SplitTendencies

Reinier de Graaf is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and writer. He studied architecture at Delft University of Technology and received a master’s degree in architecture from the Berlage Institute. After working for architectural practices in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, he joined OMA in 1996 and is currently a partner in the practice. In 2002, he co-founded AMO, OMA’s research and design studio, where his work has included research on sustainability, energy planning and the changing conditions of architectural practice. His major built projects include De Rotterdam, Timmerhuis in Rotterdam, Holland Green in London, Norra Tornen in Stockholm and the nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam. Norra Tornen received the International Highrise Award in 2020. De Graaf has taught and lectured at institutions including the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Berlage Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, was appointed Sir Arthur Marshall Visiting Professor of Urban Design at the University of Cambridge, and now teaches at the AA in London. He is the author of Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, the novel The Masterplan, architect, verb: The New Language of Building, and, most recently, Architecture Against Architecture: A Manifesto, published in 2026.

Alejandro Zaera-Polo is a Spanish architect, architectural theorist and academic, born in Madrid in 1963. He graduated with honours in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid and received an MArch II degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1991. After working at OMA in Rotterdam, he co-founded Foreign Office Architects (FOA) in 1993, an internationally recognised architectural practice that operated until 2011. Following the dissolution of FOA, he established his own practice, which today operates as Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Maider Llaguno Architecture (AZPML). His major built projects include the Yokohama International Passenger Terminal, Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in London, the Carabanchel social housing complex in Madrid, the Spanish Pavilion at Expo 2005 in Aichi, and Birmingham New Street Station. His work has received the Enric Miralles Prize, several RIBA Awards, an award at the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale and the Charles Jencks Award. Alongside his architectural practice, Zaera-Polo has developed an extensive academic career: he served as dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam and of the Princeton University School of Architecture, and was Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor at Yale University. In 2017, he was co-director of the inaugural Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. He is the author of *The Sniper’s Log: An Architectural Perspective of Generation-X* and, with Jeffrey S. Anderson, *The Ecologies of the Building Envelope: A Material History and Theory of Architectural Surfaces*, published in 2021.

Pier Paolo Tamburelli is an Italian architect, architectural theorist, editor and academic. He studied architecture at the University of Genoa and at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. In 2004, he co-founded the architectural practice baukuh, based in Milan, whose work combines architectural practice with research into the history and theory of architecture. Among the practice’s major realised projects are the House of Memory in Milan and the Poretti Pavilion in Induno Olona. The House of Memory received the Idea-Tops Award for Best Cultural Space Design and was nominated for the 2017 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. Tamburelli was one of the founders and editors of the architectural magazine *San Rocco* and collaborated with *Domus* from 2004 to 2007. He has taught at institutions including the Berlage Institute, the Technical University of Munich, FAUP in Porto, Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Illinois Chicago and the Politecnico di Milano. In 2018, he served as a jury member of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Since 2021, he has been Professor of Design and Theory of Design at TU Wien, where he also heads the Research Unit of Design and Theory of Design. He is the author of *On Bramante*, *Grundkurs: What is Architecture About?*, *Tesi su Bramante: Logica, politica, architettura* and, most recently, *Giotto, or, Beauty in Space*, published in 2026.