About

Bercy Chen Studio LP is an architecture & urban planning firm with design/build capabilities based in Austin, Texas founded in 2001 by partners Thomas Bercy and Calvin Chen, both graduates of the University of Texas at Austin.

Daniel Arellano holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona and a Post Professional degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Daniel’s Master’s thesis focused on researching advance material technology and fabrication systems. His work at Bercy Chen Studio is focused on 3D modeling systems and advanced parametric designs. He is also the head BIM specialist at Bercy Chen Studio. Daniel also enjoys doing photography, making black and white silver gelatin prints using traditional darkroom techniques.

Fred Hubnik graduated from Texas A&M University’s Environmental Design program Cum Laude with Honors in 1998. Before joining Bercy Chen Studio, Fred worked with TeamHaas Architects and Noack-Little Architects. In 2006, Fred founded the Austin Chapter of Architecture for Humanity. He now serves as Co-Director of that chapter.

Dan Loe holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota and a Master in Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. His extensive project experience includes site planning, new construction and revitalization projects. This includes private sector work such as the Eurasia Tower in Moscow, the 3rd highest building in Russia at the time of design, and a feasibility study for the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York. His civic projects include the restoration of The Surrogate Court Building at 31 Chambers Street and the Home Life Building in Lower Manahattan with the City of New York and the Preservation committee of New York. Mr. Loe also oversees all LEED projects in the office.

Ryan Michael graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. In 2002 he received a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture Cum Laude from the North Carolina State University School of Architecture. Before coming to Bercy Chen Studio, Ryan worked for Cherry Huffman Architects and Cannon Architects in Raleigh, North Carolina.

David Potes studied architecture at the ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. In 2008, he was awarded first place (office buildings category) for the state of Nuevo León´s first Student Biennale and second place (student commercial building category) in the International Design Awards in Los Angeles. He has previously worked with GLR Arquitectos and Vidal Arquitectos. He now heads Bercy Chen Studio’s office in Monterrey, as part of the firm’s strategy to increase its commercial presence in Mexico.

Brad Purrington is the resident building systems engineer. He is instrumental in formulating Bercy Chen Studio’s ideal of a wholistic strategy in sustainble building systems. His research includes using swimming pools as a heat sink to aid climate-control and growing strawberries in a self-irrigating vertical garden. When not saving the world one wholistic building system at a time, Brad enjoys panning for gold in the waters of the American Southwest.

The firm was recently profiled in Architectural Record’s December 2006 “Design Vanguard” award issue, selected as one of top 10 emerging design firms in the world. In 2007 Bercy Chen Studio LP was part of the Young Americans exhibition at the Deutsche Architektur Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.

The firm’s work has been published in over 20 countries including The New York Times and Business Week for design innovation in 2007. Thomas & Calvin have also been invited guest speakers at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.

Thomas is from Belgium and Calvin is from Taiwan by way of Australia; the partners’ European and Asian backgrounds form a design philosophy of unique perspectives. The work is influenced by vernacular precedents from various cultures- whether Islamic, Indian, African or pre-columbian, while maintaining respect for the particular contemporary contextual conditions.

Due to this unique approach, the work has received national and international attention. Bercy Chen Studio won the prestigious “Emerging Voices” prize from the Architectural League of New York in 2006. Every year the League selects 7 of the most innovative designers from Europe and North America for this award.

The firm has collaborated closely with both the private and the public sector. Current projects include master planning of an 800 acre sustainable development near Mulege in Baja California Sur, and the Nahua Museum Tower, a 45 story luxury residential tower on town lake next to the Mexican American Art Museum in Austin, Texas, and the Skybridge, a 120 unit, 140,000 sq. ft. town home project.

In 2006, the firm won a competition for the masterplanning of the Asian American Resource Center in Austin ($32 million, 120,000 SF ). Developed in four phases, the project will eventually include education facilities, offices, a conference center and hotel on 15 acres for the NAAO. Bercy Chen Studio successfully worked with a team of economic and engineering consultants including Broaddus Associates to produce a detailed masterplan and economic impact study which helped secured AARC’s initial $ 3 million bond election funding in 2007.

Bercy Chen Studio LP is committed to collaborating with clients in identifying design solutions and planning strategies to create innovative designs based on environmentally sustainable and financially viable business models. Having experience as a design/build operation, the firm’s first hand knowledge of construction & finance is crucial in ensuring successful project implementation. The firm has been a member of the City of Austin’s Green Building Program and USGBC with certified 3 Star projects.

In 2005, Bercy Chen Studio also won 1st place in a national competition for Urban Reserve, one of the first sustainable modernist residential developments in the US. In 2006 the Beverly Skyline Residence was shortlisted as a finalist in the “Best Plot in the World” competition in Vienna, Austria.

Bercy Chen Studio was recently featured in the leading San Francisco based publication on creative modern design: Dwell magazine- Culminating in a special television episode on the Fine Living Television Network program which discussed Bercy Chen Studio’s design approach in depth. which aired in December 2004. In addition HGTV also featured the firm’s work in June of 2006.

The design of Factory People, a premier fashion boutique/ art gallery on South Congress Avenue was selected as one of top 100 boutiques in America in 2003 by GQ. Factory People has also been well received in numerous publications including Elle, Lucky, XLXR, etc.

In 2008 Bercy Chen Studio collaborated with Lord Norman Foster’s firm on 3 design proposals including the San Antonio Aviation Museum, the Austin Central Library, and the $ 700 million Green Water Redevelopment project.

In June 2008, Bercy Chen Studio LP was short listed for the Giorgio Armani resort on Lombok Island, Indonesia on invitation from Emaar Properties, developer of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai.

In August 2008, the firm was invited by The Qatar Foundation to participate in “The Qatar Design Zone” project located on 50 acres in Doha, Qatar. The Design Zone will be the world’s first working resort. Other architects invited for the Qatar Foundation includes Rem Koolhaas/ OMA for a new library, Jean Nouvel for the Qatar National Museum and I M Pei for the National Islamic Museum.

In September 2008 two of the firm’s projects won honorable mentions at the Seoul Design Olympics in South Korea as examples of progressive sustainable design.

Calvin & Thomas are both active participants of the community. Calvin serves on the City of Austin’s Design Commission and participated on several initiatives, including the “Create Austin” Cultural Masterplanning project. They both serve on the board of advisors for the Austin Museum of Art.

Appointments

Austin Museum of Art, Board of Advisors (Thomas Bercy), January 2008-2010

Art in Public Places ( AIPP), Advsior, 2008

The City of Austin Design Commission, Commissioner (Calvin Chen), January 2007-2008

Chair of Civic Arts Committee, 2007

Create Austin Task Force, Cultural Masterplan for Austin, 2007

Awards and Competitions

2nd place, Xing-Tai Master Plan Invited Competition (Hebei, China), October 2010

Designer of the Year, 7th International Media Prize (Shenzen), January 2010

Five to Watch, Form Magazine, AIA (Los Angeles), September 2009

Short listed (Riverview), Barbara Cappochin Prize (Padua, Italy), September 2009

European Union 40 Under 40 Prize, August 2009

Short Listed, Mexicarte Museum, March 2009

Finalist, LifeWorks Headquarters, January 2009

Honorable Mention, Seoul Design Olympiad (S. Korea), September 2008

Invited Participant, Design Zone Qatar ( Doha, Qatar), August 2008

Winner (Riverview), UTSOA Student’s Choice Award, November 2008

Short listed, Giorgio Armani Resort, Invitation by Emaar Properties (Indonesia), June 2008

Proposal, Green Water Redevelopment, Collaboration with Foster & Partners, May 2008

Finalist, Dallas Asian American Culture Center, September 2008

Finalist, First Unitarian Universalist Church (Austin, Texas), December 2007

Finalist, UTSOA Students‘ Choice Award, Annie Residence, October 2007

Green Good Design Award, European Center for Architecture, June 2009

Design Vanguard Award, Global Top 10 Cutting Edge Firms, December 2006

Finalist, Best Plot in the World (Vienna), September 2006

First Place – Masterplanning, Asian American Resource Center Competition, May 2006

Emerging Voices 2006, The Architectural League of New York, March 2006

First Place Winner, Urban Reserve open national competition (Dallas), July 2005

Finalist, Self-Sufficient Housing (Barcelona) July 2005

Lectures

Panel Discussion, Dallas Architecture Forum, November 2010

Austin Museum of Art, November 2010

Leadership Austin, November 2010

Alpha Rho Chi Lecture, University of Texas School of Architecture (Austin, Texas), September 2009

AIA Dallas Sustainability Showcase, July 2009

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, February 2009

University of Texas at San Antonio, College of Architecture, January 2009

Texas A&M (Fred Hubnik), January 2009

School of Architectural Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, March 2008

SAARQ International Architecture Congress (Monterrey, Mexico), November and October 2007

Texas Society of Architects, October 2007

Umlauf Sculpture Garden, May 2007

Pecha Kucha Austin, June 2007

AIA State Convention (Little Rock, AK), November 2006

National Building Museum (Washington D.C.), March 2006

The Urban Center (NYC), March 2006

TSA (Austin), September 2004

Museum Exhibitions

Seoul Design Olympiad (Seoul, S. Korea), September 2010

AIA Austin Homes Tour (Austin, Texas), October 2010

Epoxy Green Design Center (LA, California), AIA LA/ Form Magazine, Five to Watch Exhibition, September 2009

The Contemporary Space (Athens, Greece),Green Good Design Award, January 2009

Ministry of Culture (Quito, Ecuador), 26th Panamerican Architecture Bienal, December 2008

Art Basel Miami Beach (Miami, Florida), December 2008

City Hall of Gdansk (Poland), The Solidarity Museum, 2008

E.A.S.T East Austin Studio Tour (Austin, Texas) October 2008

The German Architecture Museum, Group Exhibition as part of the Young American show (download) July 2007

The Lawndale Museum, Rice University (Dallas), Group exhibition of new design talent, May 2007

The Loisium Museum (Vienna), Best Plot in the World group exhibition, September 2006

The AIA Dallas Gallery, Urban Reserve Project, September 2005

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Interventionist Show (in collaboration with Spurse), May 2004

Newspapers

Austin American-Statesman, The East Village, April 2010

World Architectural News, Peninsula Residence, December 2008

Austin American-Statesman, Modern Homes Tour, December 2008

The New York Times, Peninsula Residence, March 2007

Austin American-Statesman, Riverview Gardens, October 2007

Corriere Della Sera, Casamica (Milan), Firm Profile, January 2007

El Universal (Mexico City), Firm Profile, September 2006

Architect’s Newspaper, Firm Profile, March 2006

CDC News (Houston), Cover Story, November 2005

Austin American Statesman, Factory People, March 2005

Austin Chronicle, Factory People, January 2004

Television

KCBS Los Angeles, Constellation Outdoor Theaters, April 2009

CNN, E. 11th Street, November 2008

What’s up with this house?, January 2006

HGTV, Annie House Profile, May 2005

Dwell TV, December 2004

Fine Living Network, Annie House Profile, November 2004