WAI Architecture Think Tank is an international studio practicing architecture, urbanism and architectural research. Founded in Brussels in 2008 by Puerto Rican architect, artist, curator, educator, author and theorist Cruz Garcia and French architect, artist, curator, educator, author and poet, Nathalie Frankowski. WAI and its parallel artist practice Garcia Frankowski are based in Pittsburgh, while maintaining a presence in Roanne, Beijing and San Juan. Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski are the current Ann Kalla Visiting Professors at Carnegie Mellon University. As the founding curators of Intelligentsia Gallery智先画廊 in Beijing, Garcia and Frankowski have curated more than sixty group exhibitions dealing with a wide range of topics on the legacy of utopian projects, aesthetic philosophy, the politics of non-objectivity and representation, the cartographic and narrative politics of photography and moving images, the imperatives of contemporary media and technology, Object Oriented Ontology (OOO), semiotics, ecology, queer theory, and alternative publications and manifestoes.

WAI Architecture Think Tank aims to contribute to the collective intelligence of architecture from a panoramic and critical approach oscillating from the design of buildings and master plans with a public agenda, to the creation of publications and pedagogical projects addressing questions of historical urgency. Recent projects include the shortlisted design of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA) in Moscow, the design of Osiri Innovation Learning Center, an invited competition for a museum in Suzhou, and the design of the Housetelier in Beijing, as well as the design of several educational, cultural and exhibition spaces, and the conception of architectural playgrounds.

In search of critical forms of architectural pedagogy, Garcia and Frankowski are deeply invested in the development of new curricula and pedagogical experiments searching for diverse forms of public engagement with architecture, as well as a decolonization of the role of architecture in the construction of new worlds. Garcia and Frankowski develop and frequently offer international art and architecture workshops for diverse participants, spanning from children, to college students working across different fields and the general public. Currently the Ann-Kalla Visiting Professors at Carnegie Mellon University, Garcia and Frankowski are the former Hyde Chairs of Excellence in Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2017-19) and the Visiting Teaching Fellows at The School of Architecture at Taliesin, institutions where they have promoted the creation of student-led publications, symposia and curatorial programs including WASH Magazine (Taliesin), Fold (UNL), and POST-NOVIS. Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski have lectured at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, ETSA Malaga, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, Universidad de Puerto Rico, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Southern California USC, The School of Architecture at Taliesin, TU Munich, TU Graz, La Sapienza University in Roma, Tsinghua University, Central Academy of Fine Arts CAFA Beijing, Tongji University, Shanghai and Beijing International Literary Festivals, American Center of Shanghai, Institute Francaise in Beijing, Beijing Design Week, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Urbanism and Architecture Biennale, Arizona State University, Shanghai Study Center of the University of Hong Kong, The Jewish Museum in New York, and more.

Of growing international interest the work of WAI and Garcia Frankowski has been featured in the 1st Chicago Architecture Biennial, the XIV Venice Architecture Biennale and the inaugural Changjian Photography and Video Biennale as well as in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Museum of Art Architecture and Technology in Lisbon (MAAT) , Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, Kunst-Werke KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Changjian Museum of Contemporary Art in Chongqin, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) in Manchester as well as in shows in Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris, Dublin, Porto, Lisbon, Moscow, Venice, Bergen, Bratislava, Milan, Helsinki, Brussels, Prague, Zurich, Lausanne, Istanbul, San Juan, New York, Los Angeles, Columbus, Houston, Chicago, Guadalajara,Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Montevideo, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Sydney, Melbourne and more.


Recent publications include Pure Hardcore Icons: A Manifesto on Pure Form in Architecture (London: Artifice Books on Architecture, 2013) translated to German by ARCH+(Berlin) and set for publication in Chinese as 纯粹极致标志 (Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press), Shapes, Islands, Text: A Garcia Frankowski Manifesto (Sevilla: Vibok Works, 2014), the upcoming book Narrative Architecture: A Kynical Manifesto (Rotterdam: NAI010 Publishers, 2019) and a series of Children’s books on Art and Architecture including The Story of the Little Girl and The Sun.


Garcia and Frankowski are the recipients of research, exhibition, publication and presentation grants and awards from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, New Century Art Foundation, US Department of State, DEGI, and have been featured in the New York Times, BBC, AD, Architectural Digest, Metropolis, Architect Magazine, Wall Paper, Domus, El Nuevo Dia. Garcia and Frankowski are founders, designers and editors of several independent and alternative publications, including the WAIzine What About It? and Intelligentsia Zine, and their manifestoes, texts, narratives and essays have been included in Graz Architecture Magazine GAM (Graz), Horizonte Journal for Architectural Discourse (Bauhaus University Weimar), Dolce Stil Criollo, PIDGIN (Princeton University), Revista Opción (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), ADATO Magazine (Luxembourg), ZAWIA (Cairo), MONU Magazine on Urbanism (Rotterdam), Conditions Magazine (Oslo), SOILED (Chicago), PLOT (Santiago de Chile), AD Special Issue: Revisiting the Avant-Garde (London), Volume (Amsterdam) Progress & Prosperity: The New Chinese City as Global Urban Model (Rotterdam: NAI010), Climates: Architecture and the Planetary Imaginary (New York: Avery Review), Fundamental Acts (Milan), and more.