Oana Stanescu
Published September 20, 2017 This content is archived.
Partner/Co-Founder Family New York, Design Critic at Harvard GSD (Romania>Spain>U.S.A>Romania>Japan>South Africa>Switzerland>U.S.A)
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
6 pm - 7:30 pm
Hayes Hall 403
Join Oana Stanescu, co-founder of architecture and design office Family, as she discusses her firm's design vision and work, including the public swimming pool, + POOL
On September 20th, Oana Stanescu will visit UB to discuss the work of the office Family, which she founded alongside Dong-Ping Wong. The New York-based office is composed of architects, designers and strategists currently working on an array of civic, cultural, commercial and residential projects around the world. Regardless of type or scale they believe that buildings, along with the people that live and work within them, can actively contribute to making the environment around them more productive, inspirational, and awe-inspiring.
The first part of the lecture will focus on Family’s goals and the creative process by illustrating a series of built and un-built projects. The second part will be a case study of + POOL, a public swimming pool designed to filter the very river that it floats in. The self-initiated project circumvents the traditional architectural process, from inception to opening and from design to changing policy.
Oana Stanescu is a founding partner at Family, a New York based design practice. Prior to joining Family, Oana worked at a diverse array of award-winning offices around the world including Herzog and De Meuron, OMA and SANAA. She has also contributed to numerous architectural publications such as Domus, MARK and Abitare and co-taught a seminar at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University as well as studio Core I at MIT in Cambridge. She is also a frequent critic at various schools like Yale University, MIT, GSD and GSAPP, in addition to lecturing in places like AIA Memphis and The University of Memphis, University of South Florida, University of Arizona, Women in Design - Denver, Neocon and AIA Chicago or Design Miami in collaboration with UN , Miami Beach. Oana’s work has been celebrated in publications such as the New York Times, Forbes, Madame Figaro, Architect Magazine, New York Magazine, Mark, Time magazine or Cultured, to name a few.
Family's clients and collaborators include The Office of PlayLab, Friends of + POOL, Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh, 2x4, Arup, Nike, Tom Sachs, the New Museum, the Storefront for Art and Architecture and Kanye West.