Mikou Design Studio
For twin sisters Salwa and Selma Mikou, principals of Paris-based Mikou Design Studio, their introduction to architecture was family life in a traditional riyad in the heart of the medina in Fes, Morocco. With home and hearth such a strong reverberation in the minds of the sisters, it might seem strange that their architectural practice includes no residential projects.

Photo courtesy Mikou Design Studio

construcTWO
Although Julie Ju-Youn Kim, AIA, bases her 3-to-4-person firm construcTWO in Washington, D.C., with a satellite office in Detroit, the answer she’ll give if you ask where her office is located might be “wherever my laptop is.”

Photo courtesy construcTWO

limonLAB
An urban laboratory. That’s how architect Enrique Limon explains why his New York City based firm is called limonLAB. Established in 2005, the 2-to-4 person firm’s bent toward experimentation has yielded a number of completed and on-the-boards projects, including a bar in Philadelphia, a gallery in New York City’s Harlem, a resort in Thailand, and a prototype soccer park slated to be developed in 20 U.S. locations.

Photo courtesy limonLAB

Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Arquitetos
Now in its 10th year, Brazilian firm Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz (FGMF) has grown from three to 18 employees. From their first project of a small restaurant in the woods of São Paolo to a complicated urban renovation project in downtown Rio de Janeiro, the three architects have never lost their individuality as designers, or their ambition to grow the firm.

Photo courtesy FGMF

Davison Architecture + Urban Design
For Dominique Davison, AIA, and Ryan Warman, AIA, principals of 4-person firm Davison Architecture + Urban Design (DA+UD), living in Kansas City, Mo., a city that has more linear miles of highway per capita than any other U.S. city, is like being in the right place at the right time.

Photo courtesy DA + UD

Luca Andrisani Architect
It takes a certain amount of audacity for a 26-year-old Italian architecture school student to write a letter to Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron detailing the reasons why they should hire him. Luca Andrisani was that plucky student, and went to work at the famed Swiss firm right after receiving his M.Arch.

Photo courtesy Luca Andrisani Architect

Atelier Manferdini
She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Civil Engineering in Bologna, Italy, and an M.Arch. from SCI-Arc, but don’t try to pigeonhole Elena Manferdini. With her firm, Atelier Manferdini, Manferdini switches hats easily from engineer, architect, product designer, fashion designer, and artist.

Photo © Lisa Wyatt

LAN Architecture
Umberto Napolitano wanted to be a musician, and Benoit Jallon, a doctor. Years later they both turned to architecture, and are now into their seventh year as co-principals of Paris-based, 20-person firm LAN Architecture.

Photo courtesy LAN Architecture

Studio Urnod: Urban nomads refine their craft in New York City
Thirty somethings Koray Duman and Laith Sayigh may have found similarities in their Middle Eastern roots, but both say it’s their belief that big ideas can come from a small, focused practice that really keeps their New York City based firm Studio Urnod (the name comes from a merging of urban and nomad) busy.

Photo courtesy Studio Urnod

Burton Baldridge Architects: No detail is too small
What is an architect to do when he wants complete control over the construction and details of every project he designs? Start his own construction company, of course! At least, that was the answer for Burton Baldridge, principal of three-year-old, Austin, Texas, design firm Burton Baldridge Architects and construction firm BBA-DB.

Photo courtesy Burton Baldridge Architects

Tacklebox: Finding the tools to create enticing environs for the art and design world, and then some
Growing up in Roanoke, Virginia, Jeremy Barbour says architecture was never on his radar. Now the principal of three-year-old New York City—based firm Tacklebox, as well as a teacher at Columbia’s School of Architecture (where he received his master’s) and Parsons The New School For Design, he lives and breathes it.

Photo courtesy Tacklebox

Wilk Salinas: Filling Berlin’s lost spaces with realized vision
“Stupid projects.” The phrase comes up repeatedly in conversation with German-born Gil Wilk and Spaniard Ana Salinas, whose eponymous studio is based in Berlin. “It is something that is fun for us,” Wilk explains, but he adds, “These are projects that everyone says will not work.”

Photo courtesy Wilk Salinas