NEW YORK, NY.- Rafael de Cárdenas/Architecture at Large: RDC/AAL is the first volume surveying the career of one of the most distinctive interior designers working today.
Trained as an architect at UCLA, Rafael de Cárdenas describes the profession of architecture as his third career. He first honed his skills as a menswear designer at Calvin Klein and then as a production designer, before launching his multifaceted design laboratory, Architecture at Large, in 2006.
In the little over a decade since, de Cárdenas has amassed an international portfolio of projects that are as diverse as they are influential; a body of work that spans the design spectrum—everything from restaurants, art galleries, luxury shops to residential spaces and furniture design—while touching on culture high and low. From politics and the history of architecture to popular culture and casual encounters on the New York subway, each of RDC/AAL's projects are informed by unexpected references and in original ways.
Commemorating ten years of unparalleled work, this publication is a suitably unique and timely artifact. More than seventy projects are organized according to mood, rather than chronologically, and treated in lavish detail: flagship stores for Baccarat and Gentle Monster in New York; the Wynwood Building in Miami; the Unknown Union shop in Cape Town, South Africa; the revamp of a historic department store in Saint Petersburg, Russia; temporary spaces for Nike and Nordstrom; a collection of sophisticated residences across North America and Europe; and more.
Designed by esteemed Creative Director Patrick Li in collaboration with de Cárdenas, the book's stunning photography is complemented by graphic gatefolds that offer interchangeable covers. It also includes texts by thought leaders in architecture and art: a preface by Felix Burrichter; an essay, titled "What's in a Name?", by John Miller that offers a fascinating linguistic analysis of the implications of the studio's name; and an in-depth examination of de Cárdenas's unlikely array of references and influences by Jesse Seegers, called "The Architecture Realness of Architecture at Large".
Rafael de Cárdenas is a New York–based designer and architect. He has been consecutively named to Architectural Digest's AD100 list and in 2016, was recognized as Designer of the Year by Maison & Object Americas.
Felix Burrichter is the creator of PIN-UP, a biannual magazine for architectural entertainment.
John Miller is a contemporary artist, writer, and musician based in New York and Berlin.
Jesse Seegers is a spatial practitioner and associate editor of digital projects at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
