What do Architects Do?
Architects design the places and spaces where you, our client, will live. We consider your dreams and visions for what life should look like, and transform them into a design that, once constructed, you can call home.
PRE-DESIGN
First, we talk. We learn more about you and your site, whether it’s a house, apartment, or landscape. You will have ideas about what you’d like your project to become: how it will be used; what it will look like; how the rooms inside should feel; what textures, shapes and materials you are interested in; and how the building will perform . Understanding your vision and the site’s potential—this is our homework.
SCHEMATIC DESIGN
PARTI
A simple graphic design idea that describes an artful and organizational concept for your project. Often, we use metaphors to make the parti come alive: perhaps the building has a central spine, holding multiple parts together; maybe it has arms that reach out to hold the site, or it has a light-filled core around which the rooms are organized. Now, we have a conceptual and spatial framework to guide our design thinking.
SITE DESIGN (view, sun, approach, and topography)
Architecture is site specific—topography, views and relationship to the sun all inform the site. Where it is and how you get there are impactful questions. We often like to think of the houses we design as pavilions in the garden of your site. The exterior walls shape the interior, but they also create courtyards and outdoor rooms.
HOUSE DESIGN
We try different schemes, discuss, and revise, until we propose one that you love. Though drawn to scale, the sketches are loose and quick. They address the choreography of the house: How do you arrive? Where are the more public gathering spaces? Where are the bedrooms and more private spaces? How separate are they? The goal is to solve the riddle of site and program, artfully.
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
The designers at ART are students of the languages of architecture. We draw inspiration not only from you and your dreams, but also from buildings old and new, from all over the globe. With your input, and using wonderful examples from the past, we will develop your house design into a structure that is unique to you. Our rough sketches are drafted into a 3D model. We adjust and edit the design until all of the pieces fall into place.
CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS
Now we zoom in. The drawings from the design development phase are augmented with details, and we coordinate with consultants to describe the design in full to the builder. We answer key questions: What material? Where is it from? How is it finished? How efficiently will it perform? We combine current and forward-thinking technologies with regional best practices, synthesizing old and new for 21st-century living and beyond.
CONSTRUCTION OBSERVATION
From pouring the foundation to plastering walls, we are on site with you, talking with builders and craftspeople regularly. The builder may have questions that we can answer. You may have questions which we or your builder can answer. We work together so that the building performs, looks, and feels the way we all imagined in the beginning.
