PINES ARCH was founded in 2019 by Shuni Wu (MSAAD, Columbia University) and Evelyn Jingjie Wong (MSARCH, Illinois Institute of Technology) as an international architects’ collective.
As a project, PINES ARCH operates within a spiritual order rooted in the traditions of S.R. Crown Hall. As a practice, PINES ARCH is constantly exploring the contexts presented by its zeitgeist, pursuing an ultimate mission to be concise, truthful and clear in its form of expression, interpreting and re-interpreting what it takes to make “Honest Architecture”.
PINES ARCH understands as digital natives that much of everything will eventually be “ideal”, but amorphous. Only when responding to the spirit of the times attentively can we as architects be part of it. As builders, PINES ARCH resides in its social environment with a critical mind, consciously and rationally returning much control over to the integrity of materials and tectonics.
PINES ARCH avoids superfluous creation by closely observing, actively understanding and explicitly responding, so as to seek only the essentials. The establishment of this constant introspective dialogue is fundamental for PINES ARCH as architects, designers, builders and thinkers operating in our times.