Issue 6
ISSUE
STORY TYPE
AUTHOR
13
BOOK REVIEW
November 25, 2024
A Mind-Body Experience of Architecture, Delivered in a Photo
by Marianela D’Aprile
13
PERSPECTIVE
November 18, 2024
Seeing Chinatown as a Readymade
by Philip Poon
13
PEOPLE
November 11, 2024
The Place of the Handmade Artifact in a Tech-Obsessed Era
by Anne Quito
13
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
November 4, 2024
How a Storied Printmaker Advances the Practice of Architecture
by Diana Budds
12
PEOPLE
October 21, 2024
Sounding Out a Better Way to Build
by Jesse Dorris
12
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
October 7, 2024
What It Means—and What It’s Worth—to Be “Light”
by Julie Lasky
12
PERSPECTIVE
September 23, 2024
Redefining “Iconic” Architecture and Ideals
by Sophie Lovell
12
PERSPECTIVE
September 9, 2024
Surrendering to What Is
by Marianne Krogh
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
August 26, 2024
Sometimes, Democratic Design Doesn’t “Look” Like Anything
by Zach Mortice
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
August 19, 2024
What Does Your Home Say About You?
by Shane Reiner-Roth
11
BOOK REVIEW
August 12, 2024
Is Building Better Cities a Dream Within Reach?
by Michael Webb
11
PEOPLE
August 5, 2024
The Value of Unbuilt Buildings
by George Kafka
11
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
July 29, 2024
Future-Proofing a Home Where Water Is a Focus and a Thread
by Alexandra Lange
11
BOOK REVIEW
July 22, 2024
Modernist Town, U.S.A.
by Ian Volner
11
PEOPLE
July 15, 2024
Buildings That Grow from a Place
by Anthony Paletta
10
URBANISM
June 24, 2024
What We Lose When a Historic Building Is Demolished
by Owen Hatherley
10
PERSPECTIVE
June 17, 2024
We Need More Than Fewer, Better Things
by Deb Chachra
10
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
June 3, 2024
An Ode to Garages
by Charlie Weak
10
PERSPECTIVE
May 28, 2024
In Search of Domestic Kintsugi
by Edwin Heathcote
10
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
May 13, 2024
The Perils of the Landscapes We Make
by Karrie Jacobs
10
PERSPECTIVE
May 6, 2024
Using Simple Tools as a Radical Act of Independence
by Jarrett Fuller
9
PERSPECTIVE
April 29, 2024
Why Can’t I Just Go Home?
by Eva Hagberg
9
PEOPLE
April 22, 2024
Why Did Our Homes Stop Evolving?
by George Kafka
9
ROUNDTABLE
April 8, 2024
Spaces Where the Body Is a Vital Force
by Tiffany Jow
9
BOOK REVIEW
April 1, 2024
Tracing the Agency of Women as Users and Experts of Architecture
by Mimi Zeiger
9
PERSPECTIVE
March 25, 2024
Are You Sitting in a Non-Place?
by Mzwakhe Ndlovu
9
ROUNDTABLE
March 11, 2024
At Home, Connecting in Place
by Marianela D’Aprile
9
PEOPLE
March 4, 2024
VALIE EXPORT’s Tactical Urbanism
by Alissa Walker
8
PERSPECTIVE
February 26, 2024
What the “Whole Earth Catalog” Taught Me About Building Utopias
by Anjulie Rao
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 19, 2024
How a Run-Down District in London Became a Model for Neighborhood Revitalization
by Ellen Peirson
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 12, 2024
In Brooklyn, Housing That Defies the Status Quo
by Gideon Fink Shapiro
8
PERSPECTIVE
February 5, 2024
That “Net-Zero” Home Is Probably Living a Lie
by Fred A. Bernstein
8
PERSPECTIVE
January 22, 2024
The Virtue of Corporate Architecture Firms
by Kate Wagner
8
PERSPECTIVE
January 16, 2024
How Infrastructure Shapes Us
by Deb Chachra
8
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
January 8, 2024
The Defiance of Desire Lines
by Jim Stephenson
7
PEOPLE
December 18, 2023
This House Is Related to You and to Your Nonhuman Relatives
by Sebastián López Cardozo
7
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
December 11, 2023
What’s the Point of the Plus Pool?
by Ian Volner
7
BOOK REVIEW
December 4, 2023
The Extraordinary Link Between Aerobics and Architecture
by Jarrett Fuller
7
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
November 27, 2023
Architecture That Promotes Healing and Fortifies Us for Action
by Kathryn O’Rourke
7
PEOPLE
November 6, 2023
How to Design for Experience
by Diana Budds
7
PEOPLE
October 30, 2023
The Meaty Objects at Marta
by Jonathan Griffin
6
OBJECTS
October 23, 2023
How Oliver Grabes Led Braun Back to Its Roots
by Marianela D’Aprile
6
URBANISM
October 16, 2023
Can Adaptive Reuse Fuel Equitable Revitalization?
by Clayton Page Aldern
6
PERSPECTIVE
October 9, 2023
What’s the Point of a Tiny Home?
by Mimi Zeiger
6
OBJECTS
October 2, 2023
A Book Where Torn-Paper Blobs Convey Big Ideas
by Julie Lasky
6
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
September 24, 2023
The Architecture of Doing Nothing
by Edwin Heathcote
6
BOOK REVIEW
September 18, 2023
What the “Liebes Look” Says About Dorothy Liebes
by Debika Ray
6
PEOPLE
September 11, 2023
Roy McMakin’s Overpowering Simplicity
by Eva Hagberg
6
OBJECTS
September 5, 2023
Minimalism’s Specific Objecthood, Interpreted by Designers of Today
by Glenn Adamson
5
ROUNDTABLE
August 28, 2023
How Joan Jonas and Eiko Otake Navigate Transition
by Siobhan Burke
5
OBJECTS
August 21, 2023
The Future-Proofing Work of Design-Brand Archivists
by Adrian Madlener
5
URBANISM
August 14, 2023
Can a Church Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis?
by Alex Bozikovic
5
PEOPLE
August 7, 2023
In Search of Healing, Helen Cammock Confronts the Past
by Jesse Dorris
5
URBANISM
July 31, 2023
What Dead Malls, Office Parks, and Big-Box Stores Can Do for Housing
by Ian Volner
5
PERSPECTIVE
July 24, 2023
A Righteous Way to Solve “Wicked” Problems
by Susan Yelavich
5
OBJECTS
July 17, 2023
Making a Mess, with a Higher Purpose
by Andrew Russeth
5
ROUNDTABLE
July 10, 2023
How to Emerge from a Starchitect’s Shadow
by Cynthia Rosenfeld
4
PEOPLE
June 26, 2023
There Is No One-Size-Fits-All in Architecture
by Marianela D’Aprile
4
PEOPLE
June 19, 2023
How Time Shapes Amin Taha’s Unconventionally Handsome Buildings
by George Kafka
4
PEOPLE
June 12, 2023
Seeing and Being Seen in JEB’s Radical Archive of Lesbian Photography
by Svetlana Kitto
4
PERSPECTIVE
June 5, 2023
In Built Environments, Planting Where It Matters Most
by Karrie Jacobs
3
PERSPECTIVE
May 30, 2023
On the Home Front, a Latine Aesthetic’s Ordinary Exuberance
by Anjulie Rao
3
PERSPECTIVE
May 21, 2023
For a Selfie (and Enlightenment), Make a Pilgrimage to Bridge No. 3
by Alexandra Lange
3
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
May 8, 2023
The Building Materials of the Future Might Be Growing in Your Backyard
by Marianna Janowicz
3
BOOK REVIEW
May 1, 2023
Moving Beyond the “Fetishisation of the Forest”
by Edwin Heathcote
2
ROUNDTABLE
April 24, 2023
Is Craft Still Synonymous with the Hand?
by Tiffany Jow
2
PEOPLE
April 17, 2023
A Historian Debunks Myths About Lacemaking, On LaceTok and IRL
by Julie Lasky
2
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
April 10, 2023
How AI Helps Architects Design, and Refine, Their Buildings
by Ian Volner
2
PEOPLE
April 3, 2023
Merging Computer and Loom, a Septuagenarian Artist Weaves Her View of the World
by Francesca Perry
1
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
March 27, 2023
Words That Impede Architecture, According to Reinier de Graaf
by Osman Can Yerebakan
1
PEOPLE
March 20, 2023
Painting With Plaster, Monica Curiel Finds a Release
by Andrew Russeth
1
PERSPECTIVE
March 13, 2023
Rules and Roles in Life, Love, and Architecture
by Eva Hagberg
1
Roundtable
March 6, 2023
A Design Movement That Pushes Beyond Architecture’s Limitations
by Tiffany Jow
0
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
February 7, 2023
To Improve the Future of Public Housing, This Architecture Firm Looks to the Past
by Ian Volner
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
The Radical Potential of “Prime Objects”
by Glenn Adamson
0
PEOPLE
February 20, 2023
Xiyadie’s Queer Cosmos
by Xin Wang
0
PEOPLE
February 13, 2023
How Michael J. Love’s Subversive Tap Dancing Steps Forward
by Jesse Dorris
0
SHOW AND TELL
February 7, 2023
Finding Healing and Transformation Through Good Black Art
by Folasade Ologundudu
0
BOOK REVIEW
February 13, 2023
How Stephen Burks “Future-Proofs” Craft
by Francesca Perry
0
ROUNDTABLE
February 27, 2023
Making Use of End Users’ Indispensable Wisdom
by Tiffany Jow
0
PEOPLE
February 7, 2023
The New Lessons Architect Steven Harris Learns from Driving Old Porsches
by Jonathan Schultz
0
PERSPECTIVE
February 7, 2023
The Day Architecture Stopped
by Kate Wagner
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
The Overlooked Potential of Everyday Objects
by Adrian Madlener
0
ROUNDTABLE
February 7, 2023
A Conversation About Generalists, Velocity, and the Source of Innovation
by Tiffany Jow
0
OBJECTS
February 7, 2023
Using a Fungi-Infused Paste, Blast Studio Turns Trash Into Treasure
by Natalia Rachlin
Untapped is published by the design company Henrybuilt.
ROUNDTABLE
07.10.2023
How to Emerge from a Starchitect’s Shadow

Architects Markus Dochantschi, Edwin Chan, and Channa Daswatte talk about transitioning from top firms to ones of their own.

Architects Markus Dochantschi, Edwin Chan, and Channa Daswatte
Clockwise from left: Markus Dochantschi, Edwin Chan, and Channa Daswatte. (Photos: Courtesy StudioMDA, Chris Miele, Banuka Vithanage)


For many young architects, working for an industry legend is a dream come true, notwithstanding the generally long hours, meager pay, and mundane tasks that stray far from actual design work. Still, those who persevere can find themselves shaping buildings that make history, albeit under someone else’s name.

Moving on from designing hero-scale architecture of international renown—in an office with not only the infrastructure to realize major projects but also the cachet to be considered for them—is not without risk. Can one successfully emerge from such a shadow without significant difficulty?

This topic originated in a conversation between myself and Edwin Chan, who received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009 from France’s Ministry of Culture and Communication for designing the Louis Vuitton Foundation and the American Center in Paris, both of which Chan oversaw in his role as a design partner at Gehry Partners. The Hong Kong–born, Harvard-trained architect had worked there since 1986, long before Frank Gehry became world famous for designing the Guggenheim Bilbao. A sabbatical convinced Chan that to grow further, he needed to leave Gehry and establish his own practice. He did so in 2012 and named it EC3, for Empowering Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations.

While his firm is thriving, Chan spoke candidly about the messiness of his prolonged transition and its lingering tradeoffs, which include running an operation that he admits still “frankly underutilizes” his abilities. He wondered if other architects in his position felt the same way. So we asked around. Unsurprisingly, some quickly declined. But Markus Dochantschi, a former director at Zaha Hadid Architects, and Channa Daswatte, the final protégé of the late Geoffrey Bawa, agreed to talk.

German-born Dochantschi joined Hadid’s London office in 1995 (and briefly served as her teaching assistant at the Yale School of Architecture), after working for Japanese architects Arata Isozaki and Fumihiko Maki. During his seven-year tenure as a director, Dochantschi contributed to commissions including the Bergisel Ski Jump and the Vista Master plan Singapore. He left in 2002 to open StudioMDA in New York City, where he has become known for reimagining the art gallery, particularly in Tribeca, where he has designed several of them.

Daswatte joined Bawa’s Sri Lanka office in 1991, working on seminal structures including the Kandalama Hotel, built directly into a colossal rock face in the equatorial island’s lush interior. He became the firm’s last partner two years before departing to establish MICD Associates, in 1999, with a fellow Bawa alumni, though he continued to complete work for the ailing Bawa until his death in 2003. Daswatte’s portfolio includes homes, educational institutions, and hotels. He has also undertaken restorations of signature Bawa properties such as the Bentota Beach Hotel, a template for how to build in the tropics, and serves as the chairperson of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust.

None of them sugarcoated the challenges of working for a highly demanding and talented trailblazer, yet our conversation leaned positive as they reflected on their trajectories. The mid-career architects, who had not met before, quickly bonded over the striking parallels of their formative years and the lessons that continue to shape how they lead their own practices today.

Architects Frank Gehry and Edwin Chan at a table outside
Gehry (left) with Chan. (Photo: Thomas Mayer)


You were each working for someone who was making history. Then, as Markus told an interviewer, you “went from master-planning thousands of acres to trying to figure out what kinds of door hinges to buy.” Why did you decide to leave?

MARKUS DOCHANTSCHI: Zaha’s firm grew very quickly—but with scale comes new structures and behaviors. Things change when you go from seven people to seventy-five. I was by then a director of the firm, with Patrik Schumacher. I did what I wanted to do, which was to see Zaha go from a small studio with few projects to a larger office winning major commissions. Then I had the opportunity to set off on my own with a very small project in New York. I felt ready and willing to trade bigger projects for a smaller office that was mine. I wanted to see if I could do it.

CHANNA DASWATTE: After working for Geoffrey for about six years, I began imagining growing old in that office. And with that, I knew it was time to strike out on my own.

One morning I went to Geoffrey and told him. Over coffee we had a long conversation; he knew these were the last years of his life. “I have experience and you have youth,” he said. “So why don’t you stay on?” Being a good Buddhist, I agreed. Moving on happened for me as Geoffrey faded away after his stroke. I concluded work he had started. Then it was really time to leave his big name behind to start off on my own.

That took much longer than I thought it would. Even now, he’s been dead twenty years, yet people still seek me out just to ask about Geoffrey Bawa. It is certainly not easy emerging from that shadow. It took more than a decade after he died for me, when people would ask me to build them a “Geoffrey Bawa house,” to feel comfortable saying, “Actually, I’m Channa.”

EDWIN CHAN: Thankfully no one has come to ask me to build them a Frank Gehry house. [Laughter] For me it started with external factors: the economic crash of 2008 affected even Frank’s office. Things slowed down, so I took a break to do some things I had always wanted to do, like climb the Himalayas and teach at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

I returned to Frank’s office. But I had tasted freedom, and it was hard to get back into the role I had left. I decided it might be time for me to move on. Still, it took time because of my responsibilities. It was not until 2012 that I made a clean break.

Exterior image of the Kasmin Gallery in New York
Kasmin Gallery in New York, designed by StudioMDA. (Photo: Roland Halbe)


What did you do to ensure the transition went smoothly?

MD: I must make a confession here. My cutting ties was also not so straightforward. I gave Zaha one year’s notice, because we were working on the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. She started crying, even as I reminded her it was not for another year! That time helped me to build cash flow and stability. Having one small project for my own practice was a very helpful way to start off. Another two or three years passed before I told Zaha that I really needed to make a clean break.

I did not like having to suffer the all-nighters and expecting everyone to work all weekend. We burned out a lot of people in Zaha’s office. It was a very tough environment, as was common at the time. From this, I learned to value the culture I wanted to nourish.

CD: Geoffrey had already scaled back by the time I joined, but still we were expected to give up weekends, and you might go weeks without seeing your family. You might be given a glass of arrack at 6 p.m., but you were expected to work past midnight. I never resented the way we worked at Geoffrey’s, but like Markus, I set up my own office intentionally for people to have more time away from it.

I had the great opportunity during this period to build my own house. I could build exactly what I wanted. This tiny project allowed me to become myself as an architect by clarifying who I was outside of working for this great man. It also helped other people to look past Bawa, and to see me. Several projects came to my office simply because clients saw my house.

EC: Even when I realized I had pushed my development as far as possible at Frank’s office, it took me a few years to leave, too. If you want to break away, I suggest following your intuition, because there is never a perfect time to go. Listen for when it feels like there is no longer a compelling reason for you to go into that office. Then, as you make the transition, it’s important to keep an open mind and to experiment. That is what being on your own affords you: the chance to investigate new ideas.

At Frank’s office there is a very specific way of working. I wanted to explore other ways of operating an architecture practice, to not just repeat what I already knew. That freedom to choose projects and go in different directions really motivates me. I am responsible for my own decision making and for how my practice develops. That is the most gratifying part of sticking with the transition.

What have been the costs of breaking away?

MD: The process and practice of architecture is the same whether you’re designing a master plan or a doorknob. Ultimately what matters to me is working in my own name, including owning my mistakes.

About a year before Zaha passed, she reached out. She wanted me to open the Zaha Hadid America office. I liked the idea of looking at how an architect creates legacy, as you have in the fashion world with, say, Tom Ford for Gucci—how one passes on the design legacy while at the same time giving people the freedom to exercise their own design language.

But one of Zaha’s conditions was that I immediately close my own office. I sought advice from a friend whom I greatly respect. He told me to look up and tell him what I saw. “The sky,” I said. “Isn’t that a wonderful feeling?” he responded. [Laughter] There was nobody above me—that was his message. I had achieved boundless freedom and responsibility. Decision made.

EC: I talked to Frank along similar lines, although obviously our fashion reference was Louis Vuitton. [Laughter] We explored my building a distinct identity under the Frank Gehry brand, but ultimately that did not work out. The smaller scale of my own practice may mean forgoing prestige projects so far, but it presents possibilities that would not have come to me in Frank’s office.

Rather than simply building distinct, iconic objects, I am curious about the relationship between architecture and nature, and in working with prefab construction and transforming readymade objects, like the art of Marcel Duchamp. Any costs are outweighed by these design opportunities.

CD: Geoffrey really released me by telling me not to continue working under his name after he passed. I never had the choice not to develop my own practice and ideas. Very quickly I went from the security of knowing I could ask Geoffrey for help to suddenly feeling like the sky’s the limit. You suddenly become your own person, not just in terms of design ideas but also managing finances, running an office, and looking after the welfare of a staff. Even if it has sometimes felt like an impediment to be linked forever with Geoffrey, realizing there was no one above me was an amazing feeling. I really grew up at that moment.

A hotel located at the end of a body of water surrounded by trees
The Water Garden Sigiriya hotel by MICD Associates. (Photo: Banuka Vithanage)


How do you go about differentiating your work, aesthetic, and approach from your mentor’s?

MD: From the time I started my own practice, I only presented my own work to prospective clients or in competitions. Never anything from Zaha’s office. This was one conscious way of differentiating myself and an intentional way to separate myself from Zaha.

I don’t have clients asking for a Zaha knockoff. It is a methodology and approach that I learned and took from her. And like Channa, I’m very happy to have just built my own house, in Southampton. Typical of my work, there is nothing typical about it. It’s fun, warm, and open, despite all the concrete.

EC: Is it hard to be your own client?

MD: Well, I change my mind all the time, so I probably would fire myself! But I bring this up because, like starting my own practice, designing for yourself means the freedom to make decisions and to live with the consequences. That is beautiful and educational. Building this felt very much like this growing up and establishing our own identities that we’re speaking about.

CD: Building my own house served as a platform for expressing myself. Starting out with that when I left Geoffrey, I felt both excitement and fear, of nobody telling me what to do. That is not to say I don’t like having clients. I do, because a client challenges you, and I value that dialogue.

MD: We can only be as good as our clients allow us to be. The goal when you have your own practice is to find great clients that trust and challenge you. That relationship is more important than scale.

EC: I agree. Clients bring new ideas to every project. Again, it’s important to keep an open mind, because clients act as catalysts to push us as architects towards new and totally unexpected challenges, and with that comes unanticipated opportunities that take our creative journeys to another level.

Aerial view of True North, a residential development in Michigan
True North, a residential development in Michigan, designed by EC3. (Photo: Chris Miele)


Does your time in previous roles open doors, or prevent your work from being judged on its own merit?

CD: The media like big names. I understand that. But for a long time, Geoffrey’s shadow felt like an albatross. Coming out from the whole protégé period was challenging when I wanted to establish my own identity. I struggled and felt guilty that everyone was so keen to link his name with mine.

Now I take it much more lightly. I know who I am, and that confidence helps me to appreciate the connection for what it is. Geoffrey taught me how to look at the world, and now I can much more graciously accept that the name may help draw attention to what I have to say.

EC: Yeah. It’s a mixed blessing. My relationship to Frank has opened doors, but I have to be critical and cautious of how that relationship works. Recently I was in Europe at a reunion with our former Guggenheim Bilbao client, and I brought an EC3 brochure. These guys who know me very well said, “Your work is totally you.” That felt very gratifying.

MD: I was 27 when I started with Zaha; many of her biggest commissions came after I left. Maybe because of that, I never felt that burden. It never bothered me to see her name linked with mine.

Still, it is really a misnomer, this use of the word protégé. That implies the other architect is the mentor, looking out for the protégé. In fact, most architects are not actually supporting and developing younger architects in this way.

Is that lack of support part of why breaking away is so difficult?

CD: I don’t think there is a way to do it without difficulties. The trick is having the self-confidence to get on with it. You cannot avoid the transition process and its hurdles, so you need to build up confidence in yourself.

EC: Going through growing pains to get the rewards is natural. For each of us, our relationship with our former boss was so much more than employer-employee, so it’s only logical that you would go through uncomfortable difficulties during that transition, which brings you to the next stage of your creative journey.

MD: There is no recipe to make it painless. You must believe in yourself and take pride in your work, no matter the size of the projects in your name. Persistence and patience are key.

How do you think the practice of architecture, and the buildings that result from it, would change if more architects struck out on their own?

MD: In architecture you take on massive and many responsibilities—financial, environmental, and cultural among them. To do all that well requires experience. At Zaha’s, we learned fast. I learned so much by seeing projects through from beginning to end. It was invaluable for me to invest time to gain that experience before setting out on my own.

EC: There is no shortage of young architects setting up on their own, but gaining experience first is crucial towards what you can eventually contribute via a solo practice.

I tell young architects to wait and set out only when they feel mature enough to take on these responsibilities. It’s helpful to grow up under the shelter of an experienced master, then to strike out when you are truly ready. I strongly believe that will show in your work.

CD: We each grew up under the umbrella of a master. Working under someone else is a time of practicing patience, while you imbibe all the knowledge they have to give you.


This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.