Outpost Office is a design practice based in Columbus, Ohio where principals and co-founders Ashley Bigham and Erik Herrmann teach at the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. Outpost Office seeks new public audiences through experimental creative production ranging from the serious to the absurd, often simultaneously. Inventive applications of off-the-shelf tools and industrial-grade materials often characterize the practice’s work. Their designs propose that architecture can be projective and impactful while at the same time inexpensive, temporal, and open-ended. Particular focuses of Outpost Office include experimental platforms for gathering and speculations in and about the American suburbs.
Ashley Bigham is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. Previously, she was the Walter B. Sanders Fellow at the Taubman College of Architecture. She is a Fulbright Fellow and a MacDowell Fellow.
Erik Herrmann is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University. Previously, Erik was the Walter B. Sanders Fellow at the Taubman College of Architecture. He is a German Chancellor Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and a MacDowell Fellow.
Ashley and Erik hold a Master of Architecture from Yale University School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design.
Outpost Office has been named one of Architect Magazine’s Next Progressives and recognized with a Best of Design Award from Architect’s Newspaper and Faculty Design Award honors from the ACSA. Outpost Office’s work and writing has been featured in Log, Metropolis, Mark, Surface, and Avery Shorts, among others. The practice’s work has been exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Biennial as well as Milwaukee Art Museum, the Tallinn Architecture Biennale, Roca London Gallery, Yale School of Architecture, Princeton School of Architecture, Harvard GSD, and The Cooper Union.
Outpost Office has received support from The Chicago Architecture Biennial, The Ragdale Foundation, The Cranbrook Art Museum, MacDowell, the US State Department, The Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, Kharkiv School of Architecture, and a few private clients.
Our collaborators have included Justin McElderry, Zachary Schumacher, Megan Pettner, Tyler Young, Caroline Kerka, Faith Martin, Eleanor Lewis, Kara Lennon, Nathan Fleeger, Trey Marshall, Reed Miller, Maggie Cochrane, Drew Bradford, Reid Mauti, Meng Li, Hannah Cane, Sarah Carter, Ben Vanschaayk, Anthony Civitella, Matthew Weinberg, Michie Nimsombun, Matthew Shulman, Tony Gonzalez, Neall Oliver, Connor Brindza and James Howe.
