Earlier this week the Architectural League announced Matter Design as a winner of the 2013 League Prize - one of North America's most prestigious awards for young architects and designers.

Ann Arbor- and Boston-based Matter Design combines Wes McGee's, "proficiency in fabrication" and Brandon Clifford's, "dedication to design," placing the studio at the confluence of several contrasts - drawing versus making, digital versus physical.

La Voûte de LeFevre, Ohio State University. Photo by Brandon Clifford

McGee is a Lecturer in Architecture and director of the FABLab at Taubman College. Clifford received a B.S. in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a M.Arch from Princeton University and teaches at MIT.

McGee and Clifford describe Matter Design as an "interdisciplinary academic research studio dedicated to re-imagining the role of the architect in the dig­ital era." Matter Design explores such issues as volume over surface and the usage of scale experiments to adapt the tenets of masonry construction to contemporary methods of construction.

Helix, Design Biennial Boston. Photo by Brandon Clifford.

The Architectural League Prize was established in 1981 and recognizes specific works of high quality and encourages the exchange of ideas among young people who might otherwise not have a forum. The six winners of the prize are invited to present their work in a variety of public fora, including lectures, an exhibition, a catalogue published by Princeton Architectural Press, and on the League's website. McGee and Clifford will present their work on Tuesday, June 25th in a public lecture.

For more information about the League Prize and this year's winners visit the League Prize 2013 webpage.