Joshua Prince-Ramus
Joshua Prince-Ramus
Joshua Prince-Ramusis Principal of REX, an internationally acclaimed architecture and design firm based in New York City, whose name signifies a re-appraisalof architecture. Operating across many scales, REX consistently advances new building paradigms and promotes the agency of architecture. Seminal projects include the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas; the Vakko Fashion Center in Istanbul, Turkey; and the Seattle Central Library—all opened to critical acclaim. The subject of numerous international exhibitions and publications, the work of REX has...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth11 August 1969
CountryUnited States of America
Some people think architecture is about the genius sketch; I don't. Great architecture is a collaboration among a lot of people over a long period of time.
Working off one genius sketch is not the way great architecture should be made.
Architecture is by definition a very collaborative process.
Architects have created this fake separation between creation and execution. You can see it in architecture schools, where the students look down on going to contracts classes.
It’s time for architecture to do things again, not just represent things.
It's not so much about form versus functionality. Rather, it's about doing both and doing them a lot and doing them well-and that's how we should be talking about architecture.
I always wanted to do something creative, but as much as I'm creative, it's in a really hard-core, right-brained way. For me, painting doesn't do it for me. There's no constraint.
When I went to college, I thought I was going to become a professional musician. I was a French horn player, so I went to Yale to study with a very unusual French horn player.
'Form follows function' comes with so much baggage. It's a worthless phrase because you'll never take it for what it means.
Public libraries are the last vestige of public free space.
Architecture is not created by individuals. The genius sketch ... is a myth. Architecture is made by a team of committed people who work together, and in fact, success usually has more to do with dumb determination than with genius.