IDEA Office is an American architectural practice based in downtown Los Angeles. It was founded in 1988 by the partnership of Eric A. Kahn and Russell N. Thomsen. History Eric A. Kahn and Russell N. Thomsen established their architectural firm in Los Angeles, California in 1988 with a series of theoretical projects and texts about urban and architectural speculations. They worked in parallel on a series of realized projects including the Brix Restaurant in Marina Del Rey, a series of private residences in Los Angeles and New York City, and the award-winning Y-House in Tokyo, Japan. In 2008, the firm began working on a wider spectrum of projects, including gallery installations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. For the past four years they have been working on a project entitled “Thinking the Future of Auschwitz,” a far-reaching proposal which considers a possible future for the fragile site of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Founder biographies Kahn and Thomsen received their Bachelor of Architecture degrees from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California in 1981, and are registered architects in the State of California. They completed additional studies in Florence, Italy under Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, one of the founders of the architecture office Superstudio. On completion of their formal education, Kahn and Thomsen worked for the Italian Radical Architecture office Superstudio in Florence, Italy. On his return to the United States, Kahn completed his apprenticeship with Thom Mayne and Michael Rotondi at Morphosis, Architects, and Thomsen with Richard Meier and Partners, Architects, both in Los Angeles. Shortly after establishing their own office in 1988, Kahn and Thomsen were invited to join the faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). They are currently senior design studio faculty at the school, teaching studios and seminars in both the graduate and undergraduate programs . Located in downtown Los Angeles, SCI-Arc is ranked as one of the world's top five schools of architecture and design. In addition to teaching at SCI-Arc, they have been visiting professors and held endowed chairs at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark, Arizona State University, the University of Arkansas and SCI-Arc in Lugano, Switzerland. Notable Works Notable works of IDEA Office includes the donor wall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the lobby of the Walt