In Conversation with 3 Rapidly Emerging Practices: L.E.FT, Point Supreme, and vPPR


Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

In these three episodes of GSAPP Conversations, a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice, three globally-operating emerging practices are pressed and interviewed by students and staff from the New York-based school.


© GSAPP Conversations

© GSAPP Conversations

Ziad Jamaleddine (L.E.FT) with Selva Gürdoğan

In this episode of GSAPP Conversations, Selva Gürdoğan (director of Columbia GSAPP’s Studio-X Istanbul) speaks with Ziad Jamaleddine about the exhibition Praygrounds, which was on view at Studio-X Istanbul in Spring 2017. Alongside Makram El Kadi, Jamaleddine has designed residential and cultural projects in New York, Dubai, Turkey, and Beirut. The recently completed Amir Shakib Arslan mosque, located in the remote village of Moukhtara, Lebanon, is the subject of Praygrounds.


Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of L.E.FT Architects. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou (Point Supreme) with Stella Ioannidou

Here, third-year GSAPP M.Arch student Stella Ioannidou speaks with Point Supreme co-founders Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou on the occasion of their lecture at Columbia GSAPP. Point Supreme was founded in Athens in 2008, one year before the Greek economic crisis. Pantazis and Rentzou discuss their use of collage as a visualization tool, the relationship between small and urban scale projects, what it meant to launch a practice during an economic crisis, and the importance of addressing local issues in their work.


Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of Point Supreme. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Tatiana von Preussen, Catherine Pease and Jessica Reynolds (vPPR) with James Brillon

In this episode James Brillon, a second-year Columbia GSAPP M.Arch student, speaks with the founders of London-based vPPR Architects. They met at Avery Hall prior to the trio’s lecture at GSAPP, and proceed to discuss how the firm uses precision, geometry, light, and communal space to overcome the extreme constraints of developing housing on infill sites in dense London neighborhoods.


Courtesy of VPPR. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of VPPR. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of VPPR. Image © GSAPP Conversations

Courtesy of VPPR. Image © GSAPP Conversations

GSAPP Conversations is a podcast series designed to offer a window onto the expanding field of contemporary architectural practice. Each episode pivots around discussions on current projects, research, and obsessions of a diverse group of invited guests at Columbia, from both emerging and well-established practices. Usually hosted by the Dean of the GSAPP, Amale Andraos, the conversations also feature the school’s influential faculty and alumni and give students the opportunity to engage architects on issues of concern to the next generation.