The Olympians ; by 2012, a Swathe of East London Will Have Been Transformed by the Olympic Development. Two Young Upstarts From Iran and Spain Have Been Charged with This Marathon Task. So What Will It Look Like? Curvy, Says Dominic Lutyens

Summary

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Farshid Moussavi and her business partner and husband Alejandro Zaera Polo, of Foreign Office Architects (FOA), have defied the inverse ageism that architecture is notorious for: architects are unlikely to become famous until aged over 50, at which point they are deemed experienced enough to undertake major projects. Aged only 40 and 42 respectively, Moussavi and Zaera Polo, who set up their practice in 1992, are two of Britain's most successful architects. Moussavi moved to Britain from Iran aged 13, and studied at University College London's Bartlett School of Architecture. Spanish- born Zaera Polo studied architecture at Madrid University and they met when they were postgraduate students at Harvard. They later worked under cutting-edge architect Rem Koolhaas at his office in Holland.

FOA's projects to date include the Pounds 150 million Yokohama Ferry Terminal in Japan, which was completed in 2002. More recently, FOA who also made it on to the shortlist to redevelop Ground Zero in New York designed the BBC's new Music Centre at White City. And they are currently involved in creating the park and infrastructure for the 2012 London Olympics in the Lower Lea Valley. This year, they have designed the Barbican's exhibition, Future City: Experiment and Utopia in Architecture 1956-2006, which features 60 examples of Utopian, visionary buildings for example, by Archigram and Nigel Coates from the past 50 years. Their London office is in Shoreditch, and they also have offices in Madrid and Barcelona.

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The Olympians ; by 2012, a Swathe of East London Will Have Been Transformed by the Olympic Development. Two Young Upstarts From Iran and Spain Have Been Charged with This Marathon Task. So What Will It Look Like? Curvy, Says Dominic Lutyens

The most surprising of their commissions to date is the Olympic park, which was announced in January. A final version of the masterplanning of the park was revealed in June. As part of the EDAW consortium, which combines the skills of architects, landscape architects and engineers, they will be creating such structures and amenities as gateways, bridges and cafes. (The other architects involved are Allies and Morrison, key players in...

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