P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center: P.S.1 Newspaper 2009 Fall: Q&A with Young Architects: LOT-EK 2000

2009 Fall

Q&A with Young Architects: LOT-EK 2000

This article refers to the P.S.1 exhibition YAP 10th Anniversary Review

In celebration of YAP’s tenth anniversary, P.S.1 newspaper reached out to the nearly fifty participating firms to share their experiences as both finalists and winners.

LOT-EK was a finalist in the first edition of YAP in 2000. Their installation consisted of a large scaffolding spread across the courtyard of P.S.1 in which wading pools, lounges, televisions, and DJ booths could be inserted.

Question 1: How did you position yourself to get nominated?

Ada Tolla, LOT-EK: LOT-EK projects have been developed as a conceptual practice engaging both art and architecture. The experimental and conceptual nature of the work made us potential candidates for the 2000 edition of YAP.

Question 2: Did YAP change anything for you or your firm? When did you recognize the full potential of the competition?

LOT-EK was part of the first P.S.1 YAP competition and therefore we had no history to confront. The exciting challenge of the project is in its ambition—the potentially large architectural scope to engage the great P.S.1 outdoor yard, as well as the limited time and budget. For us, it was a wonderful opportunity to explore the use of more temporal/ephemeral materials and pre-existing systems such as scaffolding, construction mesh, containers, and container tubs, etc. which have been an integral part of our philosophy and research.

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