AD-WO's 21st-century take on residential work blends colour and climate

The Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 includes AD-WO, a young USA practice joining our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios.

Who: AD-WO

Ethiopia-born Emanuel Admassu and Australia-born Jen Wood formed AD-WO in New York in 2015. The young art and architecture studio brings together their 'divergent' backgrounds to create valuable 'friction' within their practice – which, combined with their agility and multi-disciplinary approach, gives them a distinct edge when it comes to crafting works that are 'transnational' and experimental. The portfolio of the research-based studio spans from images and objects to furniture, tapestries, installations, and buildings.

'We examine the methods of spatial valuation that undergird the disciplines of architecture and urban design: how these systems of measurement are entangled with discursive and material regimes of racialisation, ecological degradation, and coloniality,' the duo say.

'Our work is committed to unsettling the conventions of architecture with hopes of developing a spatial practice that is open and generous. We experiment with tactics of opacity, occlusion, and abstraction, paying special attention to non-Western concepts and sites that are illegible to the ethnographic gaze. We are looking for gaps in perception as ways to challenge the limits of our imagination.'

What: Bole Rwanda

Bole Rwanda is a boutique residential project in Ethiopia, and the African country's capital, Addis Ababa. The scheme spans six floors and has a distinctive, colourful identity, partially featuring salvaged bricks that have been arranged in captivating patterns. The property's compound wall wraps around the main building, stretching up to its height and transforming 'from an opaque fence into an irregularly punched screen'.

This 'veil' around the main residential building shades and protects the dwellings inside, which are set back by two metres and feature outdoor space in the shape of balconies.

Why: Architects’ Directory 2024

Conceived in 2000 as an international index of emerging architectural talent, the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory is our annual listing of promising practices from across the globe. While always championing the best and most promising young studios, over the years, the project has showcased inspiring work with an emphasis on the residential realm. Now including more than 500 alumni, the Architects’ Directory is back for its 24th edition. Join us as we launch this year’s survey – 20 young studios from Australia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, the UK, the USA, with plenty of promise, ideas and exciting architecture.

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