When you hire an architect – you’re engaging the services of a professional designer who will help you think about the big picture of your design needs, problem solve your layout and help you navigate the permit process – but that person also has motivations of their own that will affect the outcome of your project. They have their own strategy. Whether they are designing a residential remodel or a new sky scraper they want to use your project to make the world a little more interesting.
Don’t worry. Your architect’s agenda is going to make your building better.
The profession of architecture attracts passionate people who want to make the world better through buildings. But, as we’ve mentioned before, we need YOU to come ask us to design you a building. What makes each project great is the collaboration between clients needs and designer’s vision that makes a unique design.
So What is Moss’s Mission?
Since our mission will certainly affect the outcome of your project when you work with us, it seems important that we make sure you know what it is. With every new project, we always strive to …
Be Sustainable.
This tends to be a goal we share with everyone who comes to us with design problems. We make it our mission to incorporate sustainability, interconnectivity and resource-lightness into every phase of design from site selection to material choices. Both our experience with previous projects and the personal interest we all share in making sustainable choices strongly inform our proposals and advice at every stage of each project.
Make real things.
We love real materials – solid reclaimed hardwood, corten steel, exposed structural brick and concrete – and we believe that working with them creates more beautiful, sustainable and long lasting spaces. Working with and creating simple beautiful materials leads to spaces which hold up better against both the wear and tear of daily life and the vagaries of style.
Be Particular.
Ironically, one of our strongest agendas is to make your project really suit YOU. Truly good design always comes from the constraints of an individual situation and set of needs. If we could magically fund and fill all our own projects, we’d still rather design for other people because the variety and challenge of fusing the specifics of one project with the general concepts of design is what makes for really creative work. We want each project we take on to be particular to its client, its neighbors, its history and its materiality.
Find Synergy.
In the best design solutions the whole IS greater than the sum of the parts and likewise, a truly elegant design solution solves multiple problems with a single action. Clear, clean spaces – those which support a variety of activities and needs – require multifunctional designs. Making more out of less also helps us focus the project budget on beautiful materials and means which heighten the experience of the finished project.
Be Flexible.
We also want to see the buildings we create (or remodel) last far into the next century. To that end we try to leave room for future adjustments and updates be they programmatic or technological. On the other hand we never want to make our designs GENERIC. In fact, we believe that giving each project its own strong stamp makes it more valuable and interesting to future users than a less daring project created with an eye to some demographic average rather than a particular need.
Flexibility also means thinking fluidly about budget – we understand that not every project can (or should) be designed with the most lavish possible budget. Being prepared to find low-cost solutions that don’t sacrifice design is an important aspect of our philosophy.
So if, in addition to squeezing out a little more square footage or updating the electrical service, you share our vision of a world more honest, sustainable, flexible, and long lasting, then we’re the partners you might be looking for in your project. Give us a call!
