VDF studio profiles:Ramona Albert Architecture is a New York-based studio that specialises in building and product design, and is driven by nature and contemporary technologies.
The studio was founded in Brooklyn in 2018 by Romanian designer, builder and Harvard University graduate Ramona Albert to utilise the skills she gained from working in construction management.
Ramona Albert Architecture champions environmentally-conscious design and sustainable practices, while also embracing the latest design technologies to develop new materials and building techniques.
"We are creating buildings and products that are in harmony with nature," Ramona Albert Architecture told Dezeen.
"Ramona takes a holistic approach to the design process. With an aesthetic rooted in the natural environment and sustainable building, she relies on her extensive experience in construction management to develop buildings and products from inception to final construction, with a particular focus on innovation," it added.
"She enthusiastically embraces advanced technology, pushing the limits toward the development of new materials and building techniques while continuously optimising results for each client and project."
Ramona Albert Architecture's portfolio ranges from building design and renovations, through to interiors and luxury one-off products including jewellery and candle holders.
"We employ a rational, streamlined comprehensive process to deliver high-quality buildings and spaces, custom-construction assemblies and luxuriously crafted products," added the studio.
"Drawing inspiration from the natural world, we develop ideas starting with the greater expression and focusing progressively in towards a one-to-one scale."
Ramona Albert Architecture's most recent project that demonstrates this ethos is Sungames, a virtual experience and educational project developed to encourage learning about climate change and sustainability.
Sungames has been developed by the studio to be accessed through using VR, and guides viewers on a journey through a digitally-designed rural landscape.
"The story is a relaxing journey through time and space that engages the imagination and enhances our curiosity about our world and our mission to keep it alive," explained the studio.
It features two key elements, named The Sungames Pavilion and the Solar digital flower. The Sungames Pavilion is a shelter that is powered by energy from the sun.
This is achieved through the Solar flowers, which are imagined to grow on top and around the pavilion by harvesting energy from the sun.
The studio's ambition is to invite viewers to imagine a more sustainable future and built environment, where all the world's buildings are powered by solar energy.
Sungames is an example of the studio's focus on creating techology-driven design that exists "in harmony with nature"
Other recent projects by the studio include the Hybrid Urban House in Brooklyn, for which it used CNC 3D-milling technology to develop cast stone facade panels.
Elsewhere, it developed a proposal for the Madaras Chapel for a site in the Harghita mountains of Transylvania that married parametric design technologies with local construction techniques.
