Foreign Office Architects are parting ways

FOA, an architectural studio with many successes in global competitions, will be dissolved as its founding couple is divorcing after more than ten years of marriage. The studio was founded in 1995 by Alejandro Zaera-Polo from Spain and Farshid Moussavi, born in Iran. The married couple met during an internship at Koolhaas's OMA.
      During its fourteen years on the global stage, the studio has received numerous awards. The pair of architects gained public attention by winning the competition for the port terminal in Yokohama (1995; 2000-02). The project was exhibited in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2004 and received numerous accolades and recognitions. British architecture critic Jonathan Glancey noted: "The port in Yokohama showed that you can create a landscape in the city. FOA began to create innovative architecture that was not posh. They managed to build a house that had only been talked about until then. The news of their separation is very sad."
      The studio is currently working on major projects: the renovation of the train station in Birmingham, the O2 Arena in Greenwich, and Ravensbourne College. Smaller projects are being developed for clients from Korea, Malaysia, and Europe. Over 30 permanent employees do not need to look for new jobs. Both partners are currently establishing their own offices and will divide the existing contracts along with their employees.
      Details of the separation are still unknown, and neither partner wants to publicly comment on the situation. Current information is only provided by the architects' lawyers. It is certain that work on the contracts continues, as does the professorial activity of both architects (Zaera-Polo at Yale and Princeton, Moussavi at Harvard).