Information Based Architecture (IBA) is a partnership between

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Mark Hemel Mark Hemel (born 1966 in Emmen, Netherlands) is a Dutch architect and designer, and co-founder (with Barbara Kuit) of the Amsterdam-based architectural practice Information Based Architecture. He is best known as an architect of the Canton To ...

and

Barbara Kuit Barbara Kuit is a Dutch architect. In 1998, together with her partner Mark Hemel, Kuit founded Information Based Architecture (IBA). IBA has won some of the most prestigious international competitions among which the competition for the world� ...

, set up in London in 1998. :''"Using the newest technologies the practice challenges conventional thinking and seeks to exploit new opportunities to enrich our cities with conceptually interesting, and well thought through environmentally responsible architecture".'' The practice specializes in large-scale architectural and urban projects. Having won several high-profile competitions, the most famous one being the design for the

Canton Tower The Canton Tower (), formally Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (), is a -tall multipurpose observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou ( alternatively romanized as ''Canton''). The tower was topped out in 2009 and it ...

also called the 'Guangzhou TV astronomical and Sightseeing Tower'. This project is generally recognised as one of the most complex projects in the world today.

Vision

IBA can be typified as both 'experimental' and 'progressive'. It constantly attempts to extend the boundaries of artistic design, while also introducing the newest digital technologies. The work was published and exhibited widely. In 2002 they were short listed for the Young Architects of the Year Award in the United Kingdom. They have received support by the Dutch Department of Trade and Industry and received several encouragement-grants by the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. :"In contemporary architecture you see lots of forms that refer to nothing. And indeed, we want to make designs that are more 'informed'. At the same time, it could be anything. It’s a sort of biological process; you plant a seed that contains an awful lot of information. That seed then grows into something that is not determined in advance." Currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, IBA continues its work on both large and small projects in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

. The work includes urban master-planning, architecture, landscaping and furniture design.

Partners

Mark Hemel teaches at the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

in London where he has been Unit-master since 1999, and a design tutor in the Environment & Energy Program. Before setting up practice, Barbara Kuit worked as a local architect (Harper McKay) on projects of Philippe Starck in London; (the Sanderson and St Martin's Lane hotels), and subsequently worked for several years for Zaha Hadid on many projects among which; the Mind Zone in the Millennium Dome, London, the Contemporary Arts Center in Rome and Wolfsburg Science Center in Germany.

Main achievements

IBA was shortlisted in 2002 for the Young Architects of the Year Award in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2003 and 2004 the office received a scholarship for research from the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. Information Based Architecture's most important project to date is the

Canton tower The Canton Tower (), formally Guangzhou TV Astronomical and Sightseeing Tower (), is a -tall multipurpose observation tower in the Haizhu District of Guangzhou ( alternatively romanized as ''Canton''). The tower was topped out in 2009 and it ...

References

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External links

Information Based Architecture
{{Authority control Architecture firms of the Netherlands Companies established in 1998