As part of a wider strategy to expand its influence its design influence beyond architecture, global architecture, planning and design firm CRTKL has announced the appointment of Robin Osler and John Naranjo as principal and associate principal, respectively.
“From the climate crisis to urbanization, the issues we face are growing in complexity and so too must our industry evolve. The need now is for a greater, more diverse perspective. For CRTKL, that diversity of perspective is achieved by recruiting outside of tradition and tapping into creative thinkers from more varied backgrounds who look at things differently from how a traditional architect might,” said Kim Heartwell, CEO at CRTKL.
Osler’s career began in fashion working for designers including Oscar de la Renta as in-house model.
“I always had an eye for detail, and while fashion had captured it initially, the years I spent living and working in Europe turned my sights toward architecture and awoke this gene in me that I guess was there all along,” she said.
Osler’s great-uncle, George Elmslie, was a prolific Prairie School architect; her grandfather, Emil Lorch, founded the architecture school at the University of Michigan (and whose work inspired Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, among other works). Her father, David Osler, was also in the profession, as was her uncle, Roger Bailey. The latter founded the architecture school at the University of Utah and was a mentor to Charles Moore, often referred to as the father of post-modernism.
Osler completed her master’s degree in architecture at Yale University, established her namesake practice and built a portfolio of an eclectic mix of modeling studios, galleries, boutique residences and major retail fit-outs including Anthropologie, Free People and Terrain.
