David Erdman: "Under Pressure"

davidclovers was founded by David Erdman and Clover Lee. Established in 2007, the collaboration harnesses their fifteen years of experience designing and completing residential homes, interiors and exhibitions. Established in the US as academics and practitioners, their projects emphasize architectural massing and its material effects. After receiving the Rome Prize in 2008, davidclovers relocated to Hong Kong in 2009 where they have completed over ten projects spanning a wide range of scales and types.  They have lectured widely and have been published in numerous architectural journals, newspapers and books throughout Asia, Europeand the US. Their work has received numerous international awards, been exhibited at leading arts institutions and was recently acquired by M+ as part of their permanent architecture collection.

In this lecture, David Erdman will describe how davidclovers has been exploring innovative methods of massing through recent projects. The lecture will focus on aspects of massing as it relates to “pressurizing,” “thickening” and “mediating” architectural space. By recapitulating “mass production” as the literal “production of mass,” Erdman will outline how digital/physical modeling, and fabrication processes pressurize the high contrast between materials, programs and geometries in their work. Slowing down mediums (like lighting) and mass media (like graphic design) to the point of materiality Erdman will elaborate on how their projects “mass (verb) media” – bilaterally placing pressure on “architecture” to speed up and pressure on “media” to slow down. The lecture will contextualize all of this through the lens of a practice working amid the growing pressures of designing architecture within and outside of Asia.

David Erdman
David received his Bachelor of Science from The Ohio State University in 1993 and his Master of Architecture from Columbia University in 1998. He taught at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Urban Design from 1999-2008. He has been a Visiting Professor at Rice University, UC Berkeley and The University of Michigan. David has been an Assistant Professor of Design at The University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture since 2010, served as the coordinator of Public Programs and is currently the Master of Architecture Thesis Chair.  The American Academy in Rome awarded David with the prestigious Rome Prize in 2008/2009. David co-founded servo where he designed projects from 1999-2006 and received an AIGA award for the Nike showroom in 2005, the Design Vanguard Award in 2003 and the Young Architects Award in 2001.

Clover Lee
Clover received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University in 1995. In 2000 she received a Master of Design Studies from Harvard University and subsequently founded Plus Clover in 2001. From 2004-2008, Clover was an Assistant Professor at Rice University where she was also the Director of (RSAC) Rice School of Architecture China. She has been a Visiting Professor at The University of Michigan and The University of Hong Kong. Clover was awarded the Design Excellence Award for the national Living Smart competition in 2004 with her previous firm Plus Clover.