Down to Earth

KINMEN PORT TERMINAL

SUNSET SPECTACULAR

FLAT OUT LARGE

TWA brings the wonder and mystery of the cosmos down to earth. We believe that architecture’s role in society is not to mirror the status quo, but rather to give glimpses into a better, more beautiful parallel universe. A parallel universe — unlike a truly alien one — draws us in through a combination of familiar and alien things that unsettle our habitual ways of seeing and being on earth.

Our projects are conceived as sets of lively, discrete objects that engage one another democratically and non-hierarchically. Our objects are not reductive, like sticks, bricks, or nails, but rather fully-formed and specific things like jacks, crystals, ziggurats, mountains, cities, and forests. Objects can be moved, rotated, scaled, or copied, but they can never be deformed or fused together, losing their identity.

INVENT

EVERYTHING

We therefore operate as collectors and curators rather than sculptors or drafters. Our projects appear chunky, playful, provisional, and even sometimes like models built at full scale. The ecologies of objects that form our buildings set the stage for a new discussion of sustainability based on abundance rather than lack, where the world is not running out of everything but rather full of vibrant things that simply need to be oriented, organized, and thought in new ways.

In our practice, everything is invented and nothing is taken for granted. We are committed to using our expertise in design, computation, construction, and energy intelligence to build a radical and hopeful future.

RECENT WORKS

Imagine a world where everything exists equally but differently, like a collection of treasures laid out on a table. Against both reductive hierarchies and homogenizing unities, this is a vision for architecture that is radically flat and built from discrete, lively entities.Tom Wiscombe