William O’Brien Jr. lecture
A videotaped lecture by League Prize winner William O’Brien Jr.
March 15, 2012
Recorded on June 22, 2011.
The League Prize, an annual competition that asks young designers to respond to a given theme, has marked an important milestone in many architects’ careers since it was established in 1981. Winners showcase their work through a lecture series and exhibition.
William O’Brien Jr. won a 2011 award.
William O’Brien Jr. is an assistant professor of architecture at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning and principal of an independent design practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Last year his practice was a finalist for the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program, for which the firm designed an installation, “Weathers Permitting | A Field Guide to Transitional Environments.” More recently, his work was recognized as an inaugural winner of the Design Biennial Boston Award.
Projects include Allandale House in the Mountain West, Cog House, and Twins, a pair of houses in upstate New York.
He has been selected as a Socrates Fellow by the Aspen Institute and was named a MacDowell Fellow by the MacDowell Colony.
His recent publications include the essays “Approaching Irreducible Formations” in ACADIA re:Form and “Experts in Expediency” in Log.
O’Brien received his M.Arch at Harvard University where he was the recipient of the Faculty Design Award and studied at Hobart College for his undergraduate degree in architecture and music theory.
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