Surface/Subsurface

For nearly two decades the architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi has practiced outside the traditional boundaries of architecture. Their work with complex sites and programs benefits from an interdisciplinary approach and a dynamic integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. Surface/Subsurface presents nine projects that have been completed since Site Specific, their first monograph published in 2000.

Their design process―exemplary of the best contemporary architectural practices―reveals potential in subsurface conditions with the goal of generating an entirely new language for the surface. Projects include the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle wanders over a highway and train lines; the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York, manipulates the movement of water, cars, and visitors; and the Smith College Campus Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, transforms the brick campus into a luminous terracotta surface. Each project is fully documented through project photographs, drawings, details, and texts.