Design Matters

We're designers. We think that design is important. We believe that design actually affects people. Good design or bad design, it doesn't matter. It affects people. Why does it seem to be so difficult to get others to see how important it is? It's not about a particular style. It's about how you think.

I just read the editor's letter in the October 2007 Fast Company and I'm encouraged again. Read it for yourself, if you can. In fact check out the whole issue. But in case you can't, I'd like to give you some excerpts from Robert Safian's introduction to the issue.

Mr. Safian writes "What does design really contribute to an organization's bottom line? In a global marketplace where price competition and commodification have slashed margins and "reengineered" jobs, it can be easy to peg what designers do as indulgence - style over substance, form over function. Committing business resources toward the tangible is just more efficient than - sniff - the soft world of design."

He goes on to write "Studies have now shown that design-oriented firms in all kinds of industries outperform their more traditional peers - that design and innovation go hand-in-hand with financial success. Research from Peer Insight has calculated tenfold advantage in stock-market returns versus the S&P 500 for companies focused on consumer-experience design, as senior writer Linda Tischler explains in her profile of Yves Behar."

Safian contends that CEOs are starting to get it, citing examples such as Hewlett-Packard (seen their commercials lately?) and, of course, Apple (we're an all Mac office - thank you very much.) "They're making the connection that design can help them get on their next growth cycle," according to Peter Lawrence, chair of the Corporate Design Foundation.

This is all great amunition for us designers. The benefits of quality design not only benefit super-corporations, but also your local school district, the place where you live, your library, community center, coffee shop, or bank. Heck, even your strip mall. Matt O'Reilly is proving that.

So design does matter. We've always known that, but in a state whose motto is "Show Me" it takes a while to get the point across. We're doing what we can. We hope others take notice.

Game Center

This project attempts to divide a currently banal office style space into a young, lively, relaxed lounge atmosphere for a local university. The approach taken to achieve this was to focus on dramatic lighting scenarios while creating smaller gathering spaces partitioned by light. This light partition not only acts as an object defining space but also uniquely ties and identifies the university to the space. This was normally executed on campus by focusing on color schemes or literal image relationships. Our approach used the light partition as a metaphor for the gooey, amber; shiny, transparent bear treat, "HONEY". The qualities of honey create an undeniable subtle relationship to the university while making the space a special place. Along with the light partition simply reorganizing and locating light in areas that create high contrast and frame space create variations in mood to define different areas of the program.
The second component of the project and maybe just as critical as light is the super graphics and pop culture icons used in the space. Images of the “The Big Lebowski” and “Kingpin” as cult classics set the stage for a whimsical and youthful atmosphere.

Photographers

Photography is a significant part of what we do as architects. We've worked with a few and admire the work of others, but thought we would use this format to tell you about a few we know and love.

Sesha, at Convey Studios, recently spent some time with us in our office. What a great experience getting to know her and her staff. Her laughter is infectious. And her work captures who we are. We are so thrilled to have had the chance to work with Sesha. Check out their website for more engaging images. www.conveystudios.com










We've also worked with Gayle Babcock of Architectural Imageworks for years. Nearly all of the architectural photography on our website was done by Gayle. She recently photographed our office space as well as a school project in Stoutland, Missouri. Gayle has great sense of composition and she really sweats the details. She works hard to capture the right shot and has always been a real joy to work with.

We just want to say thanks to both Sesha and Gayle for the relationships we have with them. Two great young photographers in Springfield that we admire.

Classic Monsters

Our office is located on the second floor of a building built around 1896, as I understand it. We've received a lot of positive comments about the use of our windows as an image gallery. We usually debut a new set of images on the first Friday of a given month to conincide with Springfield's First Friday Art Walk. The images usually have some special meaning for us and it's a lot of fun to see people walk by and point and discuss what the images mean.

This month, the set of images is pretty easy. Consistent with our interest in pop culture, our awareness of the season, and our understanding that our current office was once a notable "haunted house" in downtown's most recent dilapidated state, we've chosen to display eight images of classic monsters from the early days of film.

The images are not intended to be frightening, but instead an homage to our building's past and to the creative talent of people like Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. And if you read the previous post, you know we have a special affinity for Frankenstein.

Frankenstein

We use the word frankenstein as a verb. Actually we stole the use from Josh Harrold. I think Josh may have stolen it from somebody else as well. But it fits. For us, Frankenstein is a symbol of creativity, of assembling disparate parts in a new way to give it life. He represents the ugly and the beautiful at the same time. He represents love and kindness while being agressive and untamed. He is both simple and complex. So to "frankenstein" a project means to appoach it with all of these things in mind, revealing the process of making honestly and seeing the natural beauty in the architectural solution.

So Frankenstein guards the gallery in our office. Some people notice him right away, while others miss it entirely.

D|Wa's New Blog

Well now that our practice has survived the first three years, and we've just completed a renovation of our office space (finally off those plastic folding tables from Sam's Wholesale Club) we're starting our own blog. We hope this helps you understand a little bit more about what we're trying to do professionally in the Ozarks.