Posted by Joshua
Interview | 06 Sep 06 | Comments (7) | Stumble
Paul Preissner is busy. Steadily building his architecture practice Qua 'Virarch while teaching at the Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago, SCI-Arc, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he has recently been named Visiting Hyde Chair of Excellence professor for the Fall 2006 semester at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln School of Architecture. So, where exactly does he find the time to be inspired by the shambling undead? Jw
When did you decide to become a designer?
My second year of college, after I decided I was too lazy to change majors to linguistics. I think before that time I didn't really know architecture even existed as anything other than the people who decide what buildings look like.
Where do you do most of your design work?
IBM notebook computers. Chicago studio. Airplanes.
Where, or from what, do you get inspiration for your work?
I'm a bit fascinated by zombie films and horror genre films that are able to convince people in an air conditioned theater, with sodas in their hands, that they are somehow at risk of dying from what they're seeing projected on a screen. My work tends to be about mood and atmosphere.
Exterior Perspective Jeongok Pre-History Museum, 2006 (competition. 2nd prize).
So, is it your intention to add a bit of fantasy to every realistic project? Do you desire to remove people from the mundane when they experience your work?
I'm not that interested in fantasy really, since I associate fantasy with the Jamesonian notion of utopias, which I don't believe in. I'm more committed toward people thinking, and believe that when they actively engage their feelings, they do that, and then make better decisions in their lives. I'm not so convinced that creating "pleasant" spaces or deferring to economy of movements is able to do anything other than bore a person.
What is your favorite part of the design process and why?
The middle part... after I know what I want to do but before I've had too much time to fuck it up.
Interior gallery perspective, Jeongok Pre-History Museum, 2006.
How would you label/categorize your work?
Architecture.
Do you have a signature style? If yes, what are the hallmarks of your style?
Curvy.
Your style seems, to me, to have more attributes than "curviness"- there seems to be a sense of path or direction to a lot of it. It also feels as if, rather than creating curves from scratch, that you are manipulating straight lines or elements of a site to create a dialogue between your structures and their context. Is this somewhat accurate?
That seems a fair description. I don't create anything from scratch- on the level of geometry, everything is an adjustment, or mutation, or something it once was before it gets to where it will be. On a larger level, my projects are in some ways smaller episodes of the same project, one which I don't think will ever be complete, or at least not for some while. Each project ends at a certain date for a variety of reasons (competition deadline, client fires me, etc..) and then the project gets subsumed into the genesis of the next one... so it's a constant lineage. But you're right, I don't create curves out of whole cloth.
Who are your favorite designers and/or architects?
Hedi Slimane, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Ben Berkel, me.
What item (PC, pen, etc) can you not do without when you are designing?
3-button mouse. A black pen.
Exterior perspective, Lemont, Illinois residence, construction 2007.
What's next?
Project-wise? I'm currently involved in a competition for the new national library of Czechoslovakia in Prague, and after that jumping right to a competition to design an entirely new city in South Korea... so thats pretty big. I'm also working on a 6,400SF private residence west of Chicago for two brothers which is, right now, a rather aggressive concrete house. It's very sinewy. This Fall I'm in two exhibitions: one at the Art Institute of Chicago (Young Chicago), and the other in South Korea (50 World Architects). Otherwise. I'm pretty happy playing XBOX Live and watching my fantasy football team do well.
Entry lobby perspective osmani residence (OSMANIR) design 2006, construction 2007, Lemont, Illinois.
VITAL STATS
Full name: Paul Preissner
Location: Chicago Size of team: 1-5
In business since: 2003
Claim to fame projects: Gyeonggi-Do PreHistory Museum
Spare time: write/tv/film/video games/read/whiskey/zombie films
MEDIA FAVES
Favorite website(s): alternet.org, dlisted.com, gawker.com, truthout.org, mediamatters.org, imdb.com, wikipedia.com, egotastic.com
What music is on your iPod or radio? Owen, Red Chamber, Morrissey, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Make Believe, Bear vs. Shark, Jets to Brazil, The Life and Times.
Your favorite magazine(s): Color, Details, US Weekly, Vanity Fair, The Nation, Wallpaper, Absolute, Flaunt, Prophecy
Last or current book you are reading: World War Z by Max Brooks
Last movie you saw: The Descent
why should we care about Paul Preissner?
love to know about your work. i am an architect from india interested to interact with you
great conceptual imagery!
Oops, hit the "Post" button a bit early. One thing that I've noticed about Paul's work is his ability to get across the idea that digital imagery in architecture isn't relegated to the two main categories: boring extrusions of CAD renderings and completely obstuse chaos. There's a special sense of scale and light in a lot of his work that I don't see in other renderings of this nature.
Joseph. You dont have to care about me. but i love you.
I think that the images accompanying the text while interesting could have been informed by images of built work. As an architect myself, I would love to see how the conceptual ideas of light, transparency and space conveyed in the rendered models are transformed by real materials. Is it possible to add an addendum to the article?
good decision to interview paul, josh. good decision to be including in MoCo, paul.