Founded in 2004 by David Montalba, Montalba Architects is an
international architecture firm with offices in both Los Angeles and
Lausanne. Raised between Switzerland and California, David has
cultivated a design philosophy that balances precision and craft with
humanistic architecture to form a cohesive presence of both the
contextual and the conceptual. Place and Space encapsulates this
insightful philosophy through the ideas and projects of the studio
spanning more than a decade.
Montalba Architects produces impactful architecture and urban
design-related projects in a broad range of locations, from the rural
landscapes of Wyoming and Switzerland to dense urban sites in New York
and Los Angeles. The work engages in a collective pursuit of uncovering
ideas and processes to create new forms of expression through space and
scale. Projects featured in the book emphasise the importance of
experience in architecture, and environments that are both socially
responsive and aesthetically progressive, which build on the firm's
trademark craft of volumetric landscapes, material integrity, natural
light and pure spatial volumes.
Place and Space explores the duality of Switzerland and California,
and how these locations have inherently influenced the overall ideas and
work of Montalba Architects. Woven throughout the text are conversations
between David Montalba and other creatives and thinkers, including
landscape designer Andrea Cochran, artist Andy Denzler, entrepreneurs
David Alleman and Rich Pierson, and film director Zack Snyder, that
cross-examine and explore different approaches to space and place. With
a foreword by the acclaimed LA-based architect Lawrence Scarpa,
alongside extensive photographs and reproductions of drawings, this book
further shapes the philosophies that craft a cohesive connection between
all Montalba Architects work and is a testament toward its continued
influence within the industry.
