Students and professionals nearly filled up the Bing Theater at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Tuesday night to listen to guest lecturer Caroline Bos, co-founder and principal urban planner of UNStudio. Bos spoke about UNStudio’s design process that continues to shift even after her 27 years of practice with co-founder Ben van Berkel and their growing international office. In highlighting a selection of the firm's projects, she outlined their focus on collaborative, research-driven design, with the ultimate goal to consistently create inventive, inclusive and “socially aware” architecture.

↑ Caroline Bos and Ben van Berkel of UNStudio.

To frame the discussion of UNStudio's design methods, Bos began her lecture by quoting from Richard Sennett’s 2008 book, The Craftsman. “Knowledge is gained in the hand through touch and movement," and, "Technical understanding develops through the powers of imagination”. According to Bos, the quotes in an architectural context describe the interdependence between technical building practice and imaginative concepts, which UNStudio attempts to address in their own work. How does an architect create innovative designs that are also functional to address real-world needs? “How can you practice, yet be also daring?” she posed. 

For starters, flexibility — and a lot of determination — are key, especially in the early formative years of starting a practice. UNStudio didn't get to where they are now without the trials they went through in their earlier projects. Now as a seasoned designer, it was as if Bos was offering advice to the audience, which appeared to consist mostly of young students. It was pivotal projects like the Erasmus Bridge and the arduous, nearly 20-year journey to complete the Arnhem Central transit masterplan that taught Bos and van Berkel's fledgling firm "how to practice in both a humble and smart way". From those two milestone projects, they realized the incredible significance of collaboration, and were inspired to change their firm's name to UNStudio.

Top + Middle: Arnhem Central; Bottom: Erasmus Bridge.

Considering that UNStudio stands for United Network Studio, Bos spent some time elaborating on the firm's collaborative nature. In recent years, they wanted to better embody their name and improve their design process, so they restructured their practice as an open-source Knowledge Sharing network that works toward "co-creation".

The Knowledge Sharing network consists of four self-organized groups of UNStudio team members known as Knowledge Platforms, which specialize in the areas of Materials, Organization, Parametrics, and Sustainability. By exchanging their research findings with each other, the studio can “[increase] the value of that knowledge” by continuously building upon it, aiming to discover new solutions and approaches to architecture.

↑ Bos presents the Ardmore Residence project in Singapore.

From there, Bos presented a few investigative questions that revolved around building distinctive spaces that people can connect with. Examples included experimental approaches to housing typologies, from private abodes like the Collector’s Loft that was specifically rendered to reflect the owner’s lifestyle as an art collector. Or how towers like the Ardmore Residence and the proposed Raffles City can still foster a sense of community among residents — a possible allusion to growing discussions of vertical living.

Infrastructural works like the Qatar Integrated Railway Project/Doha Metro Network touched upon UNStudio's extensive studies of flow and movement. More key works like the Mercedes-Benz Museum — among several of UNStudio's buildings — depict their research on Voids, curves, oblique lines, and so forth that analyze how formal elements affect people’s experiences with a structure.

Top: Collector's Loft; Bottom: Qatar Integrated Railway Project

What left a strong impression from Bos' talk is that UNStudio actively tries to constantly re-evaluate their practice and improve their work, despite already being a well-established firm for a relatively long time. Perhaps Bos and van Berkel foresaw keeping collaboration at the center of their practice since the beginning, as cross-disciplinary design emerges more in the industry. Although the future of architecture remains ambiguous, UNStudio is committed to working collaboratively to keep their practice — and the industry — moving forward.