WEISS/MANFREDI: Reciprocal Horizons

Since founding their New York City practice in 1989, Michael Manfredi and Marion Weiss have built a reputation for sensitively rethinking the relationship between buildings and their surroundings. Their firm statement describes a commitment to breaking down “disciplinary distinctions between architecture, art, ecology, landscape architecture, engineering, and urban planning” in order to enable the creation of “new paradigms for contemporary settings.”

For their Current Work lecture, Manfredi and Weiss will discuss projects including:

  • The US Embassy Complex in New Delhi, an update to an Edward Durell Stone–designed compound that spans 28 acres.
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, whose design transformed a loose collection of buildings into a unified campus.
  • Hunters Point South Waterfront Park, an innovative public space designed to test new ideas about sustainability.
  • La Brea Tar Pits Redesign and Expansion, the reimagining of the world’s only active paleontological research site in a major urban area.
  • Tsai CITY Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale University, a new beacon for university-wide interdisciplinary collaboration.

The lecture will be followed by a conversation with J. Meejin Yoon, co-founding principal of Höweler + Yoon Architecture and dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University.

WEISS/MANFREDI | Kent State Center for Architecture and Environmental Design, Kent, OH, 2016. Credit: Albert Vecerka.