bamboo, 2002–2004

Metaflora office

Costa Rica, 2004

I never completed this building destined to be our design office in Costa Rica (run out of dough, moved to SF) but managed to invent and test a lot of new ideas. At the time most of my knowledge about bamboo came from reading pdf’s that were circulating in the bamboo community, forums and random bamboozler sites- not many back then- so this was an awesome learning experience.

NOTE: Most of the bamboo you see in the pictures below is “scaffolding” (to be removed once the work was completed).

This is my first and only “completed” architectural work. Built in under a month by a team of six (6) “unskilled” bamboo workers (an awesome team lead by Alex — above pictured). I was the single responsible for architecture as well as structural design.

Casa en el aire

Costa Rica, 2002–2003

Very fun project together with my friends & colleagues at Su-Studio in Cocles, CR — check the video below!

“ Se trata de la realización de una vivienda privada construida enteramente en bambú, utilizando para ello un equilibrio entre técnicas tradicionales de montaje y un avanzado software de creación propia para la concepción y el diseño.

Su-studio: Marko Brajovic, Ignacio Platas, Richard Porcher, Stefanie Vandendriessche y Jordan Wynnychuk

90's music!

We are one of the more bizarre and eclectic outcroppings of New York City’s experimental ambient/dub/hip-hop scene, also the source of such artists as DJ Spooky, Sub Dub,Byzar, Liminal, and Brooklyn’s WordSound collective. A trio of performance artists with hands in nearly a dozen different projects, We evolved out of a series of high-concept multimedia parties, clubs, and gallery exhibitions members Ignacio Platas (Once 11), Gregor Asch (DJ Olive), and Rich Panciera (Lloop) engineered over the previous several years. The three met in 1992 while living in Brooklyn, and their first work together under the name Lalalandia Entertainment Research Corporation included events thrown in retired mustard plants and meat-packing warehouses. In 1994, the group began a series of multimedia design and music installations under the name Multipolyomni (including a massive piece for Creative Times’ Art at the Anchorage series titled “Early Aquatic Episode”), and We grew out of the musical end of that. Their first tracks appeared on WordSound’s compilation Crooklyn Dub Consortium, Vol. 1 and Virgin’s second installment of Macro Dub Infection, the latter of which placed them in the company of such edge-leading electronica artists as Bill Laswell, Techno Animal, Zulutronic, and Alec Empire. The group signed with the New York-based Asphodel label soon after, and their debut LP, As Is, was released in the spring of 1997. The Square Root of Minus One followed in 1999, with Decentertainment appearing one year later. Also involved in NYC’s vibrant downtown experimental music scene, two of We’s three members also perform with guitarist Danny Blume under the name Liminal. We have also remixed tracks for Arto Lindsay, Free Kitten, Tipsy, and Medeski, Martin, and Wood.

Artist Biography by Sean Cooper

we™ decentertainment

(2000 home entertainment hoe136 / liquid sky music / 601741113624) cd

Our last album, recorded in so many places…

we™ square root of negative one

(us 05.1999 asphodel asph 0994 / 753027099426) cd

we™ as is

(us 04.1997 asphodel asph 09712 / 753027097125) cd