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Architects, says Jordan Parnass, are trained to handle design projects of all stripes, whether they involve buildings, information, computers, or media devices. He would know—his work touches on all four. In nearly a decade of practice, Parnass has parlayed a passion for architectural and information design into a solo practice with an eclectic portfolio of interiors work, Web sites, and new media installations.

Click here to read an interview with Jordan Parnass previous image | next image Remote Lounge New York, 2001 Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture Lounge lizards at this Greenwich Village bar can train video cameras on each other, send text messages, or chat on the phone before meeting in the flesh. Fusebox New York, 2001 Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture Custom, portable workstations and flexible configurations were created for this new media company in New York's Flatiron District to accommodate future growth and expansion. Oscar Bond Salon New York, 1999 Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture and Eric Liftin At this renovated salon, strategically-placed cameras let patrons watch each other get coiffed even as their own hairdos dry. Click here to read an interview with Jordan Parnass

He earned a master’s in architecture from Columbia in 1993, after studying art and semiotics at Brown and spending a year at the Architectural Association in London. After finishing his degree he worked for Bernard Tschumi, then moved back to his hometown, Montreal, to design a country house—"a fun little project," he says. But the allure of New York and new media proved too strong. He moved back in 1996 and co-founded a + i design corporation with two classmates from Columbia. "We wanted to combine architectural projects with information design," he says. "We were all very interested in [computers and technology] from both an artistic and a production perspective." In 1997 he set up shop as Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture, working from his loft apartment in Brooklyn. He recruits collaborators when he needs to, since his clients have vastly different needs and budgets.

Many of Parnass’s interiors projects explore how technology and media affect circulation, communication, and interaction. Take his redesign of the Oscar Bond Salon in New York: he installed video cameras so patrons could watch the backs of their own heads or peek at other makeover mavens as they’re coiffed by stylists. The live images are posted on the salon’s Web site. "It was a way to expand the definition of the salon, to be more about communication, people getting together and talking," he explains.

His latest New York project, the Remote Lounge, is a serious study in voyeurism. On a recent Friday evening its retro-techno banquettes, fitted with electronic consoles, were packed with eager barflies who checked each other out by controlling video cameras that train their lenses on every nook and cranny of the space. Lounge lizards can also send each other text messages or chat over the phone; presumably, they could introduce themselves in the flesh, too. Parnass admits that being spied on digitally by strangers just an arm’s length away could be "disturbing" to some, but he thinks "there’s a little bit of energy that happens in that connection which you wouldn’t get at other places." He notes too that the Remote Lounge attracts groups of friends who use the tools to interact with each other, not just strangers. Packed with gadgetry that lets people substitute abstracted e-lationships for true interpersonal experiences, the Remote Lounge forces its patrons to examine their feelings about privacy, intimacy, and exploration.

Whether he’s designing office spaces or Web sites, Parnass aspires to make technology fun rather than ominous. "There’s a nostalgia for a time when there was technological optimism, when people felt like the world would be a better place with technology," he says. "That’s almost completely gone from our culture. And I think that’s really sad."

by Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

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