Seeking Formal Expression: RUR Architecture

Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto in Conversation with Jules Kleitman. In this podcast episode, architect Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto speak with M.Arch student Jules Kleitman. Reiser and Umemoto are founders and principles of Reiser + Umemoto (also known as RUR Architecture), a multidisciplinary design firm operating across various scales. Their work ranges from furniture design, to residential and commercial structures, up to the scale of landscape and infrastructure. Reiser and Umemoto reflect on a special time at Cooper Union when the architectural profession underwent a period of experimental exploration under the leadership of John Hejduk. They discuss the design process behind their O-14 Tower and how they arrived at its formal and hyper-structured expression. They also share with us how their projects in Dubai and Taipei function within local contexts around the globe. This recording was conducted before Jesse Reiser’s lecture at Columbia GSAPP on February 3, 2020.