It's never been clear to me.
Mrs(-to be) bowling_ball is an architectural photographer who went through archi school. I love having a partner who understands my design talk and the need for occasional overtime, and I like it even better that we're in separate but related careers.
citizen
Mar 28, 14 9:50 pm
Here's the test: ask the kids of these magical duos how they are as parents. I'd be more interested in that measurement than in any self-reporting.
snooker-doodle-dandy
Mar 29, 14 10:14 am
miles male
milly female
gwharton
Mar 30, 14 6:41 am
+1 citizen
Related: It is extremely common for the children of architects to not want to have anything whatsoever to do with architecture. Neither of my kids would touch it with a ten-foot cattle prod, even though my daughter actually has the unusual constellation of personality traits and talents that would make her exceptionally good at it.
empea
Mar 30, 14 8:41 am
Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos
Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete
Norman Foster and his first wife (who tragically died young)
Zaha and Patrik were a couple once if long ago
SHoP's Greg Pasquarelli and Kim Holden
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Mrs empea is in the profession as well, even though we've both strayed away from its center you might say, in different directions. I would not stand for a day working together with my life partner. There are too many complex facets of working relationships including so many varying degrees of conflict that I would never want to bring home with me at night.
we both agree that architecture should be a benevolent dictatorship -- one of us is in charge of any given project and has ultimate authority to give it direction
sometimes we have fundamental disagreements but we at least have a solid perspective on the other's design motives and critiques are helpful
biggest downside is that we have the same work stories to tell at the dinner table
rationalist
Apr 2, 15 1:43 pm
Koning/Eizenberg
Those two are really adorable together actually. Even when they're fighting (architecturally, that is, I've never seen a personal fight between them that I was aware of), they're pretty cute about it. They tend to defer to each other about certain topics within a project—he defers to her about look and feel more, she defers to him about detailing and construction.
moeamaya
Apr 2, 15 10:32 pm
Nader and Monica (no longer)
Eric Howeler and Meejin Yoon
Sheila Kennedy and Frano Violich
tduds
Apr 1, 20 5:11 pm
found the MIT student.
tduds
Apr 1, 20 5:14 pm
My wife is a landscape designer, which is close enough that we can talk about design in the same language but different enough that we don't step on each other's toes.
Three of my exes are architects - two girlfriends from grad school and one from high school who coincidentally also went to arch school. I guess I have a type.
tduds
Apr 2, 20 11:43 am
Also just want to say I didn't bump this thread. A spam post did. That post is now gone (Thanks mods!)
Archlandia
Apr 1, 20 6:39 pm
My partner is also in architecture, we met in undergrad. Every single time we try to get help from one another with a design problem we end up arguing! She has a different design approach (and obviously believes its superior...) I suppose we won't be opening that joint firm anytime soon!
proto
Apr 2, 20 1:24 pm
proto + mrs.proto
we operate on a design tyrant model. we each offer assistance & criticism, but the design tyrant of any given project gets the final say...no hard feelings
hardest thing is maybe just making sure we do other stuff untethered to get a break from each other
so far so good
Kurt West
Apr 2, 20 3:12 pm
Tigerman / McCurry Griffin Enright Architects Thom and Blythe-Alison Mayne (She's not an architect but is a long-time owner of the firm)
Having recently visited the works of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien (and having listened to them lecture about their professional and sometimes personal life), I got thinking about the dynamics of an architecture couple.
Is it healthy for your marriage/relationship? Do they make each other sleep on the couch for disagreeing on designs? Do they get.. creative? Will they drown their kids in Legos?
On that note, how many big-named couples can we come up with? I'll shoot off the obvious ones that come to mind:
Anyone here who is married to or is dating a fellow architect that can chime in?
Gruen & Mrs. Gruen.
We argue hard about design, but it does improve it. And if course, I'm always right, so that helps, lol.
Actually, we do very different things in the profession, so we don't overlap that much.
Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo...
Scogin + Elam
Brooks + Scarpa
I read somewhere that architect-architect married couples have a sky-high divorce rate. But on the other hand, I know a few, and they all seem pretty happy together. Having said that, most of them seem to be like Mr. & Mrs. Gruen: doing very different things within architecture.
Well theres the whole myth that any couple working together will get sick of each other. But from personal experience, I know that it can actually strengthen a relationship.
Marion Weiss + Michael Manfredi
Michael Meredith + Hillary Sample
Sheila O'Donnell + John Tuomey
you would say that tony robins
My wife and I work together, design together, have 3 kids that want nothing to do with architecture, and just celebrated 20 years of marriage. Not easy to do but I wouldn't change a thing.
Iwamoto+Scott
I see an opportunity in here for an archinect dating site...
a more interesting question is how do architecture couples come to be?
long hours at school together?
instructor humps student?
long hours at work together?
principal architect cheats on partner with intern?
shared passion for a profession?
chigurh.....Sad to say I have seen all of them. However on a good note both my better half and myself are Architects. Let me tell you she can pick a chicken bone clean like you have never seen when it comes to design. I look at it as all for the better. My comments on the other hand I try to encourage her to look at other options. We have been doing it since 2000, and I don't regret a moment of it. I guess were lucky!
I have multiple personality disorder. Does that count as a couple? One usually wants to strangle the other.
Are Couture and Rashid partners? It's never been clear to me.
Mrs(-to be) bowling_ball is an architectural photographer who went through archi school. I love having a partner who understands my design talk and the need for occasional overtime, and I like it even better that we're in separate but related careers.
Here's the test: ask the kids of these magical duos how they are as parents. I'd be more interested in that measurement than in any self-reporting.
miles male
milly female
+1 citizen
Related: It is extremely common for the children of architects to not want to have anything whatsoever to do with architecture. Neither of my kids would touch it with a ten-foot cattle prod, even though my daughter actually has the unusual constellation of personality traits and talents that would make her exceptionally good at it.
Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos
Jan Kaplicky and Amanda Levete
Norman Foster and his first wife (who tragically died young)
Zaha and Patrik were a couple once if long ago
SHoP's Greg Pasquarelli and Kim Holden
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas
Mrs empea is in the profession as well, even though we've both strayed away from its center you might say, in different directions. I would not stand for a day working together with my life partner. There are too many complex facets of working relationships including so many varying degrees of conflict that I would never want to bring home with me at night.
Jean Nouvel and Mia Hägg
They seem a little awkward in the ArchDaily interview: http://vimeo.com/48854708
MAURICIO PEZO AND SOFIA VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN.
Charles and Ray Eames, of course!
Reiser & Umemoto
Phillip Johnson and David Whitney
my partner & I
we both agree that architecture should be a benevolent dictatorship -- one of us is in charge of any given project and has ultimate authority to give it direction
sometimes we have fundamental disagreements but we at least have a solid perspective on the other's design motives and critiques are helpful
biggest downside is that we have the same work stories to tell at the dinner table
Koning/Eizenberg
Those two are really adorable together actually. Even when they're fighting (architecturally, that is, I've never seen a personal fight between them that I was aware of), they're pretty cute about it. They tend to defer to each other about certain topics within a project—he defers to her about look and feel more, she defers to him about detailing and construction.
Nader and Monica (no longer)
Eric Howeler and Meejin Yoon
Sheila Kennedy and Frano Violich
found the MIT student.
My wife is a landscape designer, which is close enough that we can talk about design in the same language but different enough that we don't step on each other's toes.
Three of my exes are architects - two girlfriends from grad school and one from high school who coincidentally also went to arch school. I guess I have a type.
Also just want to say I didn't bump this thread. A spam post did. That post is now gone (Thanks mods!)
My partner is also in architecture, we met in undergrad. Every single time we try to get help from one another with a design problem we end up arguing! She has a different design approach (and obviously believes its superior...) I suppose we won't be opening that joint firm anytime soon!
proto + mrs.proto
we operate on a design tyrant model. we each offer assistance & criticism, but the design tyrant of any given project gets the final say...no hard feelings
hardest thing is maybe just making sure we do other stuff untethered to get a break from each other
so far so good
Tigerman / McCurry
Griffin Enright Architects
Thom and Blythe-Alison Mayne (She's not an architect but is a long-time owner of the firm)