Wyly Brown

Wyly Brown is a founding partner of Leupold Brown Goldbach Architekten (LBGO architects), where he oversees all projects in North America. He holds a Bachelors of Art in Anthropology, and he spent a number of years researching the connection between cultures and monuments through the reconstruction of full-scale, functional objects, often using historically accurate methods. Past projects include the reconstruction of Finnish reindeer-pulled sledges, Egyptian obelisks, British siege-engines, and Medieval man-powered cranes. He is a licensed architect in both Germany and in the United States.

After earning a Masters of Architecture from Harvard University in 2006, Brown spent two years conducting research at the Institute of Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design at the University of Stuttgart on the topic of rapidly deployable disaster relief structures. In 2008, he was hired at Behnisch Architekten for his expertise in innovative approaches to structural optimization. In his four years at the firm, he developed parametric optimization design tools that were implemented on several award winning projects, including the Max-Aicher Speed Skating Arena in Inzell, the “Spider’s Web” of the Spinnereipark in Kolbermoor, and a High School in Ergolding. In 2014, he founded LBGO architects in Munich with Andreas Leupold and Christian Goldbach. He approaches design through a process of analysis and optimization, searching for simple, unified solutions to complex, and often contradictory, requirements.

In addition to his professional practice, Brown has taught parametric design and fabrication methods at the Chair for Architectural Informatics of the Technical University Munich in Germany. He returned to the US in 2016 to open a Boston branch of his architectural practice, and he also taught at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, focusing on design-build community service courses, which combined his academic pursuits with his professional experience.

Work by Wyly Brown

Modular single-family housing units with two levels, rustic wood siding, large windows, and sky lights.

Everything Under One Roof!

A community building resides at the core of these multigenerational houses. The team developed several housing typologies that promote social interaction in response to the local historic context, and which are highly energy efficient. The buildings are constructed primarily from structural insulating ceramic block, which is extremely inexpensive to build with, provides a high level of insulation, has an enormous thermal capacity to store passive solar energy, and is completely recyclable.

Interior of a house with white walls, concrete floor, wooden accents, and a window wall with mismatched panes looking out onto a walking path and other housing units.

Everything Under One Roof!

A variety of residential unit sizes and layouts are contrasted by attractive communal spaces that provides informal spaces for residents to meet and easily catch up. The intention is to provide homes desirable for individuals and families throughout different stages of their lives, and to promote social interaction between all residents.

Exterior of a modern supermarket surrounded by prairie grass and a walking path. The building has floor the ceiling windows and wooden accents. Inside can be seen shelves and a cafeteria dining area.

Weyarn Supermarket

This supermarket is designed to be an extension of the Weyarn village common, a cherished space in a historic setting with an outstanding Alpine view. In this location a conventional box store supermarket would have created an unacceptable visual conflict with the surrounding natural landscape and the beloved green space it provides. Instead, the building is integrated into the existing slope and covered the space with a living green roof.

Interior of a supermarket with wooden roof beams and rustic wood and iron shelving units.

Weyarn Supermarket

Working with Transsolar Klima-Engineering and Grossmanbau Zimmerman, we constructed a thermally optimized open supermarket at a remarkably low construction cost. By combining heat recovery from refrigerators with an underground geothermal ventilation canal and a community waste-wood furnace, we dramatically reduced energy costs for both heating in winter and cooling in summer.

Alleyway between two industrial-looking buildings with bold, graphic mural painting on the exterior.

Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), Munich, Germany

The Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) in Munich, Germany acts as a meeting place for local but also international public art. The museum’s statement of intent is as follows: “With the founding of the MUCA® we would like to focus on contemporary and urban art. The young art forms, Street- and Urban Art, will be on display to a wide audience in intelligent exhibitions as well as through lectures, film screenings and guided tours.

Interior of a museum space with industrial-windows and an iron framework. One wall displays a large-scale painting that is a hybrid of graffiti and cave painting.

Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), Munich, Germany

This project is an example an innovative adaptive re-use of an historic utility building into an international cultural center. The energy concept for the refurbishment and conversion of the MUCA is based on minimal intervention with the building fabric due to the historic value of the building. We worked to maximize the comfort of the interior conditions with low-tech solutions that are, for the most part, removable in the future.