What’s your background?
I’m a licensed architect, and I’ve practiced architecture for the last 11 years. My career began in 2008, just at the beginning of the great recession. I’ve experienced what the market is like when it’s at its lowest, and I’ve also seen what the profession is like when the market is booming as it has been in the last 5 years. I have had a wide range of project experience including all types of residential and commercial clients. Many of my projects have received awards, publications, and professional recognition.
What’s your style?
If I had to be pinned down, I would say modern. Generally speaking, I don’t really like to be confined to stylistic expectations. I prefer to think of my architectural approach as ‘concept finding.’
What is concept finding?
For me, architecture can be thought of as the pursuit of elevating a building beyond satisfying budget and simple functionality. When a building becomes ‘architectural,’ there’s something about it that connects to the human spirit. Concept finding is a way to find this connection during the design process and establish a ‘big idea’ as a part of the reasoning for how the basis of design.
I look for ways to make a project positively unique, despite any limitation that a budget or time constraint may impose on it. The sources of inspiration may come from how a family might live their lives, or it may stem from what a business’s mission might be. There are tons of items to draw creativity from. These sources of inspiration provide the big idea, or concept. It’s important to note, the goal of this process isn’t to make something different for the sake of being different. The purpose is to make the building feel good to be in for whoever uses it for as long as it’s used. Not only should the building work to shelter you, but it should also be fun, comfortable, and relate to you in some way. That’s really the big idea behind the big idea.
What are your professional convictions, and how have they shaped your trajectory?
When I reflect on the clients I’ve served, they’re fairly split between two demographics: those with limited funds and those that have incredible wealth. For people with limited to moderate resources, design solutions are often challenging but very rewarding. Those types of clients are generally expecting a functional building at best. When creativity can show up, clients are very appreciative of that fact.
On the very top end of the spectrum, I’ve worked with clients who have had almost unlimited budgets and vast design possibilities. It’s these types of projects that show up in architectural journals and spread across social media like wildfire. With deep budgets, creativity can run untethered and allow for design elements to explore new technologies, gravity-defying structures, and layered design concepts.
What has always troubled me about this split was best summarized by a professor during my university days. He said, ‘architects are slaves to the rich.’ Much of my motivation in becoming an architect was to help make the world better than what it would be otherwise. So when I heard my former professor utter those words, I stored them away as motivation to move the architectural profession away from this reality. I don’t think it’s fair that thoughtful design is arguably reserved only for extremely wealthy people in the United States.
My inner voice is loud. I believe that as people, our biggest contribution while we’re on this planet is what we do for others. I remember reading ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ and I loved the part about writing your own eulogy. I had already done so prior to reading the book, but the author explained the motivation so eloquently. It’s purpose is to basically state end goals for your life so you don’t become caught up in things that don’t really matter. For instance, you probably wouldn’t care if someone said that you kept your sock drawer really organized or that you had a tremendous savings account. For me, it became clear that much of my passion and motivation exists around helping people with the skills I have.
Why did you start Defy Design?
Over my career, I’ve observed several areas of potential improvement in the building industry. For commercial projects, the overall budgets are large enough to generally accommodate good service but clients often don’t see the value in creative buildings. In the residential sector, specifically single family homes, only around 3% of homes built are truly custom and utilize architectural services in any capacity.
I wanted to be involved with a company that had a specific mission to be as inclusive as possible and bring high design to the remaining 97% of single family homes as well as help elevate the acceptable level of design around us. I figured I would start a company that targets those very things. We can improve the built environment around us by specifically using efficient design processes to accommodate a range of design needs. We can help make better commercial buildings by putting information out there to help explain why certain design considerations are really important. DfyDzn is a design lab as much as it is anything else. We have theories on how to improve the world around us, we’re testing those theories and seeing what sticks.