What Does an Architect Do?
Bespoke Design at ART

“Are you working on some interesting projects right now?”

“What kind of projects do you work on?”

“What style do you work in?”

“Do you specialize in coastal homes?”

These are all questions that I have been asked recently. They are all reasonable questions, totally appropriate if the asker doesn’t know much about what ART does beyond “architecture” or “house design.” My hope is that this piece will shed some light on what we really do as architects at ART, and what it means to generate bespoke design.

Like houses, architects come in all different styles and types. At ART, we are artists, thinkers, compulsive drawers, and makers who translate those interests into an architecture that is specific to each of our unique clients and to the site.

What does it mean to generate bespoke design?

bespoke (adj.):

a. British English: built or designed from scratch, without relying on pre-existing patterns
b. American English: custom-made, or dealing in or producing custom-made articles
c. Etymology: the word evolved from the English word, bespeak, meaning to speak for something. It came into usage in the 18^th century in London’s Savile Row, when a customer would select a fabric for a garment to be made, and the tailor would bundle the remaining bolts of that fabric and mark the bundle as “spoken for.”

The term “bespoke” is most commonly used in reference to fashion. You select a fabric, you get measured by a tailor, you tell the tailor what your vision is for the garment, and the tailor will design and construct a suit just for you. No one else will have a suit like yours.

Swap the word “suit” for “house.” Swap the word “fabric” for “materials.” Swap the word “tailor” for “architect.” While our process is considerably more drawn out and complex than the tailor’s, in concept it is very similar.

We have a few favorite expressions at ART to describe how we see our work.

• • What is the metaphor for the house?
    Every house we design is founded on a concept that holds the whole thing together. It is the metaphorical heartbeat of the house. It is the idea that we, as designers, reference over and over again through the design process. It is ultimately the thread that stitches all of the pieces of the house together into a harmonized whole. Where does this idea come from? It comes from the synthesis of place, client interest, site conditions, and whatever we, as a creative, have to add to the mix.
  • The house is a portrait of the client.
    No two people or clients are alike. A fundamental goal of ours is to infuse each one of our projects with traits of the client. Every house we work on is carefully tailored for the people who will live there.
  • A house is a pavilion in a garden.
    Good architecture relates to its site intentionally. Sun, view, approach, and landscape are critically considered early in a design process so that the house will fit harmoniously into its place.
  • If you were to remove the roof, flip the house upside down and shake it out, whatever does not fall out is the architecture.
    The architecture of a house includes a broad range of elements, from the all-encompassing concept that harmonizes the form, down to the smallest of details. The architecture is anything and everything that articulates the volumes and the spaces of a house. That includes not only the walls and roof and doors and windows, but also program development, site planning, trim, millwork, light fixtures, door hardware, even paint colors. As architects we consider all of these elements in our design process.

Why bespoke design matters to us, and maybe to you too.

One of my favorite all time movies is The Devil Wears Prada. Merrill Streep, Stanley Tucci, snarky humor and New York fashion? Sign me up. Tucci’s character has a line, in reference to the great fashion designers of the past, where he says, “what they did, what they created, was greater than art, because you live your life in it.”

We aren’t fashion designers. We are house designers. We design houses in which people live their lives. The possibility of using our creativity and artistic skills to create places where people can live exactly as they wish is an extraordinary privilege and joy.