Oana Stanescu for French Fries #3 The Human DNA issue

Interview Margherita Pincioni / margherita_pincioni

It is hard to put a label on Oana Stanescu. Her projects include the collaborative +POOL, a floating, water filtering swimming pool, as well as a wide range of collaborations with Nike, Virgil Abloh, The Office of PlayLab, 2×4, Arup, New Museum, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, Need Supply, Fool’s Gold, and many more.

Oana’s work has been celebrated in publications such as the New York Times, Forbes, Madame Figaro, Architect Magazine, New York Magazine, Mark, Time magazine or Cultured, to name a few. Prior to establishing her own studio she was the co-founder of the NY based practice Family.

Oana has previously taught at MIT in Cambridge, GSAPP Columbia University, Cooper Union and the Architectural Association in London, in addition to lecturing in places like Princeton University, Sciarc, The University of Memphis, University of South Florida, University of Arizona, Women in Design Denver, Neocon and AIA Chicago or Design Miami in collaboration with the UN.

Her current projects are in the US, Romania, and Canada.

You have experienced firsthand the fall of communism in Romania and, much later, a global financial crisis. How did you deal with all this?

Well, both hit at radically different ages. During the revolution I was a child, and therefore more of an observer. The financial crisis hit 6 months after I graduated, and I felt the weight way more on my shoulders. It’s interesting because one had such an outer violence, while for the second one the violence was slower and more private, in many ways crueler too. Though I will say in both cases there is a sense of powerlessness and frustration since it’s not fully clear who exactly it is you are fighting, and with that, no one to assume the responsibility. But the quintessential takeaway is that nothing is here to stay, that systems and institutions are as frail as people. Such collective crises certainly removed any illusions about the nature of the beast.

Your portfolio of jobs spans almost every continent. Can we define you as a “nomadic architect”?

Ha, sure. Though frankly I was equally a tourist of sorts. I definitely think the nomadic years had so much to do with growing up in Romania and having little opportunities for travel, not to mention the whole legal challenges to do so. I still vividly remember the strange anxiety you would fear at any border crossing. I probably still do. I didn’t fly until I was 23, which sounds crazy. It seemed insane not to take the chance to see the world when I realized I could use architecture as a passport. 

You've worked alongside some of the world's most celebrated people, from Pritzker Prize winners in Europe and Asia, to award-winning documentary filmmakers in Africa and fashion icons and pop stars in America. Is it still very difficult for a female architect to work in this environment?

It’s a boys club. I, too, didn’t have time to see it like I do now. In school and at the entry position, representation is quite even and with time the numbers just disappear…And of course when you look overall at people of color, it is also as bad as you’d imagine. I just think women are too smart for how poor this industry is being run. 

That being said there are some incredible female heroes that I look up to and am grateful for paving the way. And I am also optimistic because of the current cultural conversations. Me too literally meant waking up one day and saying fuck all that, we’re just not going to accept all that shit anymore. So much stuff we knew wasn’t ok but just had to hide, carry, sweep away… damn, imagine growing up exposed to these conversations! I find that thrilling. On the downside I have so many peers subscribing to the public adage, but completely unable to recognize how they are part of the problem. It’s not a matter of intention, but actions. They are constant reminders of my own blind spots. I just sometimes think we are way too comfortable looking at others, and a lot less so with our own reflection in the mirror.

In Italy there is a discussion on the feminine name of the word architect (in Italy it has always been masculine), do you think we can also start from this, for a battle on equality between men and women?

The optimist in me is hoping for an eventual post-binary world. I’ll take any point of departure towards that…

You put people and their community at the forefront. How much has your approach to life and work changed through your travels and experiences on different continents? 

I feel like I received a double education by working in different places around the world: one on architecture and one on being. Experiencing different cultures teaches you a lot about yourself, your own upbringing, revealing the many things that seemed fixed, and are anything but. I also don’t want to glorify this hopping around, it’s not easy and comes with many sacrifices. I want to take stock of these as younger generations are really experiencing this sense of rootlessness more and more. It’s a distinct feeling of not having one home, maybe a few, maybe none. The biggest lesson though is people are people, with the good and the bad, wherever you go.

For the innovative proposal for the Hudson River + POOL you used crowdfunding, more specifically Kickstarter. Why?

The +Pool was adopted early on by many communities and we felt a desire to push it forward and do everything in our power to bring it to reality. Crowdfunding was a great way to connect with the people who believed in it and it ultimately allowed us to do a proof of concept for the water filtration.

You use a humanist approach to architecture. How do you create a place for a community?

I tend to think of architecture as a sort of infrastructure, as a background to people’s lives.

You seem to love music very much and in the course of your travels, you have created a close working relationship with Kanye West. You collaborated on the stage design, was it fun?

Yes. 

Do you think that technology will positively influence our future way of life?

Something can be simultaneously great and terrible. I definitely think that’s the case with technology. 

Do you believe that the architecture and the spaces designed can help in a new type of sociality?

Architecture is the background, the context to all of our lives. On the one hand it cannot solve all the world’s problems, but it is certainly enabling many. I do love it though and believe in its role and contribution, particularly when you think of public space, which ultimately is a reflection of our society. 

As you traveled the world, where have you tasted the best fries?

Home.