Profile

—About
Interloop—Architecture is a Houston-based design office founded in 2001 by principals Dawn Finley and Mark Wamble. The practice focuses on innovative building technologies, inventive forms, and precise material finishes. Project types range from the design of custom furniture and fixtures, to private residences, to research complexes and cultural institutions. Priority is given to the development of a clear conceptual design approach, addressing the distinct and complex requirements of each project to create compelling results. Some of Interloop—Architecture’s clients include BP, Rice University, The Nasher Sculpture Center in Texas, The Menil Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Washington D.C., and the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. The practice provides a full range of architectural services, and collaborates with a diverse set of engineers, graphic designers, contractors and fabricators sourced locally and abroad. Interloop—Architecture’s buildings and design work have been recognized through awards and exhibitions, attracted international attention, and have been published widely in leading industry publications including Dwell, Architectural Record, Architecture, I.D Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. Houston is an architecturally lawless city full of promise. The climate is harsh and the economy is based upon extreme pragmatism on the one hand and pure imagination on the other. Inspiration for innovation can be found easily in this landscape. Local industry is sophisticated, and is driven by medical research, space travel and energy exploration. Our goal is connect these ingredients in new ways with design aesthetics and operations and (when possible) export them to the rest of the world.
—Contact
—Principals

Dawn Finley is a founding principal of Interloop—Architecture and has over twenty years of experience practicing architecture. She received a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning where she was selected for the Burton L. Kampner Design Award. She received a Master of Architecture from Rice University School of Architecture.

Prior to establishing Interloop—Architecture, Dawn was a Project Designer with Ogawa/Depardon Architects in New York, NY, where she designed and managed the construction of a range of residential and commercial projects, including Bar 89, an award winning new building in SOHO. Her practice experience also includes consulting design work on research lab buildings for Schlumberger Laboratories in Rosharon, Texas and office buildings in Santiago, Chile and Houston, Texas. Dawn was the first U.S. designer commissioned by the internationally recognized design brand, Droog Design to design and produce a speculative product prototype. The product “Do Post” (an instant message mailbox) was first introduced at the Kunsthal, Rotterdam for the 2000 Milan International Furniture Fair.

Finley combines professional practice with academics. She is a tenured professor and the director of graduate studies at Rice University School of Architecture and has been a visiting critic at numerous institutions, including UIC, Princeton University, U.C. Berkeley, and the Architectural Association. Her academic research includes twentieth century techniques of architectural representation in relation to graphic design as well as future forms of civic space in the United States. Finley was honored by DesignIntelligence as one of 25 Most Admired Educators for 2016. She recently completed System of Novelties (Park Books, Zurich) a book featuring the research, writing, and design work of Interloop—Architecture.

Mark Wamble is a founding principal of Interloop—Architecture and has over twenty–five years of experience in architectural practice. He is a licensed architect in the State of Texas. Wamble received a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University and a Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Prior to establishing Interloop—Architecture, Wamble worked as a Project Designer, and later as Project Architect, with Eisenman Architects in New York (1983-1991) where he was on the design team for the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Wamble was also Project Architect on the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, and on three office buildings in Tokyo, Japan. With his team at Eisenman Architects, Mark designed the winning scheme for the international Rebstockpark Competition in Frankfort, Germany. In the early 1990s, Mark was selected for 40 Under 40, a prestigious award given to emerging young architects in the United States. Later that year, he won the Young Architect Award from the Architecture League of New York.

In 1994, prior to collaborations with Dawn Finley, Wamble formed the research practice Interloop Architects in Houston, Texas, and was commissioned to design the Gardiner Symonds Teaching Labs I & II, a series of technology–based teaching facilities for Rice University. Wamble then became a Design Principal and Partner at Bricker+Cannady Architects in Houston (1997-2001) where he designed the Renovation of Jones Plaza in Downtown Houston, a significant urban project that won an AIA award and a Progressive Architecture (PA) Award both in 1999. Jones Plaza was also published with two other urban park projects designed by Mark Wamble in an Architecture magazine feature “Portfolio” article in 2002.

Wamble combines professional practice with academics. He is a Professor in Practice at Rice University School of Architecture and has served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, and Columbia University. His current academic research includes advanced structural models for urban high-rise buildings and New Type Here, a design project funded by a grant from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research examining new building types in response to urban context and adaptive re-use as an alternative to historic preservation.