ABOUT


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Left to Right: Ben Klumper, Dustin Couzens, CaraTretiak, David Vera, Gary Couzens, Madisen Killingsworth, Carrie Richarson, Brogan Gordon-Cooper, Anika Thorsten, Dung Song Kim and Jordan Bussierre

Founded in 2013 by architects Ben Klumper and Dustin Couzens, Modern Office of Design + Architecture is a Calgary-based practice working across the fields of architecture, urbanism, landscape and design. We are committed to advancing an architectural agenda through our built and conceptual work, dedicated research and sessional appointments at Calgary’s SAPL.

As generalists, we practice along a diverse spectrum of project types and scales, approaching every project without any preconceived agenda or style, but rather an attitude of calculated naiveté towards the status quo. We seek the untapped potentials in limitation and constraint, exploiting them as opportunities for spectacle to emerge within the everyday. We seek to learn, to understand, to educate and pass along our knowledge through our actions and our collective voice. We relish conversations with like-minded thinkers, dreamers and makers that yearn to produce something bigger than any one individual could accomplish on their own.

Ben Klumper

An honours graduate of the Master of Architecture program at the University of Calgary in 2001 and recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada medal, Ben is a Co-Founder of Modern Office and a past council member of of the Alberta Association of Architects, acting as the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee. Ben also holds a Bachelor degree in Architecture (1993) from the University of Manitoba. Ben has been a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape where he ran the architecture program’s Comprehensive Studio IV for two years and is a sought after guest critic and mentor for intern architects.

E: ben@moda.ca
P: 403.874.8280

Dustin Couzens

An honours graduate of the Master of Architecture program at the University of Calgary in 2004 and recipient of the AAA award for best thesis, Dustin co-founded Modern Office in 2013. Following graduation Dustin moved to Vienna Austria, where he worked for the internationally renowned firm Coop-Himmelblau. Dustin is also involved with the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary, in the capacity of both a critic and a sessional instructor.

E: dustin@moda.ca
P: 403.870.1054