Wiel Arets (1955) is a Dutch architect, theorist, urbanist, industrial designer, and dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture in Chicago, USA. He studied at the Eindhoven University of Technology, graduating in 1983, and founded Wiel Arets Architects in the same year. From 1995-2002 he was dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, where he introduced the idea of 'progressive-research' and co-founded the school's architectural journal named HUNCH.
TOPOTEK 1 was founded in Berlin in 1996 by Martin Rein-Cano. It works around the field of landscape architecture and understands itself as a traveller within the fringe areas of typologies and scales, jaunting into architecture, urban design, music and art. The hybridisation of topics and disciplines, the removal, transmission and re-contexualisation of various design features and objects, and the staging and design of scenographic sequences are just some of their key strategies.
Comitè Invisible (The Invisible Committee) is an anonymous author or authors who have written anarchist literature. French police believe one of the authors to possibly be Julien Coupat. Coupat switched to social sciences at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) but did not complete his doctorate. In 1999, he co-founded a radical philosophy magazine called Tiqqun.
PEZO VON ELLRICHSHAUSEN ARCHITECTS was founded in Buenos Aires in 2001 by Mauricio Pezo and Sofia von Ellrichshausen. They currently work in Concepcion, Southern Chile, in a cross-production between Art and Architecture. Mauricio Pezo completed a Masters in Architecture in the Catholic University of Chile (Santiago, 1998) and graduated from the Bio-Bio University with a Degree in Architecture (Concepcion, 1999). He teaches at the School of Architecture of the Bio-Bio University, at Talca University and has been invited as Visiting Critic at AAP Cornell University during spring semester 2009. He has been awarded the CA Prize by the UBB (Concepcion, 1999) and the Best Young Chilean Architect Prize by the Chilean Architects Association (Santiago, 2006). Sofia von Ellrichshausen holds a Degree in Architecture from the University of Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 2002). She teaches at the School of Architecture of Talca University and has been invited as Visiting Critic at AAP Cornell University during spring semester 2009. She was awarded the Honors Diploma by the FADU UBA (Buenos Aires, 2002). They have lectured in different venues, among others: GSD Harvard University (Cambridge), Bauhaus-Universitat (Weimar), Arquine Congress (Mexico), Cip Talks (Zagreb), Oslo Association of Architects (Oslo), Victoria & Albert Museum (London) and the Alvar Aalto Symposium (Jyvaskyla). They have also been the curators of the Chilean Exhibition at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (Venice, 2008). The office has been awarded the Best Work of Young Architects Prize at the V Iberoamerican Biennial (Montevideo, 2006), the Architectural Quality Prize at the XV Chilean Architecture Biennial (Santiago, 2006) and the Commended Prize at the AR Awards for Emerging Architecture (London, 2005).
Vector Architects was founded by Gong Dong in 2008, Beijing. During seven years practice, we have always believed that design needs to confront problems, and it should be the attitude an architect ought to possess. Instead of enforcing architect's self-conscious or following icons and superficial forms, a good design has to respect the existing environment with support of logic and reasons. The contemporary Chinese design industry today is rather blundering that the rapid production and pursuit of a landmark in height, size and form have become the mainstream. Architects no longer devote their effort to the fundamental and substantial truth of architecture. In this environment, the persistence of confronting problems remains essential and crucial.
Gong Dong has become one of the most active young architects in China. He received Bachelor & Master of Architecture from Tsinghua University, followed by a diploma at University of Illinois where he received the Master of Architecture. He also had an exchange experience at Technical University of Munich. Prior to establishing his own practice, he worked for Soloman Cordwell Buenz & Associates in Chicago, then at Richard Meier & Partners and Steven Holl Architects in New York.