Unconventional Wisdom

Exhibition designs by Alfred Zollinger and Sandra Wheeler challenge assumptions about what’s green!

Alfred Zollinger and Sandra Wheeler have a reputation for not taking things at face value. Designing “Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video” at New York’s International Center of Photography, the husband-wife partners poked fun at environmental orthodoxy by constructing giant Ecotopiaries. The pair’s displays for “Green Community,” now at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., are not only technically innovative but also indicative of an increasing involvement in content.

Both Wheeler and Zollinger grew up in what the latter calls “DIY families,” he in Switzerland and she in Toronto. Because of that hands-on background, they like their ideas to evolve in the studio through extensive prototyping and experimenting with materials. The couple first collaborated in the 1990′s at the Cranbrook Architecture Office in Michigan, working on projects by the likes of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, and went on to found Matter Practice in 2002. In addition to exhibition design, the firm is working on residential and commercial projects in New York and Connecticut.

More info: InteriorDesign.com