Aaron Forrest
Aaron Forrest is a licensed architect and cofounder, with Yasmin Vobis, of the architectural design studio Ultramoderne. Their work traverses scales and media while maintaining a strong commitment both to conceptually driven built work and theoretical propositions.
Forrest received both his BArch and MArch degrees from Princeton University. Prior to RISD, he taught studios at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. He has extensive professional experience as well, having practiced in New York with Bernheimer Architecture and Guy Nordenson and Associates Structural Engineers, and in Madrid with Ábalos & Herreros Arquitectos. From this experience he has developed a strong interest in the architect’s ability to translate a rigorous understanding of structural and other technical criteria into techniques for producing unanticipated aesthetic and spatial outcomes.
In addition to a focus on the central question of the building in the architect’s work, Forrest has had continual involvement in projects that seek to expand architectural practice to address larger issues of infrastructure and environment. He was a designer-in-residence at MoMA PS1 for the Rising Currents exhibition and has conducted several rigorous studies of larger-scale constructed environments, including the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the New York City waterfront and Gran Via in Madrid.
Forrest’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Boston Society of Architects, the Center for Land-Use Interpretation and at the 2006 Venice Biennale. His work has recently been featured in Timber in the City (ORO Editions, 2015) and Mansilla + Tuñon: From Rules to Constraints (Lars Mueller, 2012). His office was recently selected by Van Alen Institute and the National Park Service to implement an experimental way-finding system at Weir Farm National Historic Site and won the Chicago Architecture Biennial Lakefront Kiosk Competition, leading to the commission of a new public pavilion for Chicago’s Millennium Park.
