Our Story

It is not about providing one design concept...

Here are two examples to explain this better.  The first was a request from a residential client to design a house positioned specifically on their lot. The first design concept is a literal reflection of what was asked.  However, as we learned more about the site, including its orientation and views, we proposed a different orientation to take advantage of a more southern exposure and maximize the views.  This led to a fruitful discussion that ultimately resulted in a much better design orientation and concept.

...but DESIGN CONCEPTS

The second example is a request to design a parking garage. However, the location was in the historic district making a typical, literal interpretation of a parking garage not appropriate for its surroundings. A typical parking garage would not belong. By proposing an alternative design concept based on a wall panel approach, we were able to clad the parking garage in compatible forms and materials that were sensitive to the historic surroundings. The resulting building seems to belong to the timelessness of the historic old town.

Your story has to be the start

Sometimes architects tend to scoff at ideas that are very basic because we think we know better. As educated architects, we tend to regard the basic ideas as too simplistic.  We jump ahead to established, more complicated ideas because we are ‘too advanced’ for the basic ideas. It is a pitfall that many architects fall into, and it is something that we at DESIGN CONCEPTS like to avoid.

Listening is the basis of every good project

When Tim was still at another firm, a client had an idea for their house, where they wanted to keep the structural integrity of the house but totally change the shape. This was dismissed as unachievable despite the simple notion.  Out of respect for the client, Tim listened to what they truly wanted. After repeated struggles Tim stayed late to build a model of a concept that blended the notion of the client with the constraints of the structure. The end result was truly unique and the client loved it. 

We like to reuse existing pieces and put them together in an interesting way

While working on a relative’s house in the German Black Forest, Tim collected terracotta dust from the cut rooftiles as well as copper scraps from the gutters and downspouts and used them to create images of the surrounding scenes at the house. He liked doing something beautiful with pieces that were going to be discarded.  This principle that Tim used to create his personal art work is also reflected in his business practice.

Beauty within budget

There is joy in discovering those bits and pieces in our client’s background and the environment the project has to belong to. It is also satisfying to have to work within constraints of the budget and not waste time, money and resources while meeting the practical use considerations, and still achieving beauty.