New York-based architecture firm MOS, the experimental and ‘willfully strange’ bureau headed by architects Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, is fast approaching its landmark ten-year anniversary of being in business. To celebrate this milestone in their career, they are releasing their first ever monograph, entitled MOS: Selected Works, a book and visual guide that chronicles their evolution, as well as presenting a careful selection of their best projects to-date.
The firm is well known for its joyful and experimental approach to design development and its ‘off-kilter’ methodologies. Through their work, the pair has dabbled in different mediums, arguably inserting an element of fun and playfulness into their vision of what an architectural practice should be.
The book’s thirty-two projects cover the firm’s diverse body of work. This includes a selection of projects that are still in progress, with notable examples such as the Museum of Outdoor Arts commission for the Element House, the Puppet Theatre at Harvard's Carpenter Center and their work for the Chamber design gallery and store in Manhattan.
Meredith and Sample, who teach at the prestigious Princeton University and Columbia University respectively, alongside managing their joint practice, like to inject humour into their work. Their unique ‘office policy’, included in this publication, is a testament to that. This unorthodox office guidebook features quirky advice, such as ‘you are asked to remember that one aim of the office is to get it “exactly wrong”’ and provides readers with a unique insight into the firm's lighthearted approach and sense of humour.
Highlighting the work of arguably one of the country’s leading young architectural practices, MOS: Selected Works offers valuable insight into the pair's life and philosophy, not only as architecture professionals, but also as state-of-the-art designers and thinkers.
Published by Princeton Architectural Press, the book will feature 32 projects, which show the evolution of the practice's work and cover its diverse and playful portfolio
Pictured here is the Puppet Theater Pavillion, constructed in 2004. This project was built for a Pierre Huyghe performance. It was designed to be able to be assembled and disassembled quickly and efficiently. Photography: Florian Holzherr, Michael Vahrenwald
This pavillion, constructed from polycarbonate panels, was built to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Le Corbusier's Carpenter Center at Harvard University. Photography: Florian Holzherr
One of the firm's earlier works, this is House No. 2, also known as Floating House. Photography: Florian Holzherr
The firm's Pavilion No. 4 at PS1 was called Afterparty. Photography: Florian Holzherr
INFORMATION
MOS: Selected Works by Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample, £25, is published by Princeton Architectural Press.
For more information, visit the publisher's website
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