Chris Baribeau, modus studio, Fayetteville
David Seiter, Future Green Studio, Brooklyn

Introduced by Jing Liu

1.5 AIA and New York State CEUs

The first evening of the annual Emerging Voices lecture series.

Emerging Voices spotlights individuals and firms based in the United States, Canada, or Mexico with distinct design voices and the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.

Established in 2008, modus studio works across a variety of scales, from furniture design to master planning. The studio is founded on the idea that “relevant and inspiring architecture can be sourced from simple, everyday experiences.” Recent projects include Green Forest Middle School, a reinterpretation of traditional school design for a small agricultural community; Eco Modern Flats, a renovation of four dated Fayetteville apartment buildings to improve aesthetics, performance, and sustainability; and a transformation of a warehouse on a brownfield site into a University of Arkansas sculpture studio.

David Seiter established Future Green Studio in 2008 as a landscape architecture firm that recognizes a “deep integration” between architecture and landscape with an emphasis on research, fabrication, and horticulture. Recent projects include Nowadays, a Queens performance venue with a laid-back, parklike atmosphere; Spontaneous Urban Plants: Weeds in NYC, a book promoting the aesthetic and ecological benefits of weeds; and Half Street, a block-long pedestrian plaza in Washington, D.C. that uses green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff.

Jing Liu is a co-founding Principal at New York-based SO-IL and is a past Emerging Voices winner in 2013. She has been a faculty member at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation since 2009 and advises the Master’s thesis at Parsons The New School of Design. Liu served on this year’s Emerging Voices committee.