Architecture Xenoculture

Juan Azulay is director of the 11 year old firm Matter Management. He has led projects ranging from the Aquatic Terrarium for the New Barcelona Zoo (2001), the winning entry to the MAK Vertical Garden Competition (2006), a master plan for Shaoxing, China (2010), and the media architecture piece Vivarium (2010). He has delivered over $80 million dollars of lead-design construction and his total project base spans the completion of over 40 professional projects for a very diverse and successful client base. Juan's scope as director ranges beyond the architectural projects of the firm to include both film and media - including projects such as Flood Stains (2010) - a collaboration with legendary No Wave artist Lydia Lunch - and The Blue of Noon (2011), an epic desert film essay. His work in this realm has led to his inclusion as a member on the Board of Directors of the Society for Moving Images about the Built Environment. Juan currently teaches graduate, post-graduate and undergraduate design studios at SCI-Arc, as well as Visual Studies. He has also taught at Columbia University's GSAPP, the University of Miami and Barcelona's ETSAV. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Sci-Arc and his Masters in Advanced Architectural Design (MSAAD) from Columbia University.

Benjamin Rice is a principal of Matter Management. Before joining MM Benjamin helped deliver high profile architectural projects and competitions ranging in scope from residential, to commercial, to transportation for some of the worlds leading architectural firms, which ranged in value from $2 million to $80 million US dollars. Benjamin's work, both personal and professional, has been published and exhibited widely. Recent exhibitions include the A+D Museum in Los Angeles, the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, and the Denver Art Museum. Recent publications include On Ramp, Pidgin Magazine, TARP, eVolo Magazine, and The Huffington Post. Benjamin is currently a Lecturer at the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design and a Senior Lecturer at the California College of the Arts. He has taught previously at the Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design, as an assistant at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Princeton University School of Architecture, as well as having been involved with several international workshops. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture where he is a graduate of distinction, and his Master of Architecture from the Princeton University School of Architecture where he was a Fellow of the Graduate School.

Carlo Aiello is Faculty at the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California. Carlo Aiello graduated from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University in New York City. After collaborating with Asymptote Architecture and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill he established eVolo Press in New York City for which he is Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director. In 2013 Carlo Aiello founded Los Angeles-based studio Carlo Aiello Design, an atelier that focuses on innovative contemporary industrial design. In the same year, Mr. Aiello received the highest industrial design honors, the GOOD DESIGN Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the RED DOT Award. In the same year he received the prestigious International Contemporary Furniture Fair Studio Award (ICFF). His designs are part of the permanent collection of The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco.