WHAT’S YOUR NAME?
Can Vu Bui
WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO CHOOSE THE FIELD OF ARCHITECTURE?
No single thing in particular. Over the years, I’ve found that my interests in arts and cities, politics and space, public space and beauty, find an intersection within the range of architecture. As such, it affords me time, and makes a profession, to speculate on what I am passionate about.
WHAT TYPE OF WORK ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED IN?
Like many small companies in New York City, my studio, Office of Things, works in small-to-middle scale commercial and residential projects, with a focus on art and public space. We are motivated to keep pushing our portfolio to include more work that deals with the city and the public.
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES SINCE OBTAINING YOUR ARCHITECTURE DEGREE?
Running a small business is not easy; not only because these are not the tools that are taught in school (which is OK, in my opinion!), but because the volatile nature of our business, compounded by the dearth of opportunities for young architects, makes for a very unsustainable and fragile small business environment. Finding work is tough, but finding work that you wholly believe in, is even harder.
WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL?
As a student, and now educator, what I like about school is how it activates a different part of our brain and skill sets. How we think about ideas and converse about problems is inherently more optimistic than how we discuss the same ideas in an office.
ANY CRITICISMS OF THE ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE?
I wish that more schools could make the affordability of an architectural education more accessible. And I mean this across the board generally, but with an emphasis on private institutions.
WHAT ARE YOUR PROFESSIONAL GOALS?
For nearly a decade, I worked for David Adjaye, and spent much time on projects that had a public quality to them. Obviously, I would like my own office to grow, but more importantly, to get the opportunity to work on projects that work with the public realms.
WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE ARCHITECTS?
Too many to name, so a stab at a few dead ones like Enric Miralles and Eileen Gray, and ones still practicing like Brigitte Shim, Vo Trang Nghia, and Tatiana Bilbao.
Photo: Jeff Frenet
Photo: Jeff Frenet
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BUILDING OR CITY?
Endlessly walkable cities like Mexico City or Paris, to name just two. Building? Maybe because I’m writing this from Rome, but I find the Courtyard and Church of Saint Ivo at la Sapienza to be perfect.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO GET OUT OF YOUR AIA BROOKLYN CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP?
Hoping to work with this professional community and would love to see the Brooklyn Chapter do more outreach to the borough.
