Following their contribution to this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial titled “…and other such stories,” in which four distinct themes revolve around the question of how architecture relates to land, memory, rights and civic participation, Wolff Architects talk in Seattle will focus on Architecture of Consequence.
‘The work of Wolff Architects is rooted in developing an attitude around spatial practice that is broad and non-hegemonic. We work towards developing an architecture of consequence. The talk will present some ideas coming out of the work of our studio that illustrates some of these attitudes including: restorative justice, embedded research and of course, juicy design aesthetics. In other words, our creative output considers the past in terms of how to act restoratively and imaginatively when making interventions into the present.’
Wolff is a design studio concerned with developing an architectural practice of consequence through the mediums of design, advocacy, research and documentation. The Wolff team is led by Ilze & Heinrich Wolff, who work collaboratively with a group of highly skilled, committed, and engaged architects, creative practitioners and administrators. Heinrich Wolff is an architect and project manager with over 20 years’ experience. His work has received many awards including the Daimler Chrysler Award for Architecture (2007), the Lubetkin Award (2005), and in 2011 he was elected as the Designer of the Future by the Wouter Mikmak Foundation. He has held several academic appointments; he has been a visiting professor at the ETH in Zürich (2014 - 2015), IUAV in Venice (2013), Washington University in St. Louis (2015) and has been an adjunct associate professor at UCT, Cape Town. Ilze Wolff is a partner of Wolff and graduated with a B.Arch at the University of Cape Town. She received a Masters of Philosophy in Heritage and Public Culture, African Studies Unit, UCT. Ilze co-founded Open House Architecture in 2007, a transdisciplinary research practice which she continues to direct parallel to Wolff.
Both principals have taught and lectured internationally, including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan and India. They continue to do so. The work of the practice has also been included in various international exhibitions, including the Venice Architecture Biennale, Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Chicago Architectural Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale and the South American Architecture Biennale.
