Benjamin Aranda (born in Houston, Texas in 1973) and Chris Lasch (born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1972) cofounded their namesake architectural firm in New York in 2003. The studio is dedicated to experimental, interdisciplinary research and building. They design installations, objects, furniture, and buildings rooted in investigations into materials, geometry, and structures. In 2010, Lasch moved to Tucson, Arizona, and set up a second office. Aranda has led the New York location since that time.
The pair met while studying in Columbia University’s architecture program in New York, both earning Master’s degrees in 1999. Their shared interest in systems and modularity inspired their professional partnership.
Aranda\Lasch’s designs embrace simple logic and modularity in order to organize the relationships between various systems. At the same time, according to the designers, “within this process, whimsy is as important as rigor.” Standout projects include Quasi Cabinet and Quasi Table (2007); the Rules of Six installation for the exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); Reconfigurable, a public furniture installation for the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture (2013); and This Garden At This Hour, a permanent public art and furniture installation created with artist Matthew Ritchie for the US Food and Drug Administration’s Central Commons in Maryland (2014).
The studio’s work has been exhibited in numerous institutions around the globe, and it is the recipient of honors, including finalist for the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program (2005); the Prize for Young Architects from the New York Architectural League (2007); the United States Artists Target Fellows Grant in Architecture and Design (2008); winner of the Banquet Hall and Spectacle Hall International Competition in Libreville, Gabon, organized by Agence Nationale des Grands Travaux, Gabon (2013); and the Architectural Record Design Vanguard (2014).
