Architecture is situational. Better buildings have been able to extend their topographical reach, or be oriented beyond themselves. The Ur2 House involves itself in the ability, or counter-positioning of a structure, to acknowledge a specific matrix of landscape engagements, both natural and created. Ur2 allows the landscape field to impress itself upon specific architectural configurations. The Ur2 house is counter-positioned to create a specific engagement and contingency within the landscape to allow the enclosure to mediate between landscape and interior settings.

Willis began his private practice in 1993 following a six year association with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown where he was a project architect and involved with several internationally recognized projects: the Sainsbury Wing to the National Gallery of Art in London, England, Fan Pier High Rise Apartments in Boston, Massachusetts, Laguna Gloria Art Museum in Austin, Texas, the Philadelphia Philharmonic Hall, the Seattle Art Museum and private residential projects throughout the United States. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University as an undergraduate and pursued a two year graduate program of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin, and received a Masters of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985.

WPA is an award winning and internationally published architecture firm noted for its innovative design and planning services. Founded in 1992, the firm is comprised of four professionals and is located in downtown Aspen, Colorado. Projects include the design of new buildings, renovations and reuse of existing structures, interiors, and planning and feasibility analysis. WPA takes keen interest in positioning the practice of architecture within the terrain of history, theory and contemporary discourse through research, authorship and teaching.