Hariri & Hariri Architecture is an architecture and design firm based in New York. Founded in 1986 by sisters Gisue Hariri and Mojgan Hariri, the firm specializes in modern and technologically inspired design. The Hariri sisters came to the US from Iran in the 1970s to study architecture at Cornell University. Gisue Hariri has served as an adjunct professor of architecture at Columbia University and visiting critic at Cornell, Parsons School of Design and McGill University. The sisters have also designed jewelry collections inspired by their architecture work for Swarovski including a 'Kryptonite' crystal which they created. The Hariri Sisters embody the combination of elegance and sensuality in conjunction with their use of technologically inspired designs. Their work is all about creating space filled with light and boiled down to the pure essentials. The minimizing distractions such as decor or unnecessary complexities has made its way through most of their work. Their work successfully balances sculpture as pure form and the inhabited space. The firm's work ranges in scale from architecture, master plans and interiors, to product design and furniture. The work also includes research-oriented prototypes such as the Museum of the 21st Century at the National Building Museum, Loft of the Future, Cine Experimental Film Center, and The Digital House which was showcased in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1999. In 2010, Hariri & Hariri's architectural rendering was included in the "Contemplating the Void" exhibit at the Guggenheim for the 50th anniversary of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed museum.
Influence
Gisue Hariri draws strong parallels between her practice and her upbringing, citing Iran's geography as an inspiring source of strength. "The desert is also a strong metaphor for women in Iran. We are isolated. We are marginalized. And, as a result, we are the most creative force in Iran today."
Recognition
In 2005, Hariri & Hariri won the Academy Award in Architecture at the American Academy of Arts and Letters Awards, and was inducted into the Design Hall of Fame sponsored by Interior Design Magazine. In 2010, Architectural Digest included Gisue and Mojgan Hariri on its list of the greatest talents in architecture and design. The firm won the American Architecture Award 2015 from the Chicago AthenaeumMuseum of Architecture & Design for its housing development in Salzburg, Astria called Jewels of Salzburg. Hariri and Hariri were presented with the Career Achievement Award in October 2016 at the IA-100 retreat in Silicon Valley. In 2018, Hariri & Hariri were recognized for its "strong and authentic exhibition design" by The New York Times after the opening of "Contemporary Muslim Fashions".
