OBRA Archi tec t s was founded by Pablo Cas t ro and Jenni fer
Lee in the year 2000 in New York Ci ty. The projec ts under taken
by OBRA Archi tec t s span a wide range of programs and s i zes
yet cons is tent l y seek to evoke invent ion and interes t through
explorat ions of mater ial , s t ruc ture, s i te and exper ience. Thei r
prac t i ce and thei r wor k seek to chal lenge and expand the
range of metaphors in which archi tec ture f inds i ts meaning.
OBRA cons iders each and ever y projec t to be int imatel y bound
to i ts sur roundings , ex tending af ield into s i te and lands cape
the conceptual under s tanding of the archi tec tural work . As a
resul t many of our proposal s and bui l t wor k s inc lude outdoor
components and integration into the natural or urban landscape.
Cur rent wor k inc ludes a v i l la in Ordos , Inner Mongol ia, a caf é
in Soho, a pr i vate eco- res idence in Cos ta Ri ca, and spec ial
inv i tat ion to par t i c ipate in the IBA Hamburg Smar t Pr i ce Houses
compet i t ion. OBRA Archi tec t s was selec ted for thi s inv i ted
compet i t ion in an internat ional jur ied proces s along wi th 15
other internat ional l y renowned archi tec tural prac t i ces f rom
around the wor ld. IBA Hamburg is a bui lding expos i t ion whi c h
wi l l showcase c reat i v i ty, oppor tuni ty, cont ras t s and tens ions ,
in developing solut ions wi th a spec i f i c focus on economi cal
innovat ion. The goal is to c reate resul ts that t rans cend the
purely exemplar y, new models for the future of the met ropol i s .
The f i rm has recent l y completed a 13,250 s f res idence i n
Southampton, New York with guesthouse, poolhouse and garage,
as wel l as a ful l -s cale protot ype emergenc y hous ing shel ter on
di splay at the Nat ional Ar t Museum of China in conjunc t ion wi t h
a s ympos ium on emergenc y shel ter rel ief response sponsored
by the UNDP.
The wor k of OBRA has been exhibi ted at the Nat ional
Ar t Museum of China, the Museum of Modern Ar t , PS1
Contemporar y Ar t Center, Rhode I s land School of Des ign, the
Chicago Athenaeum, as wel l as at the Univer s i ty of Minnesot a
Col lege of Des ign, Fordham Univer s i ty ’s Center Gal lery, and the
Center for Archi tec ture, New York . They are inc luded in the 50t h
Anni ver sar y exhibi t of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
opening in February. OBRA Archi tec t s was named one of 2005

Emerging Voices by the Archi tec tural League of New York .
OBRA is the winner of the 2006 PS1/MoMA Young Archi tec t s
Program compet i t ion and lec tured in MoMA’s Conversat ions wi t h
Contemporar y Ar t i s ts ser ies in February of 2007. Thei r work has
been honored wi th a 2008 AIA New York Honor Award, a 2008
ID Magaz ine Annual Des ign Rev iew Award, and two Amer i can
Archi tec ture Awards by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of
Archi tec ture and Des ign. The wor k of OBRA has been publ i shed
in a monograph by the Uni ted As ia Ar ts and Des ign Cooperat ion
in Bei j ing, China as wel l as in publ i cat ions such as Young
Amer i cans : Neue Archi tek tur in den USA (DOM Publ i shers ,
Ber l in) and Young Archi tec t s Amer i cas (daab Publ i shers ,
Cologne) . They have been featured in A+U, Summa+,
Archi tec ture, Archi tec tural Record, The New York Times , The
Internat ional Herald Tr ibune, Concept Magaz ine (Seoul ) , and
I l Giornale Del l ’Archi tet tura. Thei r second monograph i s i n
progres s and wi l l be publ i shed by DAMDI Pres s in Seoul , Korea
l a t e r t h i s year.