Studio Malka (Habitats of the Twenty-First Century)

A cutting-edge blend of contemporary design and art informs the work of architecture’s enfant terrible. This first book on his firm presents an array of immersive spaces for living and working that walk the edge of practicality and imagination.

Best known for UNESCO’s Cop22 in Marrakech and the French Embassy extension in Vienna, as well as his daring “guerrilla architecture,” such as Bow-House made from scaffolding and repurposed doors and windows in Holland, architect, urbanist, author, and former graffiti artist Stéphane Malka is at the forefront of the architectural avant-garde.

Malka’s work blends art and architecture from a humanist perspective informed by the designer’s intention to create work that is positive and sustainable. His practice, based in Paris and in Los Angeles, realizes homes, offices, art installations, and stage designs with the idea that we ought always to rethink our typical notions and challenge established conventions. This results in surprising places where there is an intermingling of dreams and pragmatism, the baroque and minimalism, ecology and sophistication.

The book, an expression of Malka’s daring aesthetic and conscientious ethos, features his groundbreaking exploration of contemporary housing. Included are his cliffside Mugu House, in Malibu, California, a dramatic expression of dwelling meets mountain in a delicate tracery of slatted wood and glass. Beyond freestanding structures, showcased as well are Studio Malka’s interventions and transformations of existing architecture and the exploration and development of green building and design, embracing the adaptation and reuse of existing structures and materials—a dazzling expression of artistry and innovation that opens its doors and windows on the future.