Jury-GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN / Published on January 4, 2021
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Chad Oppenheim
Principal Architect
Oppenheim Architecture
New York, United States
PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE – PEOPLE OF DESIGN VERSION!
What prescient youthful memory relates to your present career?
I remember sitting around my parent’s kitchen table with an architect designing our families dream home.
Gottscho, Samuel H., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
What are three basic rules you learned from your mentors?
Most of the architects who mentored me tried to convince me to choose another career path. The most famous Morris Lapidus told me that architects are like mushrooms in that they get covered with S*** and kept in the dark!
What project launched your career?
I am still waiting for that project to come in. Our first project, named after my girlfriend, who later became my wife was likely most important to launching our office. It is perhaps a water purification project in Basel that has been most revered.
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Switzerland, 2018.
Photo credit: Börje Müller.
Full description at the bottom of page
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Switzerland, 2018.
Photo credit: Börje Müller.
Full description at the bottom of page
Any music playing while you work?
Sometimes. I alternate between the Beastie Boy’s and Little Simz, my new go-to. I love her jamb Boss, it get’s me super pumped!
Do you work in PJs or three-piece suits?
Both. I tend to mix the 2 these days. Rick Owens jacket and shirt up top and comfy shorts on the lower non-zoom body parts.
What is your current design state of mind?
In future primitive mode!
What living designer/architect do you most admire?
I quite admire the artist JAMES TURRELL and how he celebrates the beauty and power of sky.
What past designer/architect inspires you the most?
JOHN LAUTNER,
and his ability to romance a site.
What is your most marked design quality?
To make our buildings disappear…
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo credit: Rory Gardiner.
Full description at the bottom of page
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Full description at the bottom of page
How would you like your designs to go down in history?
That we built WITH the land, NOT ON IT…
What peer quality do you most value?
Their ability to make it seem so effortless, while the rest of us struggle.
Which project is the epitome of your work?
The Ayla clubhouse in Jordan, where we formed the sand on site into the shelter.
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Full description at the bottom of page
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Full description at the bottom of page
How are your country of belonging’s values reflected in your work?
I’m not sure they are aligned at the moment.
What always inspires you?
I’m always inspired by the beauty of the world around us that we often take for granted.
If a spell were to transform you into an object, by all means, what would you like to be, and why?
A daring answer for print… let’s just say something to bring people pleasure!
What is your favorite place in the world?
Italy, as it has it all!
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What design or architecture project do you wish you would have thought of yourself?
Zumthor’s baths in Vals…
7132 Thermal Baths (formerly Therme Vals) is a hotel/spa complex in Vals, built over the only ther- mal springs in the Graubünden canton in Switzerland. Completed in 1996, the spa was designed by Peter Zumthor (Pritzker 2009).
If you could host any three guests, past or alive, over for dinner, who would you choose and what would you dare serving?
Jay Z, Frank Lloyd Wright and Dr. Seuss…
Menu: The most delicious green eggs and ham!
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| Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons | Margaret Rietveld – www.rietveldarchitects.com | Matthew Lamb, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creative-commons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Dr. Seuss – Green Eggs and Ham : buy the book here.
What is your mantra?
Comparison is the THIEF of joy!
What is your dream? THINK BIG!
To make the planet a better place than when I arrived…
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Ayla Golf Academy demonstrating how it establishes a unique connection with nature by capturing the elemental, vibrant beauty of the rolling desert landscape.
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit : Rory Gardiner.
View of Ayla Golf Academy entrance demonstrating the scale of the structure.
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Ayla Golf Academy façade and screen detail demonstrating the perforated corten steel screens, similar to the traditional Arabic ‘Mashrabiya’ that were used to insert natural light without compromising the privacy of spaces.
Ayla Golf Academy, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
Ayla on-course comfort station façade detail demonstrating the massive concrete shell that drapes over the programmed areas, enveloping the interior and exterior walls of each volume under one continuous surface that emerges from the sand.
Ayla Golf Comfort Station, Aqaba, Jordanie, 2018.
Photo Credit: Rory Gardiner.
View of the Ayla on-course comfort station entrance at dusk demonstrating the filtration of light provided by the perforated corten steel screens.
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Suisse, 2018.
Photo Credit: Börje Müller.
Muttenz Water Purification Plant acting as an ‘objet trouvé’ in its natural context.
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Suisse, 2018.
Photo Credit: Börje Müller.
Muttenz Water Purification Plant sustainable shotcrete façade detail.
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Suisse, 2018.
Photo Credit: Börje Müller.
The alcove-like room is open to the outside and sits on a pool of water, reflecting the daylight and collecting the rainwater pouring in from the roof.
Usine de purification d’eau de Muttenz, Muttenz, Suisse, 2018.
Photo Credit: Börje Müller.
Muttenz Water Purification Plant viewing platform invites the population to appreciate the complex process and will celebrate water with all senses.
Usine de purification d’eau d’Uttenz, Muttenz, Suisse, 2018.
Photo Credit: Börje Müller.
Muttenz Water Purification Plant entrance at dusk with illuminated interiors.
