Design Methodology
Designing a home for your family.
Understanding how you live and your family’s dynamics is most important. A well designed home should be an extension of your personality. Its flow and functions should accommodate your day-to-day routines. What happens when your family comes home from work and school? Where do the kids do their homework? How do you use your house to entertain family and friends?
After dinner, the Walton’s spent their together time in the family room, playing games and listening to the radio. Ward and June Cleaver typically spent time with the Beaver and Wally in the kitchen around the dining table. Point being, each family has a unique way of living – and while they invariably find a way to make it work and live within their house, it makes more sense to design the spaces focused on how you live.
While the logistical side of design — room count, budget, style, etc. — are certainly important, my goal is to insure that the design of your home be a product of your lifestyle and personality.
Putting pen to paper.
I am a strong advocate of technology and CAD programs, however; I believe they are best suited for the latter part of a project as a tool to develop the construction documents. From a design standpoint, I believe computer aided design restricts the creative process and causes the mind to focus more on the technology than the free-flowing process of designing.
When it comes to design, I still use the old-fashioned method of taking a big thick marker to flimsy paper and letting the design process evolve. It is without a doubt the most productive and effective way to explore the creative opportunities of each project.
One design to meet many goals.
I will play with countless concepts but in the end I will develop only one to present to the client. Through experience, I have learned that presenting multiple concepts is overwhelming and frustrating. As we are only building one house, I believe all our focus and energy should be on developing only one concept to meet your goals.
When we sit down to review a concept for the first time, I will walk you through the plan and help you to visualize the flow of the house and each room within. While room dimensions are informative, I believe actually placing furniture in the plan gives a more realistic view of how the rooms feel. If I have done my job, and listened to understand your family’s needs, the initial concept should be a solid starting point to work from.