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Asymptote Architecture

American

Established 1987, New York, New York

Biography

Founded in 1989 by husband-and-wife principals Lise Anne Couture and Hani Rashid, Asymptote Architecture is a collaborative architectural, design, and art practice based in New York City. Couture and Rashid (whose brother is industrial designer Karim Rashid) met as undergraduates at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, and established Asymptote after completing their graduate work in architecture in the U.S. The firm draws its name from the mathematical term for a straight line that approaches but never quite forms a curve, extending into infinity. Couture and Rashid consider this a metaphor for the "dialectics" of their personal and professional collaboration.

Asymptote is known for creating visionary building designs, master plans, and spatial experiments that challenge the traditional boundaries of architecture and integrate the potential of new technologies. In the 1990s the firm designed several high-profile, digital interactive environments, such as a virtual trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange (1996) and a virtual museum for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1998), New York. Rashid represented the U.S. with installations at the Venice Biennale in 2000 and 2004.

In recent years, Couture and Rashid have turned their attention from conceptual architecture to realizing a flurry of building commissions — including the HydraPier Pavillion in Holland (2002), the Alessi flagship store in New York City (2006), and skyscrapers in Malaysia, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

Works in the Collection

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