Values
Research and observe the place
Dig into the history, ecology, community, and culture of each place. Dig deep. Go see the place and look closely at all that is there now. Understand how it feels, smells, sounds. Soak it up through your pores.
Listen and Ask Questions
Be curious! What is the client saying about the project? What are they communicating about their intent and goals? What are their ambitions?
Absorb all the thinking and work that the client has brought to the moment the project begins.
Challenge assumptions & Look for the unexpected
Be critical! What are their assumptions? Are they thinking about the project correctly? Are they framing the issues correctly? Is there a different / better way to understand the project? Turn the assumptions upside down; look at it sideways; don't accept the brief as is. Look for an unexpected moment as the project evolves. Turn an impossible challenge, disappointment, or surprise discovery into an opportunity to transform the project.
Develop a narrative that emerges from the place
Research about the place should drive the narrative, whether historic, cultural, ecological, and/or a combination of these. The narrative should come up from the ground and the designs should be informed by these stories.
Locate the place for humanizing details
Details are the expression of, care, thoughtfulness, and humanity. Rarely are we able to detail all aspects of our work, so identify the right place(s) where we can shape a project’s elements that express a thoughtful, surprising, and joyful human experience of the place.
Collaborate, break patterns, and experiment
Roll up your sleeves around the table, discuss your research, observations, inclinations, hesitations, distaste, and dreams for the project. Bring in other voices and push each other for new and different ideas. Don’t be afraid to tear up drawings and start again. We know what is tried and true, so find what would be worth trying. Recognize your patterns and break them.