about / design c.v.

Hollace M. Metzger

Ms. Metzger is an architect, visual artist and author born in the United States’ mid-west, a descendant of German-Bohemian heritage, granddaughter of the architect and builder Charles A. Metzger and daughter of designer and builder Thomas W. Metzger. Her mother, Marilyn, has dedicated her life to social service, beginning with delinquent youth in inner-city Cleveland, and her brother currently holds a PhD position at the University of Alaska’s Civil & Environmental Engineering college.

Hollace studied architectural design at the University of Kentucky, spending two years of her professional degree in architecture in Venice, Italy, under the tutelage of architect and professor Maria Dallerba Ricci (partner of the late Florentine architect Leonardo Ricci). In Venice, Hollace flourished as a student and artist, a design critic and assistant to Ms. Ricci while also studying classical music and beginning her signature poetic form of writing, a way to annotate the surrounding environment through structure, emotion, sound and a timeline of events supplementary to visual sketches. In 2000, Metzger’s proposal for a Lagoon welcoming center / music school and breakwall system between the cities of Mestre and Venice was recognized in the Mestre-Venetian newspaper “Il Gazzettino”.

After returning to the U.S., Hollace supplemented her final year of design studies with graduate-level 16th/17th-Century literature and continued investigation in composition through painting, claiming in her thesis “Kin-Aesthetic Fourth Dimension”, that architecture, human-scale spatial experience, psychology and the creation of art-as-process remain combined practices. Rooted in numerous texts including Colin Rowe & Robert Slutzky’s Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, this thesis evolved into a life-study for Ms. Metzger.

Later, while employed by the deans of Yale and CUNY schools of Architecture in New York City, Ms. Metzger began creative writing as a means to annotate the passage of time and experiences during the subway commute to and from Brooklyn. Between these office positions, Hollace also returned to master’s degree study at the AA School of Architecture (London), where she had obtained the architect John Hejduk‘s book of poems Such Places as Memory ten years previous. Writing became Hollace’s method of reconnecting with sentiment, of documenting that which was not being translated and recorded in computer-aided drawing. Her painting only began to take shape again after a meeting with Lebbeus Woods and personal exchanges with Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind took place in New York, in addition to a list of artists and musicians in the city.

In 2006, Hollace began performing her writings and exhibiting paintings in New York and Brooklyn, a translation of and release from eight years passed in the city’s professional world. Well received, these public forums provided means for the artist to express herself and further develop her own, individual creative opinions, eventually leading to the publication of her first book and allowing her art to migrate beyond the United States.

Ms. Metzger is now author of Observing the Labyrinth from Heaven (2007, 2008), Transcriptions of Time (2009), Why the WilloW (2010) and ETERNAL STORY (2011) and author-vocalist of “Observing the Labyrinth from Heaven: Paris Recordings” (2008) “TranSynPhony” (2010) and “Why the WilloW” (2011) in addition to guest, full-vocal and writing credits for music albums and many guest appearances on record labels. Her authorship (and often accompanying fine-art) CV includes a list of literary journals in addition to numerous collaborations within the European cinema and theatre, with choreographers, visual artists and musicians across western Europe, The U.S., The U.K. and Canada, also including Mexico, Columbia, Romania and India.

In 2011, Hollace opened a cross-disciplinary design Atelier in Paris, MiDEA [ Metzger: interiors, Design, Environments and Architectures]. In her approach and with interconnective arts, one rarely existing alone, she hopes to revive the spirit of renaissance, of collaboration and return to a modernized philosophy of total-design in architecture, painting, photography, performance, music and verse – all with an approach rooted in observation, memory and passage of time, psychology and well-being.

* photo © Nikola Tamindzic / HOMEOFTHEVAIN

* C.V. Page Under Construction *

Atelier HMM is currently working on European design competitions.
More Information/images will be added to this page as it becomes available.

professional experience

MiDEA studio New York 2009 | Paris 2011-Present | Reims 2012-Present
architect & designer, project coordinator, interiors & feng shui consultant, graphics/branding & web design
Design practice offering residential and restaurant architecture & interior design with environmental focus, using alternative/recycled building materials, focusing on energy efficiency, passive thermal control, and “healthy” environments. projects: Surrey Residence Paris, France – interior & full custom cabinetry design, sculptural partition walls and secondary curtain wall design, feng shui consultation & salon wall painting commission (2010-11); Bell Residence New York, NY – townhouse interior design and consultation; Tunick Residence New York – design development for a full photography studio / barn conversion; Chez Georges Restaurant Flagship Paris, France – interior design consultation, graphic design, marketing/identity campaign (2010); web design: ARDIE, Ile-de-France (Association Régionale pour le Développement de l’Insertion par l’Economique); L. Plazannet (artist, Paris); D. Shafer (musician, Boston)

Artist – in – Residence Paris 2008-2009

George Ranalli Architect New York 2004-2008

Primary Project Architect under the direction of CUNY Architecture Dean, George Ranalli. Position involved project coordination, historic existing building and site documentation, managing production staff, building code analysis and feasibility studies, construction management; Schematic and design development of projects ranging from townhouse interiors, retail, community center, mixed-use, high-rise and urban planning. projects: Saratoga Community Center, Brooklyn; DASNY Hospital, Queens; Gardner Residence & Park Ave. Townhouse Renovations, New York; City College at The City University of New York master plan, New York

Rafael Viñoly Architect New York | Philadelphia 2006
Temporary project management position to oversee fast-track project development & construction of the Center for Advanced Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Architects New York 2005-2006
Term-position to oversee schematic design and design development of a new office tower addition to / adaptive re-use of the Amtrak Service Building in an HOK collaboration with George Ranalli.

Juan Pablo Molyneux Studio New York | Beverly Hills 2003
Joint and primary project manager for high-end residential design development, including management of construction documentation, project coordination, interior design, historic consultation, Sotheby’s auctions, foreign customs offices, included multilingual correspondence and transcontinental travel.

Studio JS2 Architects PC New York 2002, 2004
Primary project manager in all stages of design and construction administration, also including advanced coordination with nuclear physicists, medical, acoustic and lighting consultants; achieved first project managed with full ‘Energy Star’ classification*
projects: National Comedy Theatre, New York; Moonstruck Diners I-III, New York; Suffolk MRI, Long Island*; Midtown Wine Cellar, New York; Studio JS2 Office, New York; Advanced Radiology, New York; CAMI Façade Renovation, New York

Robert A. M. Stern Architects LLP New York 2001-2002
Joint and primary project manager to the Dean of the Yale School of Architecture in all stages of design, including custom fixture design, retail and lighting coordination; volunteered in office Green Team. projects: Hickey Freeman Shop, 666 Fifth Ave., New York; The Perkins Visitor Center, Wave Hill, Riverdale, Bronx; Zubiarte Retail & Leisure Centre, Bilbao, Spain; Columbus Public Library, Columbus, GA; Private Residences, East Hampton

Hardy, Holzman, Pfeiffer Architects New York 2000-2001
project architect
projects: Equinox Restaurant, Swisshotel, Raffles City, Singapore; Brooklyn Botanical Gardens Café and Pavilion; Packer Collegiate Institute Adaptive Re-Use, Brooklyn; Columbia University Development Survey, New York; Riverfront Redevelopment, Bilbao, Spain; Texas A&M University Performing Arts Center, Corpus Christi

Pearson & Bender Architects PLC Lexington, KY 1999-2000
junior architect
projects: Pearson Residence – Historic Frank Lloyd Wright House Addition, Oak Park, IL; L.C. Little Fine Arts Library, University of Kentucky, Lexington; Christ the King School Renovation, Lexington; J. Bruckheimer Residence & Ice Skating Rink, Frankfort; Master Plan Proposal, Second Presbyterian Church, Lexington

teaching

Venetian History Private Seminar Instructor. Venice, Italy 2007

Private College-Preparatory & Business English Instructor. Paris, France 2007-2009

The University of Kentucky, College of Architecture
Design Studio Teaching Assistant & Jury Member 1997-2000
Atelier Veneziano Design Studio Teaching Assistant & Jury Member Venice, Italy 1998
Environmental Controls I & II Teaching Assistant & Sub-Instructor 1997-1999
Summer Seminar Drawing Instructor 1996

education

The AA School of Architecture London, U.K. 2005
Master’s Degree study in Architecture & Urban Planning – 3.5/4.0 GPA

Atelier Veneziano I & II, The Univeristy of Kentucky Venice, Italy 1996, 1998
Study-Abroad & Independent Study Certificates – 3.8/4.0 GPA

John Carroll University Cleveland, Ohio 1997
Advanced Physics studies – 3.5/4.0 GPA

The University of Kentucky – College of Architecture, Lexington, Kentucky 1994-1999
BArch with honors, Professional Degree study in Architecture – 3.6/4.0 GPA
Student Body President; Graduate-level 17^th-Century Literature minor; Student Council Representative; American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS); John Preston White Memorial Traveling Scholarship; Plymale-Zolandak Travel & Research Scholarship