Ethical Practice: Mattaforma's Lindsey Wikstrom and Jean Suh on Creating a Future They Believe In
Lindsey Wikstrom and Jean Suh by Guarionex Rodriguez.
Lindsey Wikstrom and Jean Suh are the founders of Mattaforma, a design practice that draws on a parallel project of material and environmental research to conceive of the built environment as an actionable medium towards a more equitable planet. Suh has an expertise in managing and delivering complex, award-winning projects, while Wikstrom has an expertise in award-winning teaching, conceptual framing and storytelling.
Together they are currently engaged in adaptive reuse, mass timber, and rammed earth cultural, commercial and residential projects, as well as ongoing speaking, moderating, and writing projects. In their interview with Julia Gamolina, Lindsey and Jean talk about the beginning of their collaboration, and creating opportunities for like-minded folks, advising those just starting their careers to learn how to build.
Tell me about your foundational years. Where did you both grow up and what did you like to do as kids?
LW: I grew up between Colorado, Arizona, and Michigan, where the aspen tree covered mountains, dusty trails in the desert, or the rocky edge of Lake Huron were my playgrounds.
JS: I was born in Philadelphia and spent my formative years in Seoul, Korea, returned to the East Coast for my architectural studies and settled in New York where I call home. Getting lost in new cities was one of my favorite things to do, discovering the evidence of hundreds of years in time in the built environment.
Where did you both study, and what did you learn about architecture, the field, and yourselves there?
LW: I earned my Bachelors at ASU and then my Masters at Columbia GSAPP. At ASU, I learned about how architecture—its geometry, programming, and materials—can respond to the sun, the wind, the rain, wildlife migration, seasons, erosions, and more. This focus felt very nostalgic and artisan, and I wanted to design urban spaces and focused much of my time at ASU working on housing. After I was deep into my studies at Columbia GSAPP, I found a new appreciation for this environmental expertise that I had been sculpted by early on. Throughout my studies, there was a duality at play, between the territorial landscapes of resources and the cities where materials are consumed. Having immersed myself in both places, I started to grow into an interlocutor between them.
JS: I attended UVA and Yale. I learned that architecture plays an important role in shaping our society, culture and health. My time at UVA provided a great foundation in history, theory and environmentally conscious design. Yale taught me the value of good collaboration, nad that when strengths come together in a productive way, the outcome is far better than any one person’s genius. I am excited to practice everything I learned and took away from those years and beyond, with Lindsey.
Parkview Mountain House physical model. Courtesy of Mattaforma.
The Nursery at Public Records. Courtesy of Mattaforma.
How did each of you get your start in architecture?
LW: I first learned that architecture existed when I was an apprentice with a local artist-architect at the age of ten. We made models together; I learned how to make paper and how to cut cardboard so that it curved. The models were part of a larger public art exhibition, which made the work feel important and exciting; and I learned a lot from seeing the other artist’s work alongside my own. I also worked part time in an architecture office during high school for two years learning Revit and putting together drawing sets. These were formative years. Before I had a driver’s license, they taught me how to realize a project, how to communicate design in drawings and digital models, what a riser diagram was, what a framing plan looked like, how to manage the bidding process, and more.
JS: Having grown up in South Korea in the eighties and nineties where simple efforts to preserve resources were embedded into our everyday life, I have seen and believe in the power of us, the individuals, making the smallest efforts that aggregate into meaningful change. As a resident of one of the newest neighborhoods of Seoul at the time, I saw a quaint neighborhood with traditional homes and a temple with a 600-year-old tree, which I loved visiting, disappear in a month, quickly being replaced with asphalt and concrete towers just like the one I was living in.
This moment of helplessness and loss at age ten, ironically paired with feeling empowered that my small but consistent habits of saving resources will help all of us and the planet, put a big question in my mind: Can’t we do this better? After some years, I had a chance to visit a modest custom home in the mountains designed and built by my uncles. It was built just right for a growing family in support of their countryside lifestyle, responding in a beautiful way to the surrounding mountains and creek. This made me realize that I could bring a positive impact to people and their lives through design, and here I am.
“Our work is not only about making design decisions but also about writing stories and creating events that make sure like-minded folks can find each other and create a future we believe in.”
How did you start to collaborate, and eventually start Mattaforma? Tell me about where you are with Mattaforma today.
LW: Jean and I met on my first day at Studio Gang. I was tasked to help her complete the Construction Documents for Solar Carve, a tower on the Highline. We were in Revit for a few months and got it done. We worked well together and were teamed up again when the One Delisle project began. It was the two of us and another woman, and we both agreed it was the best collaborative process we had experienced at any job and in any project ever. This memory is what we both kept coming back to as team’s changed. I moved on from Studio Gang, and we entered into a pandemic. Jean and I thought, “How can we get back to how we were working together?”
We got our wish and more! We’re collaborating every day — w’re very much in each other’s business, we’re learning that being partners who are building something from scratch becomes a super personal endeavor. Like any relationship, communication is something we have to consciously practice, along with design and management skills. We’ve learned not to speak for each other and that design is sharpened when diverse opinions are welcomed.
Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you both manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?
LW: I’d say the biggest challenges have been navigating the ins and outs of starting a business from the ground up. Nothing about finances, design, and management is straightforward; there is no single map to follow. So, we regularly have to come together throughout the week to make tough choices. Referencing our long term vision statements and mission helps us make the tougher short term decisions, because we know that no matter how big or small, they can change the trajectory of the office. We’ve had to be very honest to each other about our strengths and weaknesses, and we’re learning that being vulnerable is an important skill to cultivate.
On site in Arizona. Courtesy of Mattaforma.
What have you also learned in the last six months?
JS: In the last six months, we learned all about Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL), recyclable twin wall polycarbonate, and shipping containers. Our contribution to The Nursery at Public Records uses an LVL truss to span U-shaped shipping containers that passively heat and cool a greenhouse space for a rich collection of outdoor plants in winter, and to serve as a private dining room in warmer months.
Every month brings more gratitude for us. It’s delightful to see something you designed get built, especially with such an extraordinary team. There’s a lot to be thankful for, our clients and staff absolutely, as well as friends and colleagues that have supported our ideas. In the last six months, we’ve also met so many people who are dedicated to building a bright and healthy future, who are willing to partner on projects big and small to combat climate change. Our work is not only about making design decisions but also about writing stories and creating events that make sure like-minded folks can find each other and create a future we believe in.
What are you most excited about right now?
JS: Now that Lindsey’s book has been successfully launched, I’m looking forward to her coming back to the office! We have a few projects coming up that are really exciting new typologies and inspiring client teams that we can’t wait to dig into together.
“Our core mission is to introduce a new measure for architecture: ethics. Ethical practice and ethical design is not just about applying typical sustainability approaches to buildings or adding a few more vacation days, but about questioning and challenging those frameworks inside and outside the office in order to improve them.”
Who are you admiring now and why?
LW: I’m always admiring Grafton Architects. The fact that two women friends launched into a business together and lived life alongside each other while doing incredibly thoughtful work and remaining grounded is inspiring. I also admire Julia Morgan, a very prolific architect and one of the first to use reinforced concrete. Her design for a bell tower in San Francisco was a structure that withstood the 1906 earthquake and triggered a wave of new building codes and regulations that allowed reinforced concrete to be used in urban environments.
JS: Staying focused on long-term positive impact and believing that your small efforts will matter takes discipline, dedication and patience. It’s not shiny, it’s not glamorous, and nothing is easy about it especially in our heavily financially-motivated culture. I admire all of those who remain focused and passionate about what they can do, and am constantly inspired and energized when I meet them.
What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?
LW: Our core mission is to introduce a new measure for architecture: ethics. Ethical practice and ethical design is not just about applying typical sustainability approaches to buildings or adding a few more vacation days, but about questioning and challenging those frameworks inside and outside the office in order to improve them. Ethical practice to us means being creative about how to design an office that supports people who are interested in growing a family, even if not immediately. This means non-toxic models, good work-life balance, giving opportunities for growth, and flexibility.
JS: Ethical design means reducing the amount of energy that a project requires operationally and materially, and improving the health of human and nonhuman entities both on the construction site and wherever the materials are sourced. In order to accomplish this, we are constantly educating ourselves on how to reduce energy consumption using passive systems, efficient systems, and how to source materials that sequester and store carbon rather than emit it, as well as what design assemblies can have a second life to avoid being put in a landfill in the future. Not every project is perfect, but this is our core mission.
Thinking Forests at Possible Conversations by Prada. Courtesy of Prada.
Book Launch at International Mass Timber Conference inside Waechter Architect's Mississippi Building in Portland, Oregon. Photo by Sam Gehrke.
Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?
LW: Many students and young applicants are interested in exciting design roles, but I recommend starting with the nuts and bolts of practice. Learning how the built environment is built, how it comes together physically and socially, the process for submitting permits, the process for doing construction administration, the sequence that mass timber is installed. If you have a sense of this context, imaginative design can more readily be realized. Imagination and dreaming is a critical practice that can radically change the atmosphere of our planet, and is extremely potent when it becomes realized in the world. Especially those who have historically been disenfranchised from obtaining licensure and have less presence in leadership roles. I want to see more Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women and LGBTQ folks getting licensed and fundamentally altering the way our physical and energy resources are allocated.
JS: I absolutely agree with Lindsey’s advice, as understanding how things come together in architecture, as the best designs, especially innovative design, is built upon the challenges and creativity of how materials, systems and construction operate. Whether you start with nuts and bolts, or conceptual design, it is important to stay in touch with the whole process by constantly reading, attending lectures, looking at drawings sets and design presentations in the office whether you are working on the project or not. Be patient but diligent, as it will take time. Talk to your colleagues and ask questions inside and outside of the office you work in. Look through the presentations and drawing sets in the office to learn their process. Visit buildings and stay curious on how other people solve problems. These efforts will build a strong foundation in the new set of problems you encounter with each and every project, and you’ll be set up well to take it on in your own creative way.