Reiser and Umemoto take architecture to a new level

If you could sum up Professor Jesse Reiser's work with one word, well . . . you must not be looking at Reiser's work at all.

The latest exhibit at the architecture school showcases the recent work of RUR Architects — Reiser's collaboration with his wife, Naneka Umemoto — and visually explains why RUR is in a league of its own. From plans for the West Side of Manhattan to a graceful private "Water Garden" to the design of the Kansai Kan National Diet Library in Japan, Reiser and Umemoto tackle projects across a wide span of magnitudes and functions with brilliant style.

The exhibit itself is a series of diagrams and a few miniature models, but don't be fooled by the innocent simplicity of the arrangement. In Reiser and Umemoto's design for the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan — their entry in a selective competition sponsored by the International Foundation for the Canadian Center for Architecture — they aim to "transcend the separation and monofunctionality of many of [the city's] large, infrastructural elements . . . with social, political, functional and economic benefits." Clearly, this is no simple task to achieve by even a series of buildings.

Instead, Reiser and Umemoto propose a much more integrative solution — uniting the elements of cultural program spaces, office towers, hotels, public gardens and a shopping mall into one flowing entity and capping them with a "habitable spaceframe roof." This aptly titled West Side Convergence melds discrete elements, supercedes boundaries and expectations and displays flexibility and interaction with its surroundings. In short, it is the perfect analogy to the RUR team.

Reiser and Umemoto met at the American Academy in Rome, where they first collaborated on a garden design. Umemoto was trained in landscape design — so, said Reiser, they "sought the intersection of building and landscape" in every project.

The union proved a success, both in life and in architecture, and they have been collaborating ever since. Their work has been honored with the Chrysler/Daimler Award for Excellence in Design, and has been exhibited in shows around the world.

Examples of the characteristic inter-section between building and landscape abound in this show, especially in a grooved "Water Garden" that Reiser and Umemoto are collaborating with Jeffrey Kipnis to create. The garden is a series of earth "berms" that, according to Reiser, create an "underlay of an earth form, to generate a geometry . . . and set up a rhythm on a sloping site." The projected result is a sort of corrugated surface over which the water will flow, filling grooves and leaving islands peeking out.

RUR also designed a project for Manhattan's East Side — the East River Corridor. The F.D.R. Drive, which is adjacent to the East River, snakes across a waterfront that Reiser calls "actually artificial, not on one plane." Reiser and Umemoto's response to this artificiality is a "hybrid condition" that integrates four sections to form a unified waterfront.

The more than 12 miles of the corridor offer "unobstructed north-south and east-west traverse on foot . . . tapping into the possibilities of the road." It is a monumental work, and was exhibited as a 30-foot model at an international show in Venice.

On a smaller scale, Reiser and Umemoto proposed buildings for the Kansai Kan National Diet Library, the AIA New York Chapter and the Spence Centers for Women's Health. Each plan shows the architects' sensitivity to the function and environment of the building, and is exceptionally well thought-out, down to the slightest of details.

The Women's Center in Chevy Chase, Md., features curved walls that allow maximum interaction between different parts of the building. A particularly original section is the receptionist's desk, where a two-way slit in the wall allows both access to a file room and easy observation of a children's waiting area.

Reiser was quick to point out that RUR's work "is not in isolation," that a handful of other architects "are working along similar lines, with their own take on the theme." In addition, he called attention to "moments happening already, around Sutton Place" where, as with the East River Corridor, the roadway and the waterfront are becoming more unified.

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Reiser explained that this new direction in his designs developed during a 10-year "gestation period" during his time at Columbia University, through discussion with Stan Allen, Greg Lin and Ben Van Berkel, among others.

Here at Princeton, Reiser can continue his dialogue with new voices, in an environment he finds to be "smaller," but at the same time "more intimate, more intense," than others in which he has worked.

Princeton is extremely fortunate to have had Reiser join the faculty of the architecture school last spring, as its students are well aware.

Jason Johnson GS — who coordinates all of the exhibits at the architecture school — commented, "I felt that it was important for the students to see [Reiser's] drawings and models first hand. Though most of the projects have been published in various books and journals, the exhibit promotes a more public dialogue within the school and the University."

"It also attracts visitors from outside Princeton who come to the school's gallery to see the exhibits," Johnson continued. "In addition to animating the main public space of the school, the exhibitions have given us the opportunity to share the work that we admire with a larger audience."

The exhibition — titled "Reiser + Umemoto RUR Architects: Recent Work" — runs through Dec. 30. For anyone interested in previewing the future of cities and architecture, or simply appreciating the work of a pair of skilled artists, a visit to the Main Gallery of the School of Architecture will be educational and enjoyable.

As we strive for integration and harmony in so many areas of our lives, it is refreshing to see the material execution of a pair of people who have found them.