The Asymptote Experience

For a short period after the two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, doing business on the New York Stock Exchange was almost impossible. Almost, because the "mirror site" in Brooklyn containing a three-dimensional visualization of all of the financial information about the businesses trading on the Stock Exchange kept working. This system was developed by the architecture firm Asymptote: Rashid & Couture. By using three dimensions, they were able to translate abstract information into architecture and succeeded in making it tangible. Virtual data was given a usable shape.

Designs Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture started their studio, Asymptote, in 1989. They belong to the new generation of architects who, now more than ever, see the whole world as their workroom. Recently, they built the Haarlemmermeer Pavilion for the Floriade show in the Netherlands. They have been invited to numerous competitions including one for museums for BMW and Mercedes in Germany. They designed a cultural center in Tours, France and they created a virtual museum for virtual art commissioned by the Guggenheim. Besides the many architecture projects in which they have given shape to images brought forth by our global visual culture, they also create objects and spaces within the context of visual art.

Exhibition The vehicle for this exhibition was designed by Rashid and Couture themselves. An undulating grid descends from the ceiling into Gallery 1, creating caves and galleries. The exhibition becomes a one-on-one experience of Asymptote's architecture and the manner in which they shape our surroundings. Like the NAI's previous large-scale installations, by Daniel Libeskind (for whom Rashid used to work) and Morphosis (Thom Mayne), Asymptote's design promises to be spectacular.

Rephrasing Asymptote's particular interest lies in rephrasing and reorganizing the construction systems of architecture. However, they do not treat buildings as physical units, but as images, brands and lines that create an unstable composition, in which Asymptote takes on the role of "cultural operators". They manage to translate confusing reality into coherent systems. The exhibition will demonstrate this through numerous models, photographs, drawings, projections and, in particular, site-specific installations. Pressetext

The Asymptote Experience
Architektenteam Asymptote Architecture, New York