To design a building is to synthesize a broad range of fundamental concerns: human accommodation, construction integrity, the economy of means and questions of appearance and aesthetics. We are consciously committed to the search for an architecture capable of enhancing life and providing a sense of inspiration and engagement to its inhabitants. The link between our projects has been the design processes that created them. Each building derives its form from a very specific architectural response to its programmatic intent, site, environmental conditions and dialogue with its patrons.

A review of the projects designed by us will reveal that we do not favour the imposition of any particular style on our work. The firm’s architecture is conceived not as a synthesized container of specific activities but as a place to be inhabited, as a place to facilitate the course of human interaction. While the form of a given project evolves in direct response to the program and its specific environment, the ultimate resolution of the form maintains a level of independence and presence that is unique to itself. It is the tension between these seemingly contradictory qualities that is the genesis for our search for architectural form.

Central to our search for an appropriate architecture has been the attitude towards energy. All our projects have evolved around themes which highlight the conservation of energy whether it is human or mechanical. The use of local materials, craft persons and appropriate technologies has been an extension of these attitude.

Not only have we endeavoured to optimise available technologies but have constantly emphasized the adoption of new and innovative ways of building and alternative materials.

The firm places an important emphasis of urban design as an approach to the design of individual building, rather than focusing on simple projects as isolated elements. This holistic and comprehensive approach to design has been the objective in all our master plans at all scales and encompasses detailed site studies, transportation studies, the context and the surroundings.

We have noted that numerous events in contemporary society have conspired against building construction as a craft oriented enterprise. The often heard condemnation of contemporary architecture as inhumane is partly due to the deterioration of building quality and the lack of attention to the kinds of details that we experience such as when we open or close a window or run our hand along a door frame. It has been one of our objectives to restore the craft of building to the process of both design and implementation. A thing made well will work better, age gracefully, and be better appreciated by its users.

Considering architecture mainly as an art form, the participation of the artists and the crafts people at the inception of projects has become a goal we would like to actively pursue in all our future projects with the conviction that from these joint efforts architecture acquires a more precise and comprehensive expression reflective of the cultural perspectives and values of the time. In addition, creating a link between the artist and the building tradesman will serve to raise aspirations regarding quality workmanship and the craft of the building.