Oscar Glottman b. 1965 Medellin, Colombia
Biographical Statement

Oscar Glottman is a registered architect in the State of Florida (# AR15030) where he
received a degree in Architecture from the University of Miami, with complementary
study at the Architectural Association of London, and the Instituto di Architettura di
Venezia.
Post-graduate and professional services include a guest-professorship of Architecture at
the University of Arkansas and participation as critic of architectural student work at the
University of Miami and Florida International University. Community outreach includes
involvement in many events and local activities related to the profession.
Oscar Glottman’s creative approach in architecture and interior architecture, as well as
in art, lighting, furniture, and sound design has produced a portfolio of international
projects. Having two firms, he is unusually equipped to fulfill a one vision/one source
approach: Glottman Architectural Corporation has been providing architectural services
since 1988; Glottman ADF, with a lifestyle shop, showroom, and studio in the Miami
Design District, offers creative design incorporating construction systems like modular
walls and untraditional doors along with design furniture, kitchens, closets, lighting, and
accessories, strongly represented by European lines.
In the past decade, Oscar has also focused his time on the production of conceptual art.
Interested in the deconstruction of photography as a vehicle and a medium, concepts of
place, and space-time have yielded work that has been exhibited in one-man shows and
as singular pieces in private collections. The “Unwrapped Fragments” series combines
manipulated fragments of the photographic image and ekphrastic poetry wrapped in
canvas. The “Time Zippers/ Reflection Pools” series dissects into strips and then
digitally collages the fragments of multiple photographs that capture various impressions
of a place__in multiple directions, and over different time instances. These two
dimensional images are printed on cotton-rag paper, mirror, or carpet/tapestry. The
“Dissected Landscapes” series creates fantastic landscapes as photographic quilts of
dissected layers from multiple images that are also printed on glass, mirror, or dibond.
For most architects, the intimate aspects of a project are typically among its final
elements. For Oscar Glottman, they are the starting point. Working from the inside-out,
Glottman inverts the traditional approach to architectural design by beginning with the
most personal details and allowing the form to progress in an organic regeneration of
space. Program, in Glottman’s hands, is as much an emotive issue as a pragmatic one.
“I am as much concerned with how the inhabitants of a room will experience light as I
am with how appropriately the architecture suits the geographic region,” he says. “In
fact, I could as easily begin the design process with the selection of knife and fork as
with the architectural elements. My impetus is that personal.” This sensitivity triggered
by a curiosity for current ideas and technologies, and a particular talent for forging
strong relationships with his clients are the driving forces behind unique projects that
maintain a common contemporary clarity. As he moves from concept to context, then to
topography Glottman exposes his process via materials, sophisticated construction
systems, and tectonic patterns. This is as evident in his commercial projects as in the
residential ones, his recent focus.