Another year has gone by for the Harvard University Graduate School of Design's $100K 2015 Wheelwright Prize. Hosted by Harvard GSD since 1935 and previously open only to Harvard GSD alumni, the prestigious travel grant is in its third year as an international open competition for any individual early-career architect from anywhere on the globe.
Selected from three finalists, L'Heureux's winning proposal, "Hot and Wet: The Equatorial City and the Architectures of Atmosphere" examines the traditional and modern building strategies in five dense cities in the equatorial zone -- a timely topic when rapid urbanization and climate change are on the rise. The cities are: Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Pondicherry, India; Lagos, Nigeria; and São Paulo, Brazil.
The prize will fund L’Heureux’s travel-based research over the next two years.
Read more about L'Heureux and some of his works below:
"Born in Jamestown, Rhode Island, Erik L’Heureux received his B.A. in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis in 1996 and his MArch from Princeton University in 2000. He went on to work for several architecture firms in New York, like Perkins + Will, GW Architects, and Agrest and Gandelsonas, and taught at the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union.
After stints as a visiting fellow and lecturer at the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2003 and 2004, he decided to move to Singapore fulltime in 2007. In 2011 and 2012, he co-organized an international overseas architecture program between Washington University, the National University of Singapore, and Tongji University, researching the cities of Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore."
"The 2015 Wheelwright Prize Jury— K. Michael Hays (Jury Chair), Craig Evan Barton, Preston Scott Cohen, Sarah Herda, and Elisa Silva—praised L’Heureux’s accomplishments as an architect, educator, and author, as well as his research project which will study 'modes of atmospheric calibration at the urban scale,' and architecture’s historic and potential response to a range of atmospheres (hot, wet, humid, breezy, artificial, hermetic, and more) while taking into account related social, political, and environmental concerns.
His practice, Pencil Office, has realized an assortment of projects, including residences, restaurants, offices, and commercial and retail spaces, primarily in Southeast Asia. His project, a Simple Factory Building (completed in 2012), a 10,625-square-foot structure wrapped in a geometrically sophisticated sun-shielding veil, earned top honors in the 2013 World architecture Festival (WaF) Category Design award."
"In addition to teaching and practice, L’Heureux is an active writer and curator. He co-curated and designed the exhibition 1,000 Singapores: a Model of the Compact City for the Singapore pavilion at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale (2010), which was recognized with the 2011 president’s Design award from Singapore. recently, he redesigned the exhibition for the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, where it will appear from June to September 2015. His work and writings have been widely published."
15 Comments
What a great head shot!
I'm sure he's a good guy, but, fuck if I don't hate those Real Estate agent poses.
I started to comment on that, but wanted to take the high road. But now...
None of us has control over candid photos of us, but that's clearly a portrait he posed for, then approved. It reminds me of Zoolander. (Erik to the photographer: "Now, I want something that conveys both superior condescension AND arrogant dismissal.") The work isn't bad, however.
Okay, now I'm off to repent somehow for my mean-spirited snark. Chances are, this guy will hire then fire me down the road, just to keep the karma sheet balanced...
OK, thank God-I wasn't the only one who noticed that. You guys just had the guts (or lacked the shame) to say something.
Congratulations on all his accomplishments (sincerely), but that picture is ridiculous.
Nice
maybe the guy has a sense of humor?
Damn, that's some nice work!
I'm sad you all can't see past the head shot to see the architecture, because, damn. That's some nice work. I can't stop looking at the change in plane of the Factory Building wall/ceiling, and the change in scale as it goes up. Damn.
I love the work, but it shouldn't mean we can't bust on him, his ego looks like it can take it.
"I'm sad you all can't see past the head shot to see the architecture, because, damn. "
Please get over yourself. You are so condescending.
^ Thats ridiculous. Donna is not condescending.
It could've been worse, you could be these aspholes.
I actually love the façade on the factory building...the house at the top is absolutely hideous though and will be dated by the time I finish this sentence...Now, back to that wonderful head shot. The tousled hair, five day shadow, and gleam of a flash in his left eye. Jesus, it's just too much! And is he sitting on a café chair, cause if he is, he's got some amazing posture.
Really though, you can have fun and still congratulate him for all his success. No harm intended though he might want to take himself a little less seriously. I actually prefer the shlubs above, being one myself, but rock on Erik...with a k :)
.......aaaand *POOF* I'm over myself. Thanks, old dirty! Jeepers, what shall I do next?!
Seriously, if this was an image of a female architect and the only comments were about the photo then the tenor of my responses would definitely be different. I don't want to sound condescending, as apparently I'm prone to, but there is a real human being presenting himself and his work here, and I'm pretty confident he's reading this, so please everyone just be nice.
beta I don't know who those two people are, but jeez. I wish people dressed more nicely. A coast-based architecture firm came and gave a presentation here in the boring Middle a few years ago wearing hoodies and sneakers and honestly, it was taken as very disrespectful by the audience. It's never unsafe to try to present yourself well.
And seriously, Erik's work is gorgeous and his accomplishments are humbling.
Douche-bros
I agree that his work looks really good. This is the kind of work that should be getting more attention, but the media seem built around the cult of the pizzazz.
It is surprisingly hard to get a good image. It's nice that architects still dress nice--this startup dress code looks like never ending youth culture. Bjarke Ingels seems to embrace a devil may care look--which is annoying in a way. It would help to smile a bit, it's a look that helps clients think you are not a prima donna, no pun intended.
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