On November 14th Kulapat Yantrasast, founder of wHY, will provide a wide-ranging lecture at the International Architects Forum in Bangkok, Thailand. The topic will focus on how design can foster social awareness in the 21st century. Registration details for the forum can be found via the link here.
Recently, wHY's design for the renovation and expansion of the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky was awarded LEED Gold Certification from the US Green Building Council. With this official certification, the new Speed joins the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan as the second wHY museum project to qualify for LEED status. With only 15 LEED certified museums in the United States, wHY is providing a major contribution to the environmental standards of new museum projects. The firm hopes its work will provide a road map for other design firms as they consider methods of introducing sustainability standard's to new and historic cultural institutions. For further information, please read The Science Times article here.
Check out Kulapat's exclusive interview with Jordan Rieffe of LA Weekly here.
We're proud to announce our Creative Director, Kulapat Yantrasast, has been invited to speak at The Future Architect Conference in Moscow on September 10th. The conference is an important international event for young and emerging designers. Its major feature are a series of lectures on trends and challenges facing young architects today. Kulapat will be giving his own wide-ranging presentation on how designers can balance design clarity while also creating a sense of inclusivity in new projects. Details are below: Lecture Title: Architecture Between Why and Why Not Location: The Strelka Institute, Moscow Russia Date: Sep. 10th, 8:30-9:20pm Register for the Conference here.
wHY has named Brian Butterfield as the director of the newly formed MUSEUMS Workshop. The new workshop will focus on the thinking, planning, designing, and operations of museums to better serve wHY’s various cultural and institutional clients. The firm, composed of four other workshops – BUILDINGS, OBJECTS, GROUNDS, and IDEAS – having always collaborated closely with cultural institutions, saw an opportunity to integrate Brian’s expertise in this field in order to provide the best design solutions for its growing portfolio of cultural projects. “For the last three years I have had the pleasure of working with wHY as a client and collaborator, as Kulapat’s innovative approach to holistic museum design is profound, and timely,” says Brian. “Museums are at a crossroads today, with many new private museums entering the museum landscape, galleries expanding into ever more diverse programming models, and rapidly changing technology opening new design possibilities as well as challenges. Museums need innovative design collaborators now more than ever. I strongly believe in architecture's ability to engender engagement and I look forward to joining wHY’s interdisciplinary team”. Brian will be joining wHY after 5 years with the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Senior Design Manager for Exhibitions and Capital Projects where he managed a team of architects, exhibition designers, and lighting designers and provided creative direction for all capital construction projects. Prior to working at the Met, Brian was the Director of Exhibitions at the Yale School of Architecture and worked for Della Valle Bernheimer Architects. He received his Bachelor of Art in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and subsequently his Master’s in Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. “I have been impressed with Brian’s approach to design strategy, and with the exhibitions that he produced at The Met. Working with him closely is a fun and synergetic creative collaboration. His personal vision and comprehensive understanding of what, why and how museums serve our communities perfectly enhance wHY’s commitment and expertise in museums and cultural development,” says wHY founder, Kulapat Yantrasat.
Last Thursday, we were thrilled to host the Quaich Project at Kulapat's home in Venice, CA. The evening of entertainment and friendship was about gaining support for the £25 million project, and is the first in a series that will build upon the great tradition of philanthropy and civic engagement between the Scotland and the United States. In attendance were our Creative Director, Kulapat Yantrasast, Mark Thomann (wHY Landscape Director), Jules Haston (Director of the Quaich Project), Nigel Daly OBE (president of Screen International), and Andy Scott (sculptor of The Kelpies, Scotland’s largest public artwork).
