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To celebrate the launch of this year’s A+Awards — the world’s largest awards program for architecture and products — we asked the winners from 2015 about the secrets behind their successes, the exciting new projects on their drawing boards, and their personal architectural inspirations. Up next, it’s Thomas Gluck, Principal of GLUCK+, which won both the jury and the public vote in the Architecture +Urban Transformation category for a radical modular apartment block in New York City entitled “The Stack.”
Name: Thomas Gluck
Firm: GLUCK+
Location: New York, N.Y.
Education: BA – Harvard; MArch – Yale
The Stack, New York, N.Y.
1. What was it about your winning project that you think resonated most with voters?
It’s a unique method of project delivery. There has been so much discussion recently about modular construction and to see a building that employed this technique successfully in such a common application as urban multifamily housing piqued many interests.
2. Since winning your A+Award, what’s the most exciting project you have been working on?
We have just begun construction on Bridge, a hi-rise residential development in Old City, Philadelphia, that has taken nearly four years of work to get approved, design, and finally now beginning to build. The building is very much part of the new urban excitement in the ‘New Philly.’
The Stack, New York, N.Y.
3. Which of this year’s A+Awards jurors do you find most compelling, and why?
Winy Maas, cofounder of MVRDV. They continue [to] produce work that is fresh and challenges conventional solutions.
4. Among your fellow A+Award winners, which project is your favorite, and why?
YUUA Architects’ 1.8-M Width House’s extreme conditions make for dramatic solutions.
The Stack, New York, N.Y.
5. Who’s your design hero and/or favorite building, and why?
Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute. It’s a complete success on every level and, in each case, solves the problem through innovation rather than precedent.
6. What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
Around the world there is so much going on, and it is all immediately accessible to inspire and challenge us.
The Stack, New York, N.Y.
7. Which city would you most like to visit next for its architecture?
Sao Paulo.
8. Which material do you most love designing with, and why?
Glass because the material has so many interesting properties beyond its transparency.