COLLABORATIVE DESIGN PROCESS
One thing you will notice while browsing our custom projects is that every one of our designs is completely unique. This is due to the way we work. We consider our clients as equal team partners in the design process and design from the inside out. We want to know about your family, your lifestyle, your daily routines. Do you entertain? Do you have weekend visitors? How do you spend your free time at home? We ask many questions like these to determine what your core needs are.
We don't mass-produce "craftsman", “Mediterranean", or "contemporary" style of home designs. Your project is uniquely you. Instead of "craftsman", it might be "North Woods/Japanese". Instead of a generic "Mediterranean", it might be a Mas Provencal with North African accents. Your culture and taste define you and you alone.
Our personalized process is what sets us apart from other architecture firms. While you might get promises of rapid work delivery at a low cost, rapidity also comes at a price: your individuality. We spend the time it takes to dig deep, do the research, and give you the home you have always dreamed about.
Our Focus is You
We haven't forgotten what we learned in school; after interviewing you and determining your wish list, needs and priorities, we get to work spending time on the site and thinking. Creating diagrams is the best way not only to communicate with our clients, but also to enable us to process a large amount of information.
Site Analysis
Determining and understanding important site characteristics and their limitations is critical to producing a successful project. We don't just visit your property for 15 minutes to take pictures; we walk, we sit, we sketch, we feel. We do research on climate and circulation, views and privacy. Diagrams help to collate all this data in a meaningful way.
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Bubble Diagrams
These pretty little sketches are powerful data tools. They are not floor plans, but precursors to them. We use them to determine and clarify the necessary relationships amongst all the spaces, according to your needs. Would you like your office to have access to the exterior? Do you need to have your master suite close to the kids' rooms, or as far away as possible? When you enter, what's the first thing you see?
The bubble diagram draws out conflicts, questions, and relationships that we absolutely need to know before we start designing your project. It is also a great way to ensure that we are hearing you, and for you know what you are getting.
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Massing Models
After we've determined the necessary spatial relationships, then we get busy putting form to them. We don't draft a floor plan and simply extrude upward. Instead, we think in three dimensions, about stairs, roof forms, choreography, light and proportion. Architectural design is not a linear process; we go back and forth between plans, elevations and sections. And, we always provide our clients with plenty of three dimensional models throughout the design development stage. Our clients have an excellent handle on what their building and/or space will look like once we're through.
Massing models start out as simple white shapes, with no materials and few openings. As we progress, we refine. You are fully integrated into the process. We do not advance to the next stage until you are happy with the direction we are taking.
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