Opera by the sea

As Revery Architecture’s Design Principal and Principal-in-Charge, Venelin Kokalov has shared his exceptional concept design abilities and distinctive visual language with the firm since 2002 and his passionate commitment to architectural excellence has garnered numerous international awards and honours. Venelin is widely respected for his instinctive capacity to seamlessly weave together established and contemporary technologies in engaging and innovative ways, creating world-class designs for Revery’s clients across the globe. Acknowledged for his intuition and sensitivity to form, space, and composition, Venelin’s unique approach accentuates the potential of architectural design to influence people’s behaviour and experiences. His exceptional talent and expertise have proved time and again how to make architecture work, make it meaningful, and above all, make it beautiful. Venelin’s extraordinary creative vision, and his steadfast commitment to sophisticated contemporary design and architectural excellence, were integral to Revery winning prestigious international design competitions for Hong Kong’s Xiqu Centre opera house and the University of Chicago’s new Hong Kong campus, and is similarly evident in Washington’s Arena Stage Theater, Simon Fraser University’s new Sustainable Energy Engineering Building in Surrey, British Columbia, as well Surrey’s City Centre Library and Guildford Aquatic Centre, and Vancouver’s iconic Butterfly residential tower, to name a few.

Jacques Ferrier is an architect and urban planner. Following his architectural training at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville and the École Centrale de Paris, he created his own architecture firm in Paris in 1993 and has since worked in France and internationally. Pauline Marchetti and Jacques Ferrier started collaborating in 2008, when they designed the French Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo. Since then, they have developed a significant portfolio that combines research and architecture. Their work has been the subject of several international exhibitions including “Impressionismus” at the Architektur Galerie of Berlin; “Non Oppressive Design” at the DOKK1 in Aarhus and “A Vision for the Sensual City” in Beijing, Shanghai, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. The Design Center of the University of Quebec in Montreal dedicated a monographic exhibition to their work, “Entre-Deux”, in autumn 2019. They are the author of a number of articles and books and has been the subject of monographs, notably The Architecture of Jacques Ferrier (Thames&Hudson, London). Pauline Marchetti and Jacques Ferrier lecture widely at prestigious venues, including Columbia University GSAPP, Harvard University Graduate School Of Design and the AIA Center for Architecture. Their work has been published in a wide range of prominent books and magazines, including Arca International, Details, National Geographic and Time Magazine.

Karli Luik (chartered architect level 8) started his architecture career as a founding partner at salto architects and over the last two decades designed and realized over a dozen public and large scale projects, becoming one of Estonias most successful young architects. Molumba was founded in 2017 by architects Karli Luik and Johan Tali with an ambition to make high quality contemporary architecture in Estonian context, addressing the public domain and the society via architecture competitions. Since 2017, molumba has won prizes in more than 25 open or invited architecture competitions. In practice, we are a relatively small architectural design studio with an optimal size of up to 10 highly qualified employees, we posess a capacity to run large scale projects as main contractors (Kalev National Stadium, Saue Parish Administrative Building, Hiiiumaa Sports Center) or in collaboration with project management teams and specialist planners and engineers.

Johan Tali (chartered architect level 7) comes from an international background in architecture, arts and curation. Having lived in Berlin, Vienna and in Venice, he has worked in award winning architecture practices as a design architect and gained experience ranging from university building in Vienna (at Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmBH) to a global retail concept for Mercedes-Benz (at Graft Architects). Molumba was founded in 2017 by architects Karli Luik and Johan Tali with an ambition to make high quality contemporary architecture in Estonian context, addressing the public domain and the society via architecture competitions. Since 2017, molumba has won prizes in more than 25 open or invited architecture competitions. In practice, we are a relatively small architectural design studio with an optimal size of up to 10 highly qualified employees, we posess a capacity to run large scale projects as main contractors (Kalev National Stadium, Saue Parish Administrative Building, Hiiiumaa Sports Center) or in collaboration with project management teams and specialist planners and engineers.

Pauline Marchetti is a qualified architect graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, and a Professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris. She develops a humanist approach to architecture propounding design and research methods that are based on the sensory dimension of space - volume, materiality, light, and ambiance. Pauline Marchetti and Jacques Ferrier started collaborating in 2008, when they designed the French Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo. Since then, they have developed a significant portfolio that combines research and architecture. Their work has been the subject of several international exhibitions including “Impressionismus” at the Architektur Galerie of Berlin; “Non Oppressive Design” at the DOKK1 in Aarhus and “A Vision for the Sensual City” in South and East Asia. The Design Center of the University of Quebec in Montreal dedicated a monographic exhibition to their work, “Entre-Deux”, in autumn 2019. They are the author of a number of articles and books. Pauline Marchetti and Jacques Ferrier lecture widely at prestigious venues, including Columbia University GSAPP, Harvard University Graduate School Of Design and the AIA Center for Architecture. Their work has been published in a wide range of prominent books and magazines, including Arca International, Details, National Geographic and Time Magazine.

Bryan Schmidt, vice president of Semple Brown Design, has overseen many of the firm’s most successful educational, office and civic projects. His talent in programming, design, and the construction of large-scale, technically complex structures, has garnered awards, client accolades and recognition from his peers for more than 20 years. Bryan is fiercely dedicated to his work, and his clients are his highest priority. Bryan’s architecture is deeply rooted in each project’s context, the creative application of proven principles, and devotion to his clients, resulting in innovative design solutions at an exceptional value. Since joining Semple Brown in 1996, the integration of his design, detailing and construction management abilities, with his project architect, project manager, and client liaison skills, has allowed him to exceed client expectations by delivering something extra every time.