APPROACH Architecture is a largely untapped medium for exploring the potential of human interactions and contributing to the texture of the urban world around us. Architecture should leverage its various constraints in an effort to subvert, seduce, transgress, and wow those that rely upon it every day. Otherwise, they are just dumb buildings.
ARCHITECTURE IS NOT LIMITED TO BUILDINGS Architecture is a door to the world of design all around us. This includes not just "machines for living" but the guts of those machines, as well as the larger urban context in which they reside. The color and material of the couch is as important as the placement of the windows, the type of shower head in the bathroom, or the relationship to the street. All things must be considered.
THE WORLD IS CHANGING Making typological assumptions about what your office, your house, or your roof deck should be before you have examined how you live and work in this rapidly changing society is a mistake. Just because your parents or friends live and work one way doesn't mean you must follow suit. Design should work for you, not against you.
ARCHITECTURE IS SHAPED BY IT'S LIMITATIONS The napkin sketch that results in a skyscraper is a silly notion at best. Buildings are complicated, and the path from conception to erection does not follow a linear or rigid path. Economics, site, context, budget, labor, available materials, and sustainability are just a few of the constraints that affect architecture through the process from beginning to end. Architecture is a vibration; the best results are achieved by turning into the skid.
A GOOD ARCHITECT IS ON YOUR SIDE Spending hours watching HGTV or tagging a thousand images on Pinterest may sound like a great idea when you decide to embark on a new project, but it will only lead to confusion and disappointment. It is good to have an idea of what types of things you are drawn to, but expecting an architect to stitch them all together into a monster is ill-advised. We are all familiar with stories of cape wearing narcissistic architects convincing you of things you don't want, don't need, or can't afford. This is a practice of yesteryear, and any good architect today knows that the best architecture is produced with the end user and the budget in mind. Architects have an ability to absorb, sort, and use what works and what doesn't to make a cohesive design for the program you have agreed upon. It's what they go to bed thinking about at night, so try not to suffocate them and let them do their job.
ARCHITECTURE SHOULD BE CONTEMPORARY We do not leave the house in powdered wigs or platform shoes anymore. Not only is it impractical, it is out of step with the times. Architecture should reflect the society and lifestyle in which we live, not serve as a nostalgia machine. It should reflect the advancements in materials, technology, communications, and engineering. It is only by moving forward that we can head into the future.