Approach
Architecture begins with use. Every project starts with the people who will use the building and what has to happen there. The form comes from that.
Start with the people
Who will use the building? Residents, guests, staff, visitors and neighbours, and the people who will clean, service and maintain it. We ask what a day looks like for each of them, and what the building must do for them at the hour they need it most.
Map the use
We trace how people arrive, move through, stay in and leave the building, and how supplies, services and waste move too. The map shows where the plan is tight, where it needs room, and where different uses must be kept apart or brought together.
Resolve the plan, the structure and the systems
Plan, structure, services, façade and environment are worked out together, not one after another, so that each supports the others and the building is as simple to build and to run as it can be. Engineering is part of the design from the start, not an addition to it.
Shape the form
The form follows from the use, the place and the way the building is made. It is allowed to be distinct, but it has to earn its place. We look for a clear idea that people can recognise and remember, built from materials and proportions that will age well.
Walk it
We test the design by walking it, as its users will: on the plan, in the model and on the site, from the street to the door and from the door to the room, through the day and through the seasons. What we find changes the design, which is why the steps repeat.
What this means for a client
- A brief that begins with real use, not guesswork.
- Decisions you can explain to the people who will use the building.
- A design that explains itself.
One method, individual architecture
The method is the same for a house on a hillside as for a tower on the sea. The architecture that follows is individual to each place and each client.