courtesy Schaum/Shieh

Firm name: Schaum/Shieh
Location: New York and Houston
Year founded: 2010
Firm leadership: Troy Schaum and Rosalyne Shieh, AIA
Education: Schaum: B.Arch., Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies; M.Arch., Princeton University School of Architecture; Shieh: B.A., University of California, Berkeley; MSc., Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London; M.Arch., Princeton University School of Architecture
Experience: Schaum: OMA; Studio Libeskind; Jim Jennings Architecture; Shieh: Ábalos & Herreros; Stan Allen Architect; Architecture Research Office

How founders met: In graduate school

Firm size: Four to six

Mission:
We pursue the production of culture through the process and fact of building. We are interested in the city at the scale of a single structure.

First commission:
Renovation of the Architecture Office Building in Marfa, Texas for the Judd Foundation.

The Transart Foundation in Houston, which opened earlier this month, is clad in irregularly shaped, white stucco façade panels, creating angular cutouts for windows and doors. A central stairwell directs circulation through a living room–like gallery, library salon, roof deck, and garden.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh The Transart Foundation in Houston, which opened earlier this month, is clad in irregularly shaped, white stucco façade panels, creating angular cutouts for windows and doors. A central stairwell directs circulation through a living room–like gallery, library salon, roof deck, and garden.

Favorite project:
All of our projects are important to us in different ways, so it doesn’t really feel right to choose just one. That said, our building for the Transart Foundation, in Houston, is about to open and we are very excited about it. It is the home of a small arts institution that will support experimental work and conversations between art and anthropology. We were able to try out some ideas in the overall shape and the internal organization to support a range of activities, while also giving the foundation a strong visual identity. It has a physical presence that is embedded within the urban form of Houston, but is still surprising.

Second favorite project:
An earlier important project for us is a collection of ideas, drawings, and installations based on Detroit called Sponge Urbanism. We constructed a way of seeing the emptiness of Detroit as full of qualities, despite narratives of decline. A significant aspect of this project was considering the material for different audiences. We built an installation in a single-family house in northeast Detroit to test how a domestic space might become more public, and later reconceived that as an installation for the Venice Biennale.

As an extended study of a city—its activities, objects, and spaces—it still informs our way of thinking and working.

The duo’s Sponge Urbanism research project—from which About Face was derived—proposes introducing various structural and infrastructural interventions in a Detroit neighborhood to create a “porous framework” for new and existing structures.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh The duo’s Sponge Urbanism research project—from which About Face was derived—proposes introducing various structural and infrastructural interventions in a Detroit neighborhood to create a “porous framework” for new and existing structures.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh

Origin of firm name:
It was a straight-forward decision. We didn’t want to spend much time thinking it. Just our last names in the order that sounded better to us.

Special item in your studio space:
A red rock from Marfa, Texas, that we got on one of our early site visits there.

Design tool of choice:
No favorites, but we have habits. We draft and model digitally, and make physical models using paper, wood, plaster, paint, knives, and rulers, but also laser cutters, CNC machines, and 3D printers. In our process, we move between drawings and models and digital and handmade. We use it all.

Individually, Troy likes thick, felt tip pens and fat lead holders, and Rosalyne prefers pencils and collecting images.

This undulating residence in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia features rooms with alternating uphill and downhill orientations that allow for 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh This undulating residence in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia features rooms with alternating uphill and downhill orientations that allow for 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh

Design aggravation:
When something almost works, but just doesn’t. Sometimes we entertain ourselves by proposing redesigns of everyday situations or existing buildings, in a kind of running conversation or pastime. On the flip side, it’s pleasurable to appreciate the many examples of things that just work, are good enough, but not in a way that draws attention to itself…unless you’re an architect.

Memorable learning experience:
The moments when something shifts, like learning how to learn or realizing that a boundary or obstacle is internal. To quote a mentor, these are the points in a process where you experience a “demystification by close association."

When I’m not working in architecture, I:
Schaum: Cook, swim; Shieh: Read, talk to people, take public transportation

The best advice you have ever gotten:
Always count your chickens.

Exhibited at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, the About Face installation is a proposal for residences in Detroit that reorients existing structures and makes use of vacant lots. The structure comprises 21 fiber-reinforced resin panels that act as both a room and a staircase.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh Exhibited at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale, the About Face installation is a proposal for residences in Detroit that reorients existing structures and makes use of vacant lots. The structure comprises 21 fiber-reinforced resin panels that act as both a room and a staircase.
courtesy Schaum/Shieh

Biggest challenge in running a successful practice:
Controlling the pace of the work.

Superstitions:
Never walk under a ladder.

Completed in 2016 and situated alongside Little White Oak Bayou, the White Oak Music Hall in Houston houses two performance halls and an outdoor amphitheater.
Peter Molick Completed in 2016 and situated alongside Little White Oak Bayou, the White Oak Music Hall in Houston houses two performance halls and an outdoor amphitheater.

Morning person or night owl?
Shieh: Night owl; Schaum: Morning person

Social media platform of choice:
Schaum: Instagram; Shieh: I deleted them all from my phone