REX is fundamentally driven to advance architectural agency: we believe Architecture should do things, not simply represent things. We emphasize performance, a hybrid of form and function calibrated to each client’s aspirations and each project’s constraints. Unprejudiced by convention or a preconceived aesthetic strategy, we return to root problems and doggedly explore them with critical naiveté. Sometimes we discover uncharted territory; sometimes we rediscover forgotten territory that has renewed usefulness; sometimes we reaffirm conventions with assured conviction. Through this process, we expose solutions that transcend those we could have initially or individually imagined, and aspire to create radically functional designs whose specificity produces profoundly unique aesthetic experiences.

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We challenge and advance typologies.
JVW feels it is time for Architecture to do things again, not just represent things.

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We design collaborations rather than dictate solutions.
The proliferation of the “starchitecture” phenomenon reduces teams to individuals and their collaborative work to genius sketches. It diminishes the real teamwork that drives celebrated architecture. REX believes architects should guide collaboration rather than impose solutions. We replace the traditional notion of authorship—“I created this building”—with “We nurtured this process.”

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We embrace responsibility in order to implement vision.
The implementation of good ideas demands as much, if not more, creativity than their conceptualization. Increasingly reluctant to assume liability, architects have retreated from the accountability (and productivity) of Master Builders to the safety (and impotence) of stylists. To execute vision and retain the insight that facilitates architectural invention, REX re-engages responsibility. Processes, including contractual relationships and procurement strategies, are tools with which we design.

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We side with neither form nor function.
REX believes that the struggle between form and function is superficial and unproductive. By emphasizing performance instead—a hybrid of form and function calibrated to each client’s aspirations and each project’s constraints—we free architecture from the tired debate over whether it is an art or a tool. Art performs; tools perform.

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We don’t rush to architectural conclusions.
The largest obstacle facing clients and architects is their failure to speak a common language. By taking adequate time to think with our clients before commencing the traditional design process, we provide solutions of greater clarity and quality. With our clients, we identify the core questions they face, and establish shared positions from which we collectively evaluate the architectural proposals that follow.

 

We reach for the unexpected by exposing root problems.
We don’t innovate for innovation’s sake. Nor do we accept predigested solutions. We return to root problems and doggedly explore them with critical naiveté. Unprejudiced by convention, we expose solutions that transcend those we could have initially or individually imagined. Sometimes we discover uncharted territory; sometimes we rediscover forgotten territory that has renewed usefulness; sometimes we reaffirm conventions with assured conviction.

 

We view constraints as opportunities.
Engaged intelligently, project challenges such as site conditions, budgets, schedules, codes, and politics are opportunities that catalyze the most innovative solutions. Architectural concepts that capitalize on our clients’ constraints will surpass any vision that resists intractable realities. We produce specific designs that are highly effective, not universals diluted in application.

 

We advance new strategies for flexibility.
Despite an increased need to accommodate change, contemporary design still relies on an antiquated version of flexibility: one size fits all. The promise of a blank slate upon which any activity can occur has produced sterile, unresponsive architecture. REX advocates discretizing activities and addressing the possible evolutions of each on its own terms. With this strategy, one activity can evolve without sacrificing another, and collisions between activities unleash surprising potentials. 

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In 2018 Javier co-founded Lucid Motion, a biotech multidisciplinary startup focused on treating muscle loss and allowing people to enjoy more independent, social, and healthy lives. The startup was a semifinalist in the Kaylie Hardware track of the 2018 Zahn Center Venture Competition. Javier and his core team have also participated in the Make/Model Hackathon hosted by A/D/O in 2018 and placed first for proposing an alternative strategy to enhance snow management methods in cities.

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Between work as an architectural designer in offices in Philadelphia and Boston, Javier has taken a leadership role in design and day-to-day visualization efforts for presentations, often providing schemes, renderings, and live model exports to present to clients and design teams alike to show ongoing process and completed works. Javier’s knowledge of parametric scripting and digital fabrication has facilitated the design of façade, furniture and signage designs.

 

Previously Javier has experience working with a team coordinating construction documents for several large scale residential projects, such as the Apthorp and the Astor buildings in New York City. In Javier's last semester studying in Philadelphia University, he worked as a research assistant in the College of Architecture and the Built environment by organizing a digital library of various scripting methods for generating 3d model representations of textiles and well as documenting the stages of development of participants in the 3d Textiles studio.

Academically, Javier is interested in and has studied experimental materials, experimental modeling, ethnographic research methods and current topics in biology; all intended to use as a platform for architectural design and fabrication. This has allowed him to collaborate with various disciplines including interior design, industrial design, fashion design and textile design; all of which aided tremendously in helping translate digital projects into physical prototypes.

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Javier is a graduate from Thomas Jefferson University with a bachelor of Architecture and a minor in digital design and fabrication interested in architectural design, installations, research, and sustainability.