Draft:Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects

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Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects is an internationally renowned New York-based partnership founded in 1980 by Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas. Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas are the principals of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects, known for their collaborative work and their distinctive approach to architecture and urbanism, working across scales from urbanism to architecture and interior design, always in consideration of social and cultural issues. In addition to their practice, Diana Agrest and Mario Gandelsonas have contributed to theoretical and critical discourse as well as the development of new pedagogical approaches since the 1970s. Their work has influenced contemporary architecture and urbanism, challenging traditional methods, and advancing new frameworks. Their transdisciplinary approach articulates critical theory, social science, and environmental studies in reimagining the field.  

Together, Agrest and Gandelsonas have transformed architectural and urban practice with their innovative projects and critical concepts. They have explored issues of representation through drawing as a fundamental tool for architectural thinking, using it to critically reassess architecture and urban discourse. Their ideas and methodologies have influenced generations of architects and urban planners. Since the 1990s, they have applied their distinctive Vision Planning approach to urban projects across various scales, from large metropolitan centers to small towns. Their methodology emphasizes creating meaningful urban spaces by identifying the systems of activity that animate these environments while crafting identities, images, and atmospheres uniquely tailored to each locale.

Their work has earned numerous awards and widespread recognition in the fields of architecture and urbanism. Both have also received individual accolades: Diana Agrest for her contributions to  urban discourse and the city  through film  and Mario Gandelsonas for his work in urban planning. The firm’s diverse portfolio includes urban projects houses, buildings, houses and interiors, globally. across the United States, Europe, South America, and China. Their work has been extensively published in books, encyclopedias, magazines and exhibited in major galleries and museums worldwide including The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco MOMA, Frankfurt Architecture Museum, Milano Triennale,  Centre Canadien d’Architecture, The Walker Art Center and Leo Castelli Gallery.

References

Fabric Object : Agrest and Gandelsonas, https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/591407/fabric-object-agrest-and-gandelsonas/

Agrest and Gandelsonas, https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/90.278.3/

Agrest and Gandelsonas, Architects, https://www.archinform.net/arch/6721.htm

Model for Folly 3, CCA, https://www.archinform.net/arch/6721.htm

Des Moines Vision Plan by Dave Elbert, BPC, Des Moines, IA, 2021

Dwell magazine, the World’s Best Public Spaces, http://www.dwell.com/map/worlds-best-public-spaces, 2015

Agrest and Gandelsonas in Cities Going Green: A Handbook of Best Practices, Roger L. Kemp, Carl J. Stephani – McFarland, 2011

Agrest and Gandelsonas, in XXth century Architecture Taschen, 2009

 

Cure for Urban Blight: Plant Lots of Sculpture, By Betsy Rubiner, October 30, 2009, The New York Times, http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/travel/escapes/30desmoines.html

Des Moines Art Center Opens New Sculpture Park in Heart of Downtown Des Moines, October 2009,  http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=33200

Modern Architecture, Peter Gossel, Taschen, 2007

New York 2000, Stern, Fishman, Tilove, The Monacelli Press, 2007

Two projects claim street savvy, Antoinette Martin, December 2007, The New York Times

Ariella Masboungi, Des Moines, de la theorie a la pratique, Urbanisme, 2004

Herbert Muschamp, The deadly importance of making distinctions in The year in review, Art/Architecture, The New York Times,  December 31, 2001.

Suzanne Stephens, Melrose Community Center in Architectural Record, Public Buildings, March 2001

Melrose Community Center, de Architect, Amsterdam, December 2001.

Melrose Community Center in Oculus 64-4, December 2001

The Municipal Art Society first annual New York City MASterwork Award, Oculus 63-10, summer 2001

Agrest and Gandelsonas, Works, Princeton Architectural Press, 1995

"The Masterpieces They Call Home," by Paul Goldberger, in Houses as Art: New York Times Magazine, Special Issue, 1995

Agrest and Gandelsonas, A+U, Special issue, Fall 1994

The Des Moines Vision Plan in Urban Revisions, Current Projects for the public Realm, by Elizabeth Smith, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, MIT Press

Haus der Sechs Tuerme, by Joseph Giovannini, Architektur & Wohnen, January 1994

"Agrest and Gandelsonas," Architectural Digest:  The AD 100 Architects, 1991

"Masters of New York Material Culture," Architectural Digest, November 1990

"Revisionist History," House and Garden, November 1989

"Homage to Loos," Architectural Record, October 1989

"Agrest and Gandelsonas," Architectural Digest, April 1989

Cesar Pelli: "On Agrest and Gandelsonas," Catalog, Five Choose Five, AIA, St Louis 1988

Project for the Renewal of the Area of Port Vittoria,  Milano, Le Citta Imaginate, Nove Progetti per Nove Citta, Electa, Milano – 1987

Pierluigi Nicolin: "Le Citta Immaginate,  Nove Progetti per Nove Citta,"  XVII Triennale di Milano, Electa, 1987

Pierluigi Nicolin: "On the Traces of the American City, " Lotus International 50, 1986

Herbert Muschamp:  "Ground Up," Art Forum, March 1986

Werner Oechslin: " The Beautification of the City, " La Ricostruzione della citta XVII Triennale di Milano, Electa, 1985

Urban Fragments - Building I, Agrest and Gandelsonas, special feature and cover, Architecture + Urbanism, Tokyo, 1984:08

Alan Colquhoun: "Creative Design and Critical Discourse," Lotus International 44, I 1984

H. W. Hammer and J. P. Kleihues:  "Idee Prozess Ergebnis," Die Reparatur und Rekonstrunktion der Stadt catalog, International Bauausstellung, Berlin, 1984

Kurt Forster:  "A Sense of Building,"  Lotus International 41, I, 1984

Alan Colquhoun: "On Writing Architecture," Progressive Architecture, June,

Martin Filler:  "Harbingers, Ten Architects," Art in America, Summer 1981

Suzanne Stephens:  "Tradition of the New,"  Skyline, December 1981

Ada Louise Huxtable:  "State of the Art,"  New York Times, August 1981

Architecture Between Memory and Amnesia, City Segments, Design Quarterly, #113-114, January 1980

On Practice, Special Issue on the Work of Agrest and Gandelsonas, includes eleven projects from 1970 to 1978 - Architecture + Urbanism 114, March 1980

Architecture Between Memory and Amnesia, City Segments, Design Quarterly, #113-114, January 1980

"Urban Fragments:  Three Buildings in Buenos Aires", and cover,  International Architect,  Volume 1 Number 1, Issue 1, 1979

A Suburban Center for Minneapolis, Architecture d'Aujourd'hui 202, Paris, April 1979

Ivor Indyk: "Literary Theory and Architectural Practice, A Note on Agrest & Gandelsonas on Practice," International Architect, Number 1, Volume 1, 1979

Roosevelt Island Competition Project, Architecture d'Aujourd'hui 186, August-September 1976

La Villette Competition Project, Architecture d'Aujourd'hui 187, October-November 1976

Paul Goldberger:  "How Architects Develop Ideas," New York Times, December 27 1976

Roosevelt Island Housing Competition Project, Controspazio 4, Rome, December 1975