Design Philosophy – We Design for Life

Human beings spend most of their personal and professional time within the built environment. As architects, we create the spaces and places where people live their life. How we learn, work, eat, sleep, heal, worship, and gather are all improved by the quality of the space and place. Our quality of life is greatly impacted. Therefore, it is critical that we keep this most basic and essential thought at the forefront of our practice: We Design for Life.

 At Holly & Smith Architects, our culture is a culture of design. A culture that understands that great design enriches people’s lives and nurtures a passion for living. We know from experience that the best designs are those that are the result of an empathetic and collaborative process. To arrive at this level of empathy, we engage in an open dialogue and collaboration with our clients. Furthermore, this philosophy requires an acute awareness of our impact on our environment. Sustainable design is at its essence the Design for Life. Understanding the climatic conditions of a place informs our design as we search for a site’s unique aspects to celebrate and enhance those qualities.

Our overarching philosophy avoids forcing a style on our clients or onto a site. We use a detailed site analysis combined with research and case studies to inform our design process. This effort, combined with owner/user charettes/workshops, guides the design process to develop site-specific and program-driven solutions.

We vigorously integrate the site analysis with the owner/user programmatic requirements to develop iterations of architectural ideas. Through the process of iterations, we use a series of charettes with the owner/user to arrive at an option through consensus. The process is repeated throughout the design phase until successfully achieving all project requirements.

Our work is regionally modern and encourages a healthy relationship with the environment & culture that will persist throughout the life of the building. After all, when we Design for Life, all life is better.