Shop ─ Out of Practice

An insider's look into one of contemporary architecture's most cutting-edge firms. SHoP's striking projects and unique business model are captured in this thoughtful and inventively organized monograph.

Designed in a playful and intricate manner, SHoP: Out of Practice reflects the character and attitudes of the firm itself. Thirteen projects are shown in great detail, including the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn; a master plan for the East River Waterfront, New York; and Dunescape, winner of the annual MoMA/P.S.1 competition for a summer courtyard installation. Interspersed between the projects are thematic explorations of current issues in architecture: style, risk, innovation, sustainability, and more. Also included are five essays by the SHoP partners that offer the firm's take on practice, politics, finance, technology, and sustainability.

SHoP was founded in 1996 by partners Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, William Sharples, Kimberly Holden, and Gregg Pasquarelli. Located in Lower Manhattan, the practice has grown to an office of sixty-five. The firm's work has won numerous awards, has been published and exhibited internationally, and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Philip Nobel writes for the New York Times, Metropolis, and Architectural Digest. He is the author of Sixteen Acres: Architecture and the Outrageous Struggle for the Future of Ground Zero. He is trained as an architect.