Claus Benjamin Freyinger and Andrew Holder, The LADG
“On the Possibility of a New Balloon Animal”
Recorded June 24, 2014
Established in 2004, The Los Angeles Design Group (The LADG) is led by principals Claus Benjamin Freyinger and Andrew Holder. Working at a range of scales, the firm has completed projects in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and the United Kingdom. The founders see their work as contributing to a “longer history of ideas,” and draw on this history to craft unexpected solutions to conventional problems. Recent projects include installations at the Taubman College Gallery at the University of Michigan and commercial interior renovations in New York and Santa Monica.
The LADG is one of the winners of the 2014 Architectural League Prize, one of North America’s most prestigious awards for young architects and designers. The prize, established in 1981, recognizes exemplary and provocative work by young practitioners and provides a public forum — through lectures, an exhibition, and a catalogue — for the exchange of their ideas.
In their League Prize lecture, “On the possibility of a new balloon animal,” the partners outline a theory of balloon animal architecture, including exploration of hollowness, questions of authorship, relationship to the audience, and the importance of the line. Interwoven with this theoretical exploration is presentation of six recent projects, including the RK Apothecary and Super Runners stores and the 48 Characters and In the Garden Grows a Lump exhibitions.
