Working together as Studio Kolatan/ MacDonald since 1988, the New York-based Sulan Kolatan and William MacDonald share an interest in the technological and economic phenomena that affect cultural trans- formations. They have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou, and were part of Record's Millennium issue in December 1999. Current projects include three residences and a video game environment in Tokyo. MacDonald is the co-director of the core studios at Columbia's School of Architecture, where Kolatan teaches.

This “Resi-Rise” project is an example of “vertical urbanism,” which consolidates living and working spaces into stacked pods, growing and changing over time. The pods, customized for each tenant and attached to a fiber-reinforced composite frame, allow the building to evolve as each piece is added (or taken away when tenants leave). The pods themselves are made of plastics that undergo molecular restructuring with stress, smart glass that responds to light, and woven-glass-fiber wall coverings.