KWY

KWY.studio is a multidisciplinary platform investigating the nature of collaboration within the context of specific projects. Founded in 2009 by architects Ben Allen and Ricardo Gomes in Berlin, and curator James Bae in Los Angeles, since 2015 KWY has had its studio at the creative cluster of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and a small office in Copenhagen.

KWY.studio’s projects are collaborations between its team and invited specialists. Recent collaborators include artists, writers, curators and designers. With few initial preconceptions, each project begins with dialogue and analysis between the collaborators. This process-oriented methodology often leads to diverse thoughts that are otherwise unexpected and unimaginable.

Mira

Terceira, Portugal, 2017
Walk&Talk: Public Art Circuit
KWY.studio (Ricardo Gomes with Ruggero Agnolutto, Daniel López and Mayuri Paranthahan)

Carefully located overlooking Angra’s bay, Mira allows a distinct view of both the city and the sea while being seen from afar. Mira mirrors the silhouette of a granary but is more complex in shape – its apex rotates towards the base defining a hyperbolic paraboloid, providing protection to a stage on one side and on the other creating a small amphitheatre facing the ocean.

Waste Water Fountain

Emscher, Germany, 2016
SUPERFLEX in collaboration with KWY.studio (Ricardo Gomes with Luise Marter)

Waste Water Fountain is composed of three octagonal basins mounted on a floating barge supplied by high volume pumps: these create an effect similar to that of cascading aerators, common in water treatment processes and capable of oxygenating the Emscher river while emphasizing the fact that an open waste water canal flows through an affluent part of Western Europe and is not hidden in the underground.

Sømærke

Aarhus, Denmark, 2015 / Cottesloe, Australia, 2016
KWY.studio (Ricardo Gomes with Luise Marter) in collaboration with Lise Kassow

Sømærke is a sculpture that acts as a visual beacon, a shelter and a place to observe one’s surroundings, offering views of the Aarhus coast and providing a place for reflection and contemplation. The form of the sculpture frames the view and provides the viewer with a tangible relationship to the natural environment and the passing sun by creating ever changing patterns of light and shadow.