Mission Statement:
Impart value through good design respectful of the client, the community and the environment. Develop resource efficient solutions while recognizing the joy inherent in the building process. Nurture a better understanding of how careful planning can bring dignity to our lives through artful human expression. Provide competent professional services that challenge the imagination and exceed reasonable expectations.
We build not only to produce, but to give value to time.
Your Ideal Home:
So, you`ve decided to hire an architect to help you in realizing your dream. You are looking for an innovative and functional solution that reflects your values and personal choices. You want to be less wasteful of natural resources and get real value for your money. Perhaps you want a home large enough for extended family, but you believe that bigger is not necessarily better. You have decided that just any house in just any subdivision will not support your emotional wellbeing and that of your family.
Freed from the cookie cutter`s mentality of the typical subdivision, one can explore a more appropriate experience (giving form) to the human need for shelter with civility and to create a unique sense of place. (A farmhouse in Switzerland has a name, not a street address, because it is unique in the world). The realm of the metaphor, having been foregone for lack of artistic values, has been lost for the sake of a quick fix in every person`s search for the appropriate mortgage payment. The process of building a home, once respected and revered, is being eroded by expediency.
The cliches of residential developments` quasi architecture abound in sameness across many different geographical areas of this country. One is not sure if this is my street or one street over, at times. Repetition and a lack of identity have saturated postwar suburbia, with some notable exceptions of course.
Most people understand instinctively what they want in a home, but can at times be frustrated by the time and effort it takes to get there. Speak to anyone who has opted to commission a new house or addition, they will invariably tell you about the difficulties, but then followed by expressing their sense of accomplishment and joy for having done it. Click on this tile for a look at some common issues that you will discuss with your architect.
What does an architect do
The word `Architect` derives from the Greek `Arki-tekton`, for chief builder.
Architects by definition are qualified and duly licensed to design buildings for the public. Their job is to protect the welfare and safety of the public at large while designing functional facilities that add to the surrounding environment.
Architecture may involve designing for sense of place, evoking a feeling, conveying richness--or--providing required functionality, knowing how people use facilities, imagining useful services, and providing dependability, conservation, and value.
Architects define new ways of living and working, create new methods of inhabiting towns and cities and identify new ways of using old buildings as well as building new ones. Architects can be extremely influential in shaping our society as well as gaining national recognition for their imagination and skill.
From a more pragmatic standpoint, the architect represents the client`s interests while maintaining ethical standards that impart fairness to all involved in the planning and building process. Typical core services include programming, schematic design, design development, construction documents and construction administration. Other services may include master planning, site selection, feasibility studies, building surveys, post occupancy evaluations and building code compliance investigations. Architects can also provide expert testimony and peer review.
In order to deliver a full array of services, the architect will typically retain specialty consultants according to the needs of a project. Consultants can include civil, structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineers; acoustical, audiovisual, lighting, hardware, signage, kitchen and life safety specialists among others.
Most importantly, the architect doesn`t do anything without a client and a builder; the client as a visionary, able to balance economic interests with cultural values as patron of the building arts; the builder as an integral partner, able to skillfully realize the vision.