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Who we are

CAP NEW YORK SHANGHAI has established an AWARD-WINNING PROFILE IN FUTURISTIC WORK, using cutting-edge digital design and production techniques. Since the inception of our office, we have been at the forefront of designing projects that leverage the most advanced technologies available to designers. We are constantly active in inventing design techniques, experimenting with the latest fabrication technologies, and incorporating innovative business models in designs. Our goal is to continue to stay at the fore front of innovation in the design practice. We take pride in the results of this diligence: consistently intelligent, beautiful designs.

 

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD awarded us " DESIGN VANGUARD 2004" as "one of eleven practices building the future" and  we were also nominated to the prestigious "ORDOZ PRIZE". The work of the firm has been called " Elegant and virtuoso using the computer for the most beautiful compositions...The designs are immaculate, crisp and coherently detailed..." by ZAHA HADID.

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Philosophy

We create through digital models that employ complex information and incorporate real-time feedback. We guide the design as the number of client parameters increase, incorporating new data such as project goals, site restraints, circulation, materials, and light into an evolving, iterative design. By using these techniques in tight collaboration with our CLIENTS AND CONSULTANTS  from the onset on the project goals, site restraints, circulation, materials, and light into an evolving, iterative design. By using these techniques in tight collaboration with our clients and consultants from the onset of the project, we develop unprecedented, singular built forms that seamlessly and sustainable incorporate form, structure, and building systems.

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We think that it is imperative to move beyond digital technique and towards an aesthetic and experiential sophistication. We take an approach not concerned with " technology for technology's sake," but which sees technology as a tool to help tell captivating stories in which " the supporting technology goes completely unnoticed." TECHNOLOGY IS THE BEGINNING OF A DESIGN PROCESS that develops the far-reaching innovative effects a project can have on its users.

Our ideas can be seen at work in the Wall of the Future, commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art MOMA in the New York City. Made from a composite polymer using the LATEST ROBOTIC MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES, the wall's bone-like pieces transform effortlessly from bulbous to angular forms. These variations create different balances of light and shade, with a degree of openness guided by the minimum structure needed in any location. Space, structure and skin are incorporated in a single self-supporting from that exemplifies CAP's elegant approach. Barry Bergdoll, in the Home Delivery Catalog, referred to the wall as having " great potential to increase the focus of digital design's ability not only to produce buildings en masse, particularly for housing, but to imbue such systems with ample opportunity for individual client customization without significantly affecting cost." Nicolai Ouroussoff, the design critic of the NEW YORK TIMES in 2008, called the wall "GORGEOUS AMAZINGLY- ELEGANT" in his review of the show.

Examples

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

ALI RAHIM

has 25 years of experience in architectural design and management around the world. He graduated from Columbia University where he received the honor award for excellence in design and the Kinney travelling felowship. Active in education, Rahim is a professor of design at the University of Pennsylvania and has previously served as the Zaha Hadid studio visiting design professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, the Louis Kahn visiting design professor at Yale University and a visiting design professor at Harvard University.

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He has authored an co-edited books on contemporary design including Catalytic Formations (2011) in Chinese with additional projects, Turbulence (2011), Elegance (2007) with Hina Jamelle, Catalytic Formations (2006) in its second edition, Contemporary Techniques (2002) and Contemporary processes (2000).

Ali Rahim

DESIGN DIRECTOR

HINA JAMELLE

has over 15 years of experience in Philadelphia and New York City, including management experience on large-scale institutional buildings.

Prior to joining CAP in 2003, she served as client partner at media consulting firm Razorfish in New York city. She holds a Masters degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan where she won the university wide Martin Luther King Leadership Award.

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Active in education, she teaches graduate design studios at the University of Pennsylvania. She is involved in an ongoing partnership with Dupont and Corian to develop new materials for construction.
Her books include a forthcoming publication titled Migrating architectural and structural formations (2003) and elegance (2007) with Ali Rahim.

Hina Jamelle
Our Services

SCHEMATIC DESIGN

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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

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CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

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RESEARCH

Our Clients
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