Summary: The Power of Diversity: Practice in a Complex World, the theme of the 2009 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition, is the essence of our future. At the convention in San Francisco, Lisa Iwamoto, IwamotoScott Architecture, and Nader Tehrani, office dA, along with nine other emerging talents will present their work in fast-paced presentations to evaluate the multidisciplinary and multicultural aspects of their practices. Join Iwamoto and Tehrani et al on Saturday afternoon, 2:30–4:00 p.m., to see how they are facing the future in the midst of incredible change in a world that is growing smaller, faster, and more competitive every moment.

Lisa Iwamoto
Lisa Iwamoto received her B.S. in structural engineering from the University of Colorado and MArch from Harvard. She worked as a structural engineer at Bechtel Corporation and architectural designer at Schwartz/Silver Architects and Thompson and Rose. Together with Craig Scott, she founded IwamotoScott Architecture (ISAr) in 1998. ISAr couples research with creative experimentation and centers on amplifying the perceptual performance of architecture, establishing strong environmental and site relationships and pursuing innovation in material and space configuration. Iwamoto currently is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Design approach
One thing about our firm is that we take on a great variety of projects, so each project is a unique opportunity. We very rarely do the same type of project or scale of project more than once. That said, we do have design principles that we go by in our office. There are things that have emerged over time through designing for site responsiveness, for example, or trying to achieve synthetic wholes relative to building form connected to its environment. I don’t mean sustainability but the conditions of atmosphere and how people might use the space.

Our work takes a couple of different avenues. We have a second side that is very materially oriented, and in that sense we often begin with analog modeling: really working with our hands and the materials to see what materials can do. Although we work digitally, I wouldn’t say we’re a digital process firm because we work very much with physical realities, whether we’re starting with the site for a big project or a piece of wood for a small installation. We always begin with the external physical constraints.

Benefit from the panel discussion in San Francisco
I suppose I’m as interested as anyone to hear all the other presenters because one thing I notice when I look over the list is that everyone is very different. I suppose the thing to learn from that—especially given the challenging economic times—is that there are many different ways of practicing and different scales of practice. I think there’s a lot to learn just by seeing the differences among the presenters.

Is the profession headed in the right direction?
There are swings to the pendulum I suppose and architecture is coming out of a really fertile time in form, material, and new technologies. I think it has been heading in the right direction. It might have been a bit blinded to larger social and environmental concerns for the past 15 years or so, but I think it needed that foment to test possibilities. Now that these possibilities have been tested, they can really be applied. I think architects pretty much universally are talking about ecology, sustainability, environmental concerns, and carbon footprints now. I don’t think it’s headed in the wrong direction. There are different ways it could go, but I think that this is a reasonable course.

Tip to creating a diverse practice
We take on anything. There are some projects we do turn down if we don’t feel there’s going to be design potential, but no project is too small or too large. We really like wrapping our heads around all different kinds of work, even projects that seem ridiculous or impossible. Be open minded about what kinds of projects you take on.

What do you hope to take away from the convention?
There are a lot of people presenting whose work I know, but I haven’t had an opportunity to hear them speak about it. I’m hoping to take away insight on how other architects think, especially on the state of the economy and the work conditions in flux. I’m really curious to see how other architects are going to be talking about this.

Nader Tehrani
Nader Tehrani received his BFA and BArch from the Rhode Island School of Design and MAUD from Harvard. In 1991, Tehrani and Monica Ponce de Leon co-founded Office dA in Boston, a groundbreaking design firm with strong emphasis on research, materiality, technique, and digital design.

Approach to design
Our contributions have been made in the areas of materials research, re-evaluation of the building industry, digital fabrication, and a body of work that is culturally diverse and therefore globally and culturally engaged.

What can architects learn from the presentation on Saturday?
I think that they can get a cross-section through the very broad agendas. There are no master narratives right now, no dominant projects, so this format encourages the identification of broad and even contradictory platforms to be exposed. That’s the key thing that happens in a format like this. You can’t get into depth, but you get a clear cross-section through the various agendas that characterize the new generation today: whether it’s research on form, sustainability, economy, the building practice, globalization, and so forth.

Addressing diversity
In the panel, we’re talking about global practices, so I will be talking about what it’s like to be a foreigner practicing in America and an American-Iranian practicing abroad. Our office profile is quite diverse, not characterized by a dominant architect. Also, the nature of our practice is not clearly centered in a disciplinary way. We have landscape, urban, architecture, industrial, and product design blurred in between all the projects. Whether you’re talking about our cultural denomination, projects, or project locations, diversity permeates our very practice.

The profession in 5-10 years
I think we’re at a unique moment where ideals may not be plausible. Broad themes like integration, holistic design, or solving societal problems—one has to think strategically because there’s not a budget to do everything. You don’t have time to do everything. Schedules don’t permit that. We need to think about how to align the interests of economy, sustainability, and good design, and address cultural rituals with material choices. Whether people are interested in cultural specificity, sustainability, material innovations, digital design, or local craft, this is the moment where unusual alliances need to be looked at more carefully towards a different kind of invention. This is where I see the next 10 years going because, despite the economy, you are going to see massive research and expansion in technological areas. At the same time, you’re going to see many forces that will resist the way in which those forces can be implemented. The ability to patchwork together critical alliances is at stake.

Best practice tip
Think horizontally and laterally, not linearly. This is a moment where you have to think across disciplines. You have to think across geographical boundaries and cultural boundaries. You have to imagine that no problem is too trivial. Diversity is really about that.

What do you hope to take away from the convention?
People ask, “Why do you teach?” The general answer is that you want to give, share, debate, and impart experience but out of the 15 students in your studio, you can’t touch them all in the same way, so you live for those debates where a spark occurs. If one such event happens during this convention, that’s more than you can ask for.