Christian Wassmann is wondering whether or not to sign a new lease. In Manhattan, with its breathtaking rents, this is no small decision. While getting the extra office space would give him more room (Wassmann and his project-basis employees are used to working in an office carved out of his apartment), it could also force him to take on some work he’d otherwise have the luxury of passing up. If this is the first growing pain for a young architect who has seamlessly transitioned from project architect for Steven Holl to principal of his own practice, it’s not so bad. Only 32 years old, Wassmann has a pedigree that explains his success. After moving to the United States from Switzerland, he began working for Steven Holl because Holl was (and still is) his favorite architect. He has also worked on side projects with another master of American design, artist Robert Wilson, for 10 years.

It seems that the mentorship Holl and Wilson have provided—from their influential aesthetics to their willingness to work with Wassmann outside of a standard full-time position—has made all the difference in his career. About leaving Holl’s firm, Wassmann says, “He understood [my decision to leave his office], and encourages me to this day.” While Wassmann left the firm in May 2005, he continued freelancing with Holl to finish a hotel in Austria, then the following winter he co-taught an architecture class with him at Columbia University. This sort of support lessened the anxiety when Wassmann left Holl’s firm without projects in hand. He quickly picked up a diverse group of projects, including a renovation of a radio station and several exhibition designs for the Vitra showroom in Manhattan. While Wassmann relishes the brief time it takes to produce exhibitions (“they’re like architectural one-night stands”), he has a number of longer-term projects on the boards, including a renovation of a 1930s house in Miami, Florida. Much like his other mentor, Wilson, whose work has touched nearly every art form, Wassmann says he wants “to continue to do everything from books to exhibition design to writing and teaching, building houses, furniture, theatrical productions, film, and art projects—the full scale of design.” Wassmann’s strategy for accomplishing his work has already been fruitful, which may explain his hesitation to opt for the new office and the changes it might bring. He still sometimes attends pin-ups at Holl’s office because they can be stimulating, but now that he is no longer part of the structured life of an office, he prefers his own less-orthodox method of getting his work done. “The best ideas,” he says, “come late at night dancing and are then sketched on a piece of paper.”