Philosophy
We believe architecture is produced within sites of the extremely complex. The
analysis of each project results in an intense field of information. This
density extends from the forces of client, program, site, economics, politics,
tectonics, materials, history, culture and architecture itself. Upon this
highly complex mass, our approach seeks to untangle the strands of force and
information in order to create a unique fabric. For us, the strongest
architectural solutions address diverse, multiple strands of information and
create lucid conceptual textures. Thus, the complexity of our work derives from
synthesizing diverse strands into legible patterns that not only organize
divergent forces, but also create new layers of structure, meaning and
interpretation. The choices made regarding which strands to emphasize, which to repress
and which to tie, define our position, our critique and our aspiration for any
given project.
Our work is as much intuitive and subconscious as it is
deliberate and scientific. Thus, this description is very much a reflective
process; an attempt to trace and understand the concerns and basis of our work.
Syntax
As architects, we are in the unique position of seeing specific relationships
unavailable to others due to a difference in training and
perspective. The development of relationships is highly interpretive, revealing
of bias and open to creativity. Thus, we develop a syntax for specific parts,
forms or assemblies in a project. We refine and expand this syntax to other
areas of the project; thereby seeking a larger coherence, and more lucid
meaning.
Luminance
Apart from mechanical devices, light is the element that prevents architecture
from being static. We think of light as an active element that not only renders
form and surface, but also has the potential to continually transform
architecture. Understanding the effect of light on materials helps us compose
juxtapositions of surface and depth. The luminance of surfaces thus adds
dimensions of time, temperature and the ephemeral.
Progression
While taking many forms, the idea of progression is continually expressed in our
work. Whether open to multiple paths, or restricted to a few, architecture
cannot help but direct sequence. In our work, we see the experiential sequence
as an opportunity to reveal the conceptual structure of the project.
Architecture is never experienced as a whole the way drawings and models allow.
Instead, a sequence of moments of varying length, collected in memory, compose
the comprehensive understanding of a project. This phenomenon is the basis for
seeing the architectural promenade as the cipher or key to the syntax and
interpretation of a work. In this sense, progression through the project is the
primary means for binding idea with experience and, becomes the foundation for
the composition of elements and assembly of components. Moments can be
structured to add up to a larger whole. Likewise, the purposeful assembly of
components, convey the meaning of the larger space.
Historically, pattern and rhythm in architecture followed
artificially even, geometric intervals, guiding both structure and façade into
expressions of order and consistency. As order and consistency are being
displaced by complexity and flux, the results of analysis in our projects rarely
becomes linear. Instead, solutions find their form in non-linear geometries.
Multi-threaded solutions require a more complex Syntax to bind elements and
establish coherence in an otherwise disparate array of elements.
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