Approach
For us the territory of architecture should concern itself with the whole of the built environment. We seek to broaden the definition of architecture and search for opportunities to consider, both in physical and disciplinary terms, a larger territory for expression.
Traditional disciplinary distinctions between architecture, art, ecology, landscape architecture, engineering, and urban planning marginalize the status of the architectural project and preclude new paradigms for contemporary settings. We regard the existing site as an architectural condition already rich in possibilities. Superimposing new programs on a site can bring into focus that which is unseen, creating opportunities for invention, transformation, and use.
We design to clarify the physical and cultural identity of each project, opportunistically integrating multiple disciplines and alternative methodologies to create meaningful settings. Movement, light, and materiality heighten perception and experience, and are envisioned as active participants in shaping architecture.
These convictions have been important provocations in our work. Each project, regardless of scale, is a fertile site to test the capacity of a broader definition of design, envisioning a critical practice that is an active instrument in shaping contemporary culture.
The Seattle Olympic Sculpture Park turns three separate parcels of contaminated and divided land into a waterfront public space for the display of art.
Nested into an existing hillside, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center is experienced as a three-dimensional continuation of the garden path system.