About
Erin Besler and Ian Besler are cofounders of Besler & Daughter, an office based in New Jersey that designs buildings, objects, videos, software, and exhibitions to expand the definition of architecture through active participation with amateur creators, construction trades, and design software. They work to create new audiences and opportunities for social engagement.
Their book, Best Practices: A Companion to Architecture and Its Messy Relationship with Building Materials, Signage Systems, Communication Equipment, Plant Life, and People was published by Applied Research and Design Publishing in . It features a foreword by Sylvia Lavin and additional contributions by Fiona Connor, Jonathan Jae-an Crisman, and Wendy Gilmartin.
Their design work has been included in more than forty public installations and exhibitions internationally. They are Artists in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts and United States Artists Fellows in Architecture & Design. They were finalists for MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program, and participants in the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Architecture/Urbanism. Alongside their practice, they pursue design research through teaching and writing, with publications in journals including e-flux, Log, Pidgin, Future Anterior, Project, San Rocco, and Perspecta.
Besler & Daughter have been profiled and their work featured in The New York Times T Magazine, Dezeen, Wallpaper*, Architect Magazine, Domino Magazine, The Architect’s Newspaper, and Archinect.
Erin (she/they) is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at Princeton University School of Architecture. Erin was recently awarded the Founders Rome Prize in architecture from the American Academy in Rome, as well as the Young Architects Prize by the Architectural League of New York. Previously Erin has taught at the University of California Los Angeles in the department of Architecture and Urban Design (A.UD), and was the - Teaching Fellow. Erin holds a Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.
Ian (they/them) teaches courses in graphic design and interaction design at Pratt Institute. They have also taught at the University of Southern California, ArtCenter College of Design, and Santa Monica College. Ian holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Media Design Practices program at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, where they were awarded the Milken Family Foundation Design Fellowship. Ian holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the College of Media at the University of Illinois.
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