Jonathan Bell – författare

Founded in 2004 by David Montalba, Montalba Architects is an international architecture firm with offices in both Los Angeles and Lausanne. Raised between Switzerland and California, David has cultivated a design philosophy that balances precision and craft with humanistic architecture to form a cohesive presence of both the contextual and the conceptual. Place and Space encapsulates this insightful philosophy through the ideas and projects of the studio spanning more than a decade.

Montalba Architects produces impactful architecture and urban design-related projects in a broad range of locations, from the rural landscapes of Wyoming and Switzerland to dense urban sites in New York and Los Angeles. The work engages in a collective pursuit of uncovering ideas and processes to create new forms of expression through space and scale. Projects featured in the book emphasise the importance of experience in architecture, and environments that are both socially responsive and aesthetically progressive, which build on the firm’s trademark craft of volumetric landscapes, material integrity, natural light and pure spatial volumes.

Place and Space explores the duality of Switzerland and California, and how these locations have inherently influenced the overall ideas and work of Montalba Architects. Woven throughout the text are conversations between David Montalba and other creatives and thinkers, including landscape designer Andrea Cochran, artist Andy Denzler, entrepreneurs David Alleman and Rich Pierson, and film director Zack Snyder, that cross-examine and explore different approaches to space and place. With a foreword by the acclaimed LA-based architect Lawrence Scarpa, alongside extensive photographs and reproductions of drawings, this book further shapes the philosophies that craft a cohesive connection between all Montalba Architects work and is a testament toward its continued influence within the industry.

Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries is the first book in a new global series of investigative interviews about the modern architectural process. Initiated and undertaken by the Norway-based Canadian architect Todd Saunders, the Nordic Countries edition features interviews with 30 architectural practices from Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland.

With more than 25 years of professional practice behind him, Saunders has always been fascinated by the role of creativity in everyday practice and the potential power alluded to it. In a series of interviews undertaken over the past year, Saunders has queried the changing role of the architect, the challenges of contemporary practice – especially the impact of the pandemic – and the ways in which architects can achieve the right balance in the relationship between site, client, craft and innovation.

Presented as a series of candid conversations between architect and architect, the book offers insights that go beyond the polished histories that usually make it into print. In particular, the interviews explore the role of challenge and failure, conflict and mistakes, chance and coincidence; all familiar aspects of the architectural process yet elements that tend to be glossed over in conventional monographs.

The Nordic Countries edition will be followed by companion volumes that explore the work of architects in North and South America, central Europe and the Far East.

Todd Saunders (1969) is one of the most important young contemporary Canadian architects working internationally. His architecture, simple yet powerful, incorporates elements of his country’s architectural identity – including the use of wood and carefully picked Modernist influences – bringing it at the same time into the 21st century with excellent execution, carefully chosen materials and a hands-on approach. Saunders (he lives and works in Bergen, Norway) has successfully executed work in both Canada, Norway, and Finland, creating architecture with a strong sense of northern identity, an individual approach that is informed by the strongness of natural landscape. The most important projects: Aurland Lookout, Long Studio, Fogo Island, Tower Studio, Fogo Island, Squish Studio, Fogo Island and Villa G. The first reference monograph on a remarkable young architect working in Scandinavia and Canada. The monograph provides interesting unpublished documents, curated by Jonathan Bell (Architecture Editor, Wallpaper* magazine) and Ellie Stathaki (Deputy Architecture Editor, Wallpaper* magazine) as well as three interviews by Olaf Gipser, Zita Cobb, and Brian MacKay-Lyons. The artwork of the book is by the international renowned graphic designer Henrik Nygren.

In Norwegen lebend, ist Todd Saunders derzeit einer der wichtigsten kanadischen Architekten. Seine einfache, zugleich kraftvolle Architektur ist von typisch kanadischen Elementen geprägt, wie die Verwendung von Holz und sorgfältig aus der Moderne ausgewählte Einflüsse zeigen. Sie werden in exzellenter Ausführung, qualitätsvollen Materialien und einer baupraktischen Herangehensweise elegant in das 21. Jahrhundert transferiert.

Zu Saunders‘ wichtigsten Projekten gehören Aurland Lookout, Norwegen, eine Reihe von Künstlerateliers und ein Hotel auf Fogo Island, Neufundland. Die neue Auflage zeigt neue Projekte und bislang unveröffentlichtes Material. Herausgegeben von Jonathan Bell und Ellie Stathaki (Wallpaper),ist das Buch von dem bekannten Grafiker Henrik Nygren gestaltet.