Design Values: Beauty

Does the work elevate the human spirit in an elegant solution, exquisitely delivered?

The presence of beauty is undeniable and yet highly subjective. Beauty is not about expensive materials or luxury. Present in many things, it is expressed by proportion, substance and texture. A mechanical system can be beautiful when thoughtfully placed, respected for its function, selected appropriately and installed well. Similarly, there is no bad or ugly color; beauty can be achieved by how a color is used. Our job is to bring together very complex systems and resolve them. When our design approach unifies the structural, material and spatial demands, we produce architecture that is aesthetically pleasing in form and function. Nothing is forgotten. Beauty is highly resolved design — consistent and complete from idea to execution.

Example: Pearl District Office, Mahlum

When renovating an industrial building for our offices in Portland, we crafted a design solution that responds to the way we work within a tall, narrow configuration of the existing warehouse. We organized the space through intersecting grids of circulation that reinforce the building’s structural order and accentuated it with light, ceiling heights and clear termination of volumes. We saved as much of the existing building fabric as possible: brick walls, heavy timber framing and worn maple floors. These materials express a history and integrity that is the spirit of this place. We added over-scaled steel sliding doors and velvet curtains, area rugs and artisan plaster. The resulting combination of rough against refined, dark against light, soft and hard produces a space that is both beautiful and serene.