TESTA/WEISER is a Los Angeles based architecture and design studio founded by partners Peter Testa and Devyn Weiser in 2002. The studio is known for conceptual and technical breakthroughs that integrate advanced material processes at all scales. From pioneering software applications to creating new material systems, TESTA/WEISER is recognized as an international design leader redefining architecture for the 21st century.
TESTA/WEISER has developed a unique business model that enables work with Fortune 500 corporations, start-ups, non-profit organizations, and universities. Recent collaborations include projects with Stäubli Robotics, NASA/Ames Research Center, ACCIONA Infraestructuras, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, 3D Systems Inc., ARUP Engineers, Herman Miller Inc., HEXCEL Corporation, Álvaro Siza Arquitecto and Gehry Partners.
Current Testa/Weiser projects include FACTORe (2012-), an electric vehicle design and robotic manufacturing complex for Peugeot Citroën; X-NRG (2010-) the world’s largest ocean-based energy infrastructure with pilot projects for California and Cape Verde; ESCape (2008-), open-source platform for decentralized waste to energy (WtE) solutions with a pilot project for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD); Automorphic Strand Tower (2006), robotically pultruded fiber structure; FRC/PRE-PREG, braided fiber reinforced concrete building system; and Tape House Series (2006), residential construction system using a honeycomb core material convex envelope wrapped with uni-directional carbon fiber pre-preg tape.
TESTA/WEISER exhibits at leading museums and galleries worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; National Art Center, Tokyo; Embankment Galleries, London; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York. The studio has been featured in numerous publications including The New Yorker, AD Architectural Design Magazine, and The London Times; as well as books Extreme Textiles: Designing for High Performance; Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture; and FORM+CODE In Design, Art, and Architecture.
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Peter Testa is Principal-in-Charge of Design at TESTA/WEISER and founding director of the MIT Emergent Design Group (EDG). At TESTA/WEISER he leads a wide range of projects including the Carbon Tower, recognized as one of the most significant applications of advanced composite materials and robotics in architecture. Previously he collaborated with Pritzker Prize winner Álvaro Siza on several important museums, university campuses, and large-scale urban projects in Europe and the United States.
Testa's work is exhibited at leading museums and galleries worldwide including recent shows in Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, and Beijing. He is the author of two books and more than 30 research papers on architecture, design, computation and robotics. His work is regularly published in international art, architecture, design, engineering, and scientific journals as well as major newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Times of London.
From 1997-2002 Testa was Associate Professor of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has also taught at Columbia University GSAPP and Harvard University GSD. In 2008 he was appointed Esherick Professor of Architecture at the University of California. Since 2004 he has been a member of the SCI-Arc Graduate and Post-Graduate Design Faculty teaching XLAB advanced design studios and seminars. In 2010 he initiated and designed the SCI-Arc Robotics & Simulation Lab sponsored by Stäubli Robotics. Testa holds an S.M.Arch.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (with honors) and is a Registered Architect in California (NCARB Certificate). He is the recipient of the MIT Innovation Award, three Graham Foundation Awards, and the Design Arts Award of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Devyn Weiser is Principal-in-Charge of Design at TESTA/WEISER and co-founder of the MIT Emergent Design Group (EDG). At TESTA/WEISER she leads a wide range of projects from product design to large-scale architecture. Current work includes X-NRG, the world's largest ocean-based energy infrastructure with pilot projects for California and Cape Verde; Automorphic Strand Tower, robotically pultruded fiber structure; King's Road Apparel Shop, all composite structure in West Hollywood; and FML 001, fiber metal laminate house in Santa Monica. With a consortium of industry partners she directs ESCape, an open source platform for decentralized waste-to-energy (WtE) solutions.
Weiser's work is exhibited at leading museums and galleries worldwide including recent shows in Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, and Beijing. She is the author of more than a dozen research papers on architecture, design, composites, and computation and robotics. Her work is regularly published in international art, architecture, design, engineering, and scientific journals as well as major newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Times of London.
Weiser has been a Visiting Critic at the Rhode Island School of Design, University of Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She joined the SCI-Arc Design Faculty in 2005 and currently serves as Undergraduate Thesis Coordinator. In 2010 Weiser initiated and designed the SCI-Arc Robotics & Simulation Lab sponsored by Stäubli Robotics. Devyn Weiser holds a B.F.A. and B.Arch. (with honors) from the Rhode Island School of Design and a MSAAD from Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
Collaborators - in chronological order
Ursula Schneider
Duks Koschitz
Ian Ferguson
Nina Chen
Hunter Knight
James Vincent
Joshua Mun
Emily White
Atsushi Sugiuchi
Patrick Shields
Jonathon Stahl
Christopher Day
Interns - in chronological order
Annie Lo
Jocelyn Lin
Evelina Sausina
Yuan Tiauriman
Ryohei Koike
CS Dawson
Brian Fraumeni
Dong ah Cho
Andy Chang
Margaret Hewitt
Kazua Ogawa
Nanao Shimizu
Zachary Schoch
Danielle Yip
Elana Pappoff
Diego Trujillo
Erin Besler
William Hu
Haleh Olfati
Jasmine Park
Anass Benhachmi
Jack Gaumer
Rangel Karaivanov
Andrew Kragness
2012 FACTORe
Peugeot Citroën Factory Prototype
2011 MACHINATORS
machinators.org
2011 XPLANT Photosynthetic Bioreactor
XTRACT Energy Recovery Station
2011 "Living Flower"
Molecular Scent Laboratory
Fogo, Cape Verde
2010 SCI-Arc Robotics & Simulation
Laboratory
with Stäubli AG
2010 X-NRG
Pilot Projects:
California Coast
Cape Verde Islands
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
2009 NASA/OMEGA Project
with NASA Ames Research Center
Mountain View, CA
2009 Unité TYO
Multi-unit Housing
Tokyo, Japan
2009 D3 Arctic Peace Park
[competition]
New Diomede Island D3
Bering Strait Tunnel
Climate Research Center
Inflatable Ice Bridge
2008 Cloud Tower - Prototype
with Acciona Infraestructuras
Madrid, Spain
2008 ESCape: Networked WtE Landscape
Pilot Project: Los Angeles
Unified School District (LAUSD)
XPL001/002 Learning Environments
XPLNET Real-time Interface
XPLANT Photosynthetic Bioreactor
XTRACT Energy Recovery Station
2007 FML 001 House
Santa Monica, CA
2007 Deployable Sports Pavilion
2006 Automorphic Strand Tower
for "Skin+Bones" MoCA
Los Angeles, CA
2006 Filament Tower - Prototype
2006 Carbon Tape House Series
Malibu, CA
2005 M-brane: Inflatable Rigidizable
2005 Stinnett McCarty House
Santa Monica, CA
2004 Basalt Fiber Towers
for "Extreme Textiles" NDM
New York, NY
2004 Transgenic Timber Towers
with EMPA/ETH
Zurich, Switzerland
2004 City Lights: LED/OLED Street
and Park Lighting System
New York, NY
2004 PULP+ Wasted Paper Environments
2003 Palisades Glacier Mountain Lodge
[competition]
Sierra Nevada, CA
2003 Porsche Port - Prototype
Stuttgart, Germany
2002 K House & Gallery
Manhattan Beach, CA
2002 Carbon Tower - Prototype
with ARUP NY
2002 "Sound Lounge"
Totem Design Store
Soho, NY
2002 Everyware:
Air/Information/Surfaces
2001 PULP: Wasted Paper Products
for Snowcrash
Stockholm, Sweden
2001 HMI Ceilingscape
for Herman Miller Inc.
Zeeland, MI
2000 HMI Agency Office System
with Herman Miller Research
Zeeland, MIA
2000 Kings Road Apparel Shop
West Hollywood, CA
1999 BMW Simulation Environments
BMW Designworks USA
1998 Kyoto Morphospace [competition]
Kyoto General Planning Bureau
Real-time Environments
Free-net Dataspace
Water Pavilion
Emperor's Forest
Metabody Exchangers
Electrotextile Smart Kimono
Joint Venture with Álvaro Siza
2005 Parrish Museum of Art
Southampton, NY
Finalist Invited Competition
2001 Art Center College of Design
Hillside Campus Pasadena, CA
Master Plan with Gehry Partners
Technical Skills Center
Nokia Graduate Research Center
2001 Clark Art Institute
Williamstown, MA
Finalist Invited Competition
TESTA/WEISER have been featured in the
following journals and books:
AD Architectural Design (London)
Architectural Record (New York)
Architecture (New York)
A+U Architecture and Urbanism (Tokyo)
Architecture d'Aujourd'hui (Paris)
Archis (Amsterdam)
Arkitekten (Copenhagen)
Arquitectura (Madrid)
Assemblage (Cambridge)
Baumeister (Munich)
Bauwelt (Berlin)
Blueprint (London)
Casabella (Milan)
Civil Engineering (Washington)
Concept (Seoul)
Construire (Milan)
Domus (Milan)
El Croquis (Madrid)
GA Global Architecture (Tokyo)
Indian Architect and Builder (Mumbai)
Kenchiku bunka (Tokyo)
l'Arca (Milan)
LA Architect (Los Angeles)
Lotus International (Milan)
Metropolis (New York)
New Yorker Magazine
Praxis (New York)
Topos (Munich)
El Pais (Madrid)
Le Monde (Paris)
Los Angeles Times
London Times
New York Times
Washington Post
FORM+CODE In Design, Art, and Architecture
Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams
(Authors)
Network Practices
Anthony Burke, Therese Tierney
(Editors)
Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in
Fashion and Architecture
Brooke Hodge, Patricia Mears, Susan
Sidlauskas (Authors)
Extreme Textiles: Designing for High
Performance
Matilda McQuaid (Author)
TESTA/WEISER INC
320 INDIANA AVENUE
SUITE A
VENICE CALIFORNIA
90291 USA
Tel: +1 310 396 7470
Fax: +1 310 396 7474
Email: info@testaweiser.com