Design Vanguard 2010 Features

In times of stress, new patterns often appear first at the edges — those places both geographic and metaphoric that are far from traditional centers of activity or thought. So it should come as no surprise that a small firm in Vancouver, Canada, is pioneering a form of practice that doesn’t depend solely on clients to generate paying work. Or that a pair of Harvard graduates decided Louisville, Kentucky, offered them the best chance to make a difference. Or that a Chinese firm is doing some of its most innovative work in Tibet and a firm from Switzerland is pushing boundaries in Inner Mongolia. Even in a large city such as London, some architects are working at the edge of the typical project life span, creating works that last just a few days or weeks. By definition, the emerging architects profiled each year in our Design Vanguard stand on the outside— of the profession, the economic system, the power structure — figuring out ways to break in or make the old centers irrelevant.

	Carmody Groarke From the ephemeral to the permanent, a London based firm is exploring the means and meaning of architecture in projects both public and private. Photo © Christian Richters
	Chenchow Little Architects A husband-and-wife team brings design out of the bush and into Australia's suburbs, where the great majority of the nation's population lives. Photo © John Gollings
	De Leon and Primmer Architecture workshop A pair of Harvard-educated architects find acceptance in Kentucky while drawing inspiration from the state’s tobacco barns and vernacular buildings. Photo courtesy de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
	HHF Architects A trio of young architects just a few years out of school launch a practice with work around the world. Photo © Iwan Baan
	Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects A Tokyo-based architect demonstrates a knack for handling materials and fitting buildings into their natural and urban contexts. Photo © Daici Ano
	L.E.FT L.E.FT distills politics into design at different scales, using utopian experiments to inform real-world projects from beleaguered Beirut to the turf wars in our own homes. Photo courtesy L.E.FT
	Iván Juárez & Patricia Meneses A pair of designers working from Spain and Mexico explore the intersections between art and architecture, shelter and clothes, and the human body and space. Photo © Iván Juárez
	Molo This multidisciplinary design and production studio based in Vancouver integrates architecture, craft, and industrial design with a unique entrepreneurial spin. Photo courtesy Molo Design, Ltd.
	Standardarchitecture This firm pursues multiple narratives in projects of very different scales, attitudes, and settings. Photo © Chen Su
	W.PA/Works Partnership Architecture An Oregon practice thrives by devising design-driven schemes that meet the needs of its developer clients. Photo © Stephen A. Miller