David Benjamin and Soo-in Yang created The Living in 2004. The architecture firm emphasizes open-source research and design, seeks collaboration both within and outside the field of architecture, and views each project as part of larger threads of experimentation and construction. Work by The Living has been exhibited at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, the Innovation Lab in Copenhagen, Southern Exposure in San Francisco, and Eyebeam in New York; has received an Architect Magazine R+D Award in 2008, the New York Prize Fellowship from the Van Alen Institute in 2007, a Young Architects Forum award from The Architectural League in 2006, three separate finalist prizes from the Metropolis Magazine Next Generation Design competition; and has appeared in many publications.
Benjamin graduated from Harvard with a BA in Social Studies and played in the rock band Push Kings. Yang graduated from Yonsei University with a BE in Architectural Engineering and managed the construction of apartment complexes in Korea. Benjamin and Yang both received Master of Architecture degrees from Columbia University. They currently teach at Pratt Institute and at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where they are co-directors of the Living Architecture Lab.