Provisional :
Emerging Modes of Architectural Practice USA
Elite Kedan , F. Jonathan Dreyfous , Craig Mutter

Provisional profiles nine of the United States most exciting architectural practices. They all share a pragmatic, "roll-up-your-sleeves" approach that seeks opportunities to redefine the role of craft in architectural practice. Enlightening interviews together with a selection of drawings, diagrams, models, renderings, and building process photographs reveal a shared commitment to experimentation and learning-by-doing. Projects by SHoP Architects, Front Studio, Gehry Technologies, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, Howeler + Yoon Architecture, nARCHITECTS, servo, GYA Architects, and Chris Hoxie Design are included as well as the following projects: Beijing National Stadium, China Central Television (CCTV) Station and Headquarters (Beijing), Dee and Charles Wyly Theater (Dallas); FutureGen Power Plant (Illinois); Highline HL23 (New York City); and the Olympic Sculpture Park (Seattle).


Elite Kedan (Editorial/Creative Director), AIA, RA, is a registered architect in the states of New York and Florida; currently practicing in Miami, and is an Adjunct Professor on the faculty of Florida International University. She received her architectural education at Cornell University (B.Arch) and The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (M.Arch, MAUD). She worked for two years as a designer at Moshe Safdie Architects in Jerusalem, and upon returning to the States, worked in architecture firms in Boston and New York before opening her own office in Miami in 2005 focusing on residential and housing projects.

Craig Mutter (Editor), AIA is an architect practicing in New York and Boston. He earned a Master of Architecture degree from The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He also received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia. Craig worked for four years in Boston with Kennedy & Violich Architecture before receiving the Rotch Traveling Scholarship in 1996.He returned to New York and worked as an Associate at Polshek Partnership Architects and Architecture Research Office. His projects include the Entrance Lobby and Plaza at the Brooklyn Museum and the Expansion to the Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University. He is currently an Associate at Ann Beha Architects in Boston.

F. Jonathan Dreyfous (Editor), AIA, RA, Partner CR Studio,, earned a Master of Architecture degree from The Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He also has received two degrees—in European History and in Architectural History—from Brown University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, became a Ford Foundation Scholar and graduated magna cum laude. Jon has worked in architectural firms in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. Prior to coming to New York, he apprenticed at the office of Gunther Behnisch in Stuttgart, Germany, collaborating on the design for the IBN Forestry Research Institute.
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Editorial Reviews

a weekly dose of architecture, Archidose:
"Provisional features interviews with nine firms practicing architecture in the United States: Front, Gehry Technologies, Chris Hoxie, LTL Architects, MY Studio, nARCHITECTS, Servo, SHoP and George Yu Architects. A few are consultants and many produce buildings of their own design, but none of them resemble traditional architectural firms. These offices can be seen as architecture firms of the not-too-distant future, on the forefront of production and building design in the profession. Naturally technology and its incorporation into design and practice plays a large role, as does research, diversity of work and other approaches. It's not hard to find consistencies among the nine practices in these areas, but it's difficult to find commonalities in design; each office is idiosyncratic, arising from the human interaction with technology, among other things.The interviews do a very good job in expressing the focus of each firm and how their working processes follow from them. Interspersed among the nine interviews are images of completed projects, diagrams, mock-ups and renderings, construction documents, and construction photos. Essays by participating architects and others bookend the whole package. (At the end are some kind words by Neil Denari on the late George Yu.) The book's structure mimics online hyperlinks, with text and images keyed to each other like an index to an atlas, gridded coordinates and all, an unnecessary extra that leads to errors arising from lack of coordination. Nevertheless the grouped images extend the reach of the interviews, and they help greatly in sections like onsite photos where the two L's from LTL actually construct some of their interior designs. The book ultimately finds a common denominator in technology's application to architectural practice, though the diversity of its use is refreshing, pointing to even more potential with other individuals and firms. A potential homogenization of design and practice arising from the computer appears here to be unfounded. Or as the authors find, a unifying theory is not what's called for, but rather the capacity to navigate a multivalent and expending network of approaches that generates a relevant architecture now." (February 15, 2010)

Winter Books Roundup, Metropolis Magazine:
"Provisional documents the work of nine American architecture firms, exploring each ones methodology and the influence of new technologies on its practice. The book is separated into alternating sections of essays, images, and interviews with partners from firms like Gehry Technolgies, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, and SHoP. Generally, the interviews deal more with the evolution of each firm than the ways digital technologies can alter design practice on a fundamental level. (That subject, which could be at the books heart, tends to elicit a frustrating tautology: computers redefine the design process by redefining the design process.) Still, the interviewees have interesting things to say about their process, and they point to trends among the most creative firms in the industry. Mostly, these have to do with the increasing interconnectedness between architecture and fields like engineering and technology-consulting, and with the variety of the products that result from those collaborations. Computer renderings and diagrams, and photographs taken at various stages of project completion, help make the connection between the early stages of software-aided renderings, actual building construction, and finished designs." — George Beane (December 28, 2009)

Newsletter, Dexigner:
"Provisional profiles nine of the United States' most exciting architectural practices.They all share a pragmatic, roll-up your sleeves approach that seeks opportunities to redefine the role of craft in architectural practice.Enlightening interviews together with a selection of drawings, diagrams, models, renderings, and building process photographs reveal a shared commitment to experimentation and learning-by-doing." (November 28, 2009)

57 years., Soulellis Studio :
"The other is Provisional: Emerging Modes of Architectural Practice USA, edited by Elite Kedan, Jon Dreyfous and Craig Mutter and published this month by Princeton Architectural Press. Less about the architectural object and more about practice and process, featuring some hot folks. Beautiful design by Project Projects and worth a look." (November 17, 2009)

Architectural Scholar:
"The success of this book is that it clearly illustrates a variety of very distinct modes of building a young architectural practice. Each mode/firm is different in that they focus on very unique aspects of the architectural process or profession from visualization, consulting, design build, exhibition design, information design, et cetera - et cetera." — Britton Chambers (March 17, 2010)

Provisional Practice USA., anArchitecture:
"So maybe before you think of starting up on your own office - take a look into this book." — Christoph (February 11, 2010)

Lewism:
"...this is a book that is worth diving deep into." (May 14, 2010)

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