Mork-Ulnes Architects on Balancing Californian and Norwegian Design Spirits – Archinect

Founder and Principal Casper Mork-Ulnes.

For this week'sStudio Snapshot, Archinect spoke with Casper Mork-Ulnes, Founder and Principal of San Francisco and Oslo-based firm Mork-Ulnes Architects.

We talked about his approach of managing offices on two continents as a nimble 10-person practice, touched on strategies of combining two design mentalities Scandinavian practicality and Californian optimism as a unique asset, and learned how lessons from Norwegian work culture could contribute to increased productivity among the entire team.

Can you tell us how Mork-Ulnes Architects was founded?

The office was founded in 2005 when I was given the opportunity to work on a project for a friend. I had long thought about starting my own practice and was very fortunate to be able to take this opportunity to set up an office.

How many people are currently employed at the firm? How is your office structured?

We typically are around 10 people currently we have 7 designers in San Francisco and 3 in Oslo along with a bookkeeper. Our office structure is a relatively flat, non-hierarchical structure. What makes us unique in many ways is that we are a small and nimble international practice in contrast with most other international firms that tend to be large organizations. We divide the staff into teams based on the needs of current projects, but since we are a small practice, most of the team has something to do with each project in some way.

Can you talk about the benefits and challenges of maintaining operations on two continents?

We think that having two locations is a great benefit to our clients, and certainly with Covid, it has become more apparent that we can design global projects remotely. Construction administration makes it necessary to have boots on the ground locally, but we find that this can be done with a good local partner. We sometimes joke that having two offices on different time zones also allows us to work almost around the clock when we have deadlines.

The only real challenge with the 9-hour time difference is for me personally having to take meetings late at night when working with our West coast clients. We have projects as far west as Hawaii which means a 12-hour time difference to Oslo, but that is a challenge I am grateful for allowing us to take on work in diverse geographic situations. Being the son of a diplomat, I spent my childhood traveling and living in many different places. I have perhaps therefore always been interested how different places can generate specific design solutions inherent to each different situation.

How do the mentalities towards architecture and design in Norway and California compare with each other?

In many ways they stand in contrast to each other, so we approach projects with both Scandinavian practicality and a Californian can-do spirit of innovation.

On the one hand, the Californian influence on our work is the spirit of optimism, resourcefulness, and comfort with experimentation thats always been present in California. While the Norwegian influence is more grounded and based on being very rational, functional, practical, and also climate-driven in a very different way.

Obviously, California's climate is also very different from Norway's. Whereas a typical Norwegian building is trying to protect from the environment, a characteristically Californian building is often open and extending outwards. So one is more introvert and protective while the other is more open and extrovert. We are often balancing these two forces depending on where we are working, but clearly the California Modernist tradition of indoor-outdoor relationship, as a way of being, is always a definitive driver behind our work.

So I think it is right to say that our work is often negotiating between these two different regional contexts and that we are always optimistically looking for a synthesis between them.

Would you like to scale up and grow your team? What do you consider the ideal size for your practice?

I am interested in always being part of the design process, so I personally do not really want the practice to grow so much that my position becomes only administrative. That said, as we are starting to get larger commissions, we also need to scale our team to allow us to support these types of projects. So there is definitely a tension between the desire to do bigger projects and keeping a nimble and close-knit team.

Describe your office culture. How do you nourish it?

Our office culture is such that hopefully everyone feels that their ideas are welcome, equally valued, and that we work as a team. We also value a positive life-work balance maybe especially due to our Norwegian roots so we encourage everyone to take time to recharge their batteries, prioritize their private lives, and spend time with their friends and families. This stands in contrast to the culture of many US firms, but I think there is a lot to be learned from the Scandinavian work culture. Happy and healthy architects are a lot more productive than overworked ones.

What have been the biggest challenges starting and running your own practice?

The ups and downs of the economy is probably the most challenging part of running a practice, though we have been very fortunate to work with some excellent consultants who've brought a sense of planning strategy and order to those of us who like to dwell more on the conventional design side of the practice. The administrative part of the practice is unfortunately very important, and this is something we are not taught in school, so it is often the most challenging aspect of running a successful practice. Surrounding yourself with people who are good at this has been very helpful to me.

How has your practice shifted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic on a day-to-day level?

While we are accustomed to working remotely given that we have two offices over 5,000 miles apart, I think working virtually has still affected the DNA of the office culture. We have also had new hires during this period, so getting to know them via a screen is different than normal, but I think we have fared OK, and I hope we can maintain our office culture when the pandemic subsides. Our Oslo office has been open through most of the pandemic since we are only 3 people, and we are lucky to have ample space. So we have been very lucky here versus our US office in that sense.

Pre-Covid, we were starting to be invited to prepare proposals for a more diverse types of projects like masterplanning, housing, mixed-use, restaurant and hospitality projects. However, these projects have mostly been put on hold due to Covid. That has really been the biggest issue from a business standpoint. On the flip side, we have been faring pretty well given that we are beginning to be known for our cabins and houses, so we have seen quite a bit of new projects in that sector.

Finally, seeing how Covid has affected our team as individual is the most unfortunate effect of the pandemic. We have office wide meetings twice a week, and I try to speak to the team as much as I can. But Covid has clearly affected everyone mentally and socially, so that is something I hope we can all mend as we pull out of the pandemic.

Describe your work. How do you define your own unique style and approach?

I would like to think that our clients would say that we listen closely to their brief and find unique solutions that address their specific situations. All of our work is context-driven with that context being many different things like specific site conditions, budget, schedule, cultural specificities etc. We try to use these challenges as motivators to create good and unique solutions. I would also say that we try to create pared-back, precise and refined design solution for all of our projects deducing the essential character of the building to a unique and clear solution.

What do you want your firm to be known for?

Making good projects that are a clear resolution of the brief. Hopefully, all while being mindful of their context be it economical, cultural, or site-specific etc.

Where do you see Mork-Ulnes Architects in 5 years?

We hope to be building more projects in Europe and finally execute one of our larger mixed-use projects (which seem to take a very long time to push through planning and the development phase). Prior to Covid, we were also starting to explore new project typologies in the US which is exciting, while also working with new types of clients.

Do you have a favorite project? Completed or in progress.

It was a labor of love to design our own mountain cabin, so that project is my favorite from a personal perspective because it gives me and my family so much joy. Our kids love to ski, and we love to have friends and family come and visit and enjoy the beautiful nature of the area and hopefully the architecture as well.

If you could describe your work/practice in three words, what would they be?

Pared-back, resourceful, playful.

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Mork-Ulnes Architects on Balancing Californian and Norwegian Design Spirits - Archinect