Topic: Design and Architecture

Ellen van Loon

Ellen van Loon is one of the world’s leading architects. She joined OMA in 1998 and became Partner in 2002. She has led award-winning building projects that combine sophisticated design with precise execution. Recently completed projects led by Ellen include the shop-in-shops for Jacquemus at Galeries Lafayette and Selfridges (2022), the temporary store on Avenue de Montaigne in Paris for Tiffany & Co. (2022), Monumental Wonders exhibition for SolidNature in Milan (2022). Bvlgari Fine Jewelry Show (2021), Brighton College (2020), BLOX / DAC in Copenhagen (2018), Rijnstraat 8 in The Hague (2017), and Lab City CentraleSupélec (2017).

Other projects in her portfolio include Fondation Galeries Lafayette (2018) in Paris; Qatar National Library (2017); Amsterdam’s G-Star Raw Headquarters (2014); De Rotterdam, the largest building in the Netherlands (2013); CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012); New Court Rothschild Bank in London (2011); Maggie’s Centre in Glasgow (2011); Casa da Musica in Porto (2005) – winner of the 2007 RIBA Award; and the Dutch Embassy in Berlin (2003) – winner of the European Union Mies van der Rohe Award in 2005. Ellen is currently working on The Factory Manchester – a large performing arts venue for the city; Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) Berlin – Europe’s biggest department store – and KaDeWe Vienna; and the Palais de Justice de Lille.

Alfredo Brillembourg

Brillembourg was born in New York to Venezuelan parents. He is the Founder of the Urban–Think Tank Design Group with offices in New York, São Paulo, Oslo and Cape Town. He has over 30 years of experience building architecture and urban design projects around the globe. He received both his Bachelor of Art and Architecture in 1984, and his Master of Science in Architectural Design in 1986 from Columbia University. In 1992 he received a second Master degree in Architecture from The Central University of Venezuela and began his Caracas practice with Brillembourg & Associates Architects. He is a member of the Venezuelan Architects and Engineers Association, the Swiss SIA, and the Norwegian NAL.

He began his teaching career in 1996 at the University Simon Bolivar and the Central University in Venezuela. In 2007 Brillembourg, as professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, founded the Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory (S.L.U.M. Lab). From 2010–2019, he held the Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at ETHZ and received the 2010 Ralph Erskine Award, 2011 Gold Holcim Award for Latin America, 2012 Silver Holcim Global Award for innovation in social design, and the 2012 Venice Biennial of Architecture Golden Lion. In 2018 the Empower Shack Housing project was shortlisted as an exceptional new building in the world by RIBA.

Between 2019– 2020 he was guest professor at the IOA Institute of Architecture at The University of Applied Arts Vienna and in 2021 Brillembourg became a visiting scholar at the GRIP Institute, University of Bergen, where he has founded the academic journal Parangolè about the urbanizing planet.

Ricardo Bofill

Ricardo Bofill was born into a family of builders in 1939 in Barcelona, Spain. He studied at the Barcelona University School of Architecture and graduated from the School of Geneva. At the age of seventeen Ricardo Bofill designed his first project, a summer home in Ibiza, and by twenty-three became lead architect of el Taller.

He continues to lead the international architectural and urban design practice Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. Over fifty years later, Bofill still leads Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, with over 1000 projects to date in over 50 countries.

After accomplishing a series of world class buildings such as Shiseido, in Ginza, Tokyo, Christian Dior Headquarters, Cartier Headquarters, Rochas Headquarters, Axa Headquarters, Paribas Bank Marché Saint Honoré, all in Paris, The Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Houston, The Metz Auditorium, Metz, France, the Barcelona Airport, The National Theatre of Catalonia, in Barcelona, The New Palacio de Congresos, Madrid, SWIFT Headquarters, near Brussels, Bofill has demonstrated his expertise and know-how to carry out class A buildings all over the world.

Outstanding amongst the most recent projects designed by the architect is The Donnelley Building, a 55 story granite and glass office tower. Other relevant projects, such as The Grand (the tallest residential building in the world), Project 2000 (the tallest office building in the world), and Dearborn Center (Dearborn and Adams) are presently under construction or development in Chicago. Famous residential buildings by Bofill are Abraxas, The Arcades du Lac, Belvedere St. Christophe, Les Echelles du Baroque in Paris, Pa Söder Crescent in Stockholm and Monchyplein in The Hague.

His vision of urban design has resulted in many examples such as The City of Antigone (4 million square feet built) in south France, Plateau Kirchberg in Luxembourg, Port Praski in Warsaw and The New Castellana in Madrid. Bofill Arquitectura has offices in Barcelona and Paris, and is currently collaborating with prestigious architectural firms in Chicago.

He has a multifaceted, international design team that undertakes projects in collaboration with local architects and engineers for a wide variety of projects, from city planning to interior design.