April 1974 at 26 years old, Steven Holl became a registered architect in the state of California. Fifty years later, Steven Holl Architects has realized 79 built works, with five currently under construction, in 13 states and 15 countries around the world. SHA is currently a team of 24 people across three united locations: New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Beijing. 379 alumni comprise a network of former collaborators.
Celebrating fifty years of collaboration and the pursuit of design excellence, SHA will commemorate this milestone by spotlighting the people, projects, and moments that continue to shape the studio’s essence, while forging into the future of the firm with optimism and joy. Follow along the fifty-year season on Instagram and YouTube.
“Born and growing up in Manchester, Washington, on the edge of Puget Sound, my childhood was filled with rowboats. While rowing, you face where you have been, not where you are going. Central to life’s phenomena and meaning, this catapulting into a future action without having any idea of where it will lead is essential for art and architecture. What is the meaning of life? What is consciousness? What is happiness? As a solitary soul haplessly rowing into the future fifty years ago, I had no answers to these, but as Rainer Maria Rilke said: ‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves… Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them… Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.’ It is a joy to recount 50 years of deep collaborations in our committed and enduring mission for architecture and look forward to the future.” – Steven Holl