Interview: Architecture Research Office

On October 20, Architecture Research Office will be presented with the 2011 National Design Award for Architecture Design. ARO, founded in 1993 by Stephen Cassell and Adam Yarinsky, is a New York–based firm with an exceptionally broad portfolio, ranging from creating new guidelines for design excellence in the federal government to renovating Donald Judd’s Spring Street studio, with theaters, synagogues, and a new dormitory for Tulane University in between. ARO — which added Kim Yao as a third partner earlier this year — is perhaps best known for participating in the Museum of Modern Art’s “Rising Currents” exhibition, for which the group studied managing climate change on the streets of Lower Manhattan. Alexandra Lange spoke to Cassell and Yarinksy on October 11 about the award and their work for New York City.