The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center have selected Los Angeles-based architecture firm Xefirotarch as the winner of the sixth annual MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program, a competition that invites emerging architects to propose a building project for the courtyard of P.S.1 in Long Island City, Queens.
The objective of the Young Architects Program is to identify and provide an outlet for emerging young talent in architecture, an ongoing mission of both MoMA and P.S.1.
This year, five finalists selected from 17 portfolio submissions were instructed to transform P.S.1’s outdoor courtyard with the allotted project budget of $60,000. The five finalists presented proposals to a panel composed of Glenn D. Lowry, Director, the Museum of Modern Art; Alanna Heiss, Director, P.S.1; Terence Riley, Philip Johnson Chief Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, the Museum of Modern Art; Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator, P.S.1 and Curator, Department of Film and Media, the Museum of Modern Art, and Antoine Guererro, Director of Exhibitions, P.S.1.
Xefirotarch’s winning entry, entitled SUR, is a playful, elegant installation resembling a reconfigured skeletal form that will undulate and sprawl throughout the courtyard. As in past years, the project will serve as the venue for Warm Up, the popular music series held annually in P.S.1’s courtyard.
The proposed designs by the five 2005 Young Architects Program finalists will be presented at the Museum of Modern Art in the Louise Reinhardt Smith Gallery from June 29-August 22, 2005. In addition to the winner Xefirotarch (Los Angeles), the finalists are: Aranda/Lasch (New York), Forsythe + MacAllen Design (Vancouver, BC); Graftworks (New York); and WW (Boston).