Chemosphere (Photo by Joshua White⁠)

Escher GuneWardena Architecture

eschergunewardena.com

Founded by Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena in 1996, Los Angeles-based Escher GuneWardena came to international recognition for their creative and flexible approaches to a wide range of projects, bringing their diverse interests and talents into play, and cross-pollinating one architectural or artistic discipline with another to achieve innovative solutions. Commercial spaces are treated as conceptual art works, hillside residences emerge as poetic responses to difficult sites. Historic preservation projects, including such icons as the Eames House and John Lautner's Chemosphere, testify to Escher GuneWardena's sensitivity to, and expertise in, 20th century architectural history. Their presence in the world of contemporary art is confirmed by their numerous collaborations with artists such as Sharon Lockhart, Mike Kelley, and Stephen Prina. Inhabiting both the worlds of architectural history and of contemporary art, the work of Escher GuneWardena reflects the unique conditions of Los Angeles, which has been a stage for 20th-century architecture and is, today, a hub for contemporary art. Escher and GuneWardena have been guest professors at Cal Poly Pomona, University of Oregon, University of Southern California (Escher) and EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. Their monograph, Clocks and Clouds: The Architecture of Escher GuneWardena, was published in 2017.