STYLE | DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

   My overall goal as an Architect is to create inspired spaces which invoke and enrich people’s lives. No place is more important than the home. Home is where you sleep, eat, entertain and spend time with family and friends. My responsibility/challenge as an Architect is not to just make a space, but to create meaningful housing for people to identify with. I realize the place you live shapes and provokes you to accomplish your purpose with maximum satisfaction and minimum frustration.  These standards facilitate an environment to enable you to accomplish your personal goals, increase your daily effectiveness, and provide a space for you to identify with, and therefore, creating a greater functioning community.

   My love for travel has inspired many ways I derive architectural inspiration. I am fascinated by the way people live and the cultural differences that drive the way we use space.  Everyone has difference spatial requirements. I find it so exciting to understand these differences and generate a “design inspiration” around the way someone may use space.  I also think it is important to consider relevant inspiration in the design which might include - sustainability (monetary/energy), regional, cultural, environmental, and identity (personal, client specific).

  The site's context is a huge driving design force because it can impact communities on a micro and macro level. I believe environmentally responsible design understands and integrates site context. It takes into account the relationship between the program and the site.  On a macro level it is important to understand the site's major design determining factors like access, relationship to neighbors, orientation for sun exposure, wind exposure and relationship to required program use. Proper consideration of these factors which will maximize the building's relationship with the site and increase the overall livability of the project. During the design process a discussion of important ideas relating to passive solar design, which might include prevailing winds, thermal mass, solar orientation and a discussion of active solar design, which might include solar panels, mechanical equipment, energy storage, etc.

   As the design begins to develop it will become more clear what the most important desirables are, and this will in help define the design direction for the project. On a more micro level a proper understanding of the program relationships will guide a design to fully utilize the space to achieve all the clients' goals. Materials, "aesthetics", style, etc, are all client specific but are based on good design principles.