Design Manifestos: Raegan Porter of FGM Architects

Raegan Porter is a Registered Interior Designer with a diverse background in recreation, municipal, educational and contract design. She is the Municipal Interior Design Leader for FGM Architects located in Oak Brook, Illinois. Raegan has a unique ability to understand her client’s needs and incorporate them into creative, functional space plans. Through space planning, materials, furniture, lighting and art work, she brings her clients vision to life. Her goal for clients is to create an overall experience for the communities using her spaces. She states, “I often judge a space on how it makes me feel. I want to create exciting spaces that make people feel good.” Modelo spent some time learning about what inspires Raegan and about her current role at FGM Architects.

On becoming an interior designer 
My mother and grandmother were a big influence on my love of art and design and my decision to become an Interior designer.

My mother had intended to go to Art school in Atlanta in the 1960’s but, due to the rioting happening at that time, her family decided it was best she didn’t go. But she still had a love of the arts and always encouraged my creative side!

My grandmother was a painter and creative in every sense of the word. My cousin and I, who are very close in age and in spirit, spent many hours with our grandmother playing games that involved creative thinking and design. The three of us would dream up designs for our future homes and weddings. Both my cousin and I decided at that young age that we would be designers. And there was no turning back!

I feel very lucky that I knew so early in my life that Interior Design was my calling!

On discovering her voice as a designer 
Since I can remember I have had a LOVE for color. Some of that comes from my mother and aunt who also have a love for color and art. Being immersed in that from an early age has most definitely contributed to my love for color and dramatic environments.

For a while I freelanced at a firm that did more commercial interiors and was introduced to this idea of branding environments, this idea was fascinating to me. After some research I found it was a concept that made so much sense to me. It can help increase the client’s bottom line, so why wouldn’t they want to use their environment for marketing? Designing a space to embody the client’s brand is something that I am always trying to achieve. It is in my nature to want to help, so if I can help a client have a competitive edge or help the impression of a client to the public I am happy.

I also believe that all the adventures that I encounter in life have an influence in different ways whether it’s dance, fitness, painting, teaching self-defense or my passion for giving back. All of these have an effect on who I am which I know in some form shapes how I design.

On joining FGM Architects 
I started with FGM right out of college. My lighting professor in college put me in touch with a gentleman who did a critique in our class. He was a project manager at FGM and that’s how I got connected to interview.

In the early days I learned functional and durable design as well as how to be creative on a budget. We learned fundamentals in school but the early years of working are where you really learn. A majority of the buildings that we work on are public facilities that will be around for a long time, not to mention the abuse of a 24/7 facility. The functionality and durability are critical. Budget is key so it is critical to find durable inexpensive materials or reinvent standard materials. It’s easy to find really interesting materials when you have a large budget but when you are forced to reinvent materials on a tight budget the real creativity happens. That’s a talent I have learned at FGM that I wouldn’t give back for the world.

With the down turn in the economy I was laid off after about two and a half years. I went on to work for a furniture dealership and had my own company doing design. In 2014 I knew FGM was looking for someone to head the Interior Design for the municipal practice area so I reached out and interviewed.

Coming back and working the second time around I am truly grateful for all that I learned while I was away. There are talents and lessons I have learned I may not have had otherwise. Those are invaluable tools that I got to bring to back to FGM with me, making me a better designer for FGM and our clients. To this day I am still learning from the amazing team of people that I get to work with every day and continuing to evolve in my approach.

On specific principles she strives to adhere to

• In each project I try to create an overall great experience for those using or visiting the building. We spend so much of our lives now stressed and busy. I try to create environments that welcome you in and give you a “WOW” moment.
• Designing the clients’ space to embody their Brand.
• Designing healthy functional environments for the client.

On her role at FGM Architects 
My role as the head Interior Designer of the municipal practice is multi-faceted. One day it could be…who am I kidding one hour it could be marketing then project management, design or drawing. It just depends.

I work hand and hand with our Head Design Architect Louise to come up with the design direction on each project. Then for the interiors I work with our team giving design direction for them to implement. However, I must say it is a team effort! The whole municipal team is very collaborative on all aspects of a project.

Chevy Chase Country Club (Images courtesy of FGM Architects)

On recent projects that represent the firm’s unique approach 
We breathe energy and life into our built environments that can’t be duplicated. A great example of this is a project that was just finished a year ago, McHenry Parks and Recreation. The use of natural materials with vibrant colors gives you this great warm energy right as you walk in the door. Many of the community members have been quoted saying “wow I wasn’t expecting that” with a smile on their face and eager to see what the rest of the facility looks like.

We have an understanding of our client’s profession which allows us to help when planning and listening to their needs. Another project that is a great example of this is Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling, Illinois. It was an addition renovation. After listening to their needs and studying the space, it was clear that the traffic flow needed to be more efficient. We added an event room for weddings and corporate events that seats around 200 people as well as a new pre-function and sales office. Moving the pro shop off of the gable room so that golf is separate from the event spaces helped tremendously. This is also a great example of how an interior renovation of a space can affect your bottom line. The new space has been open for only a year and bookings are already up. Currently we are compiling the data for a case study and it is looking very positive.

On her design toolkit 
FGM is a firm that is standardized on Revit which has taken designing to a new level. It is always a struggle to be able to provide 3D modeling to help clients visualize while keeping cost down in order to meet budgets. Revit allows us to provide a 3D of the space while part of that time is still working on the construction documents.

A great example of this is a project that is currently under construction for Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center in Addison, Illinois. The space is designed to reduce stress for the employees taking into account the way light is used and sound levels. There are a lot of natural materials used with accents of blue and green. Revit allow us to show the client what there space will look like and the ability to tweak things before even building the space.

On the state of design software today 
There is a plethora of design software to choose from. It amazes me how far we have come in the past ten years, it makes it so much easier to convey a design or space to a client that may not be able to envision the creation.

On the future of the design industry 
Designers are always pushing the limits and that is something that will always continue. Where we need to spend more time is really educating the general public on what we do and the benefits of our profession. We don’t just pick materials and colors. Although I love that it’s really is only about 5% of what we do.

Honestly I don’t know how our industry will evolve moving forward. We have seen so much change in the past ten years with the recession, inventions in technology and political climate. I do believe it will be positive change filled with its own exciting puzzles to solve.

On advice she would give her younger self
I would say to myself: network, network, and network! You never know where something will lead.

Design Manifestos: Matías Imbern of I+GC [ar]

Matías Imbern obtained his Master in Design and Technology with honors from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (GSD). His research is focused on the strategic interaction between digital technologies and material systems applied to architecture. He currently serves as Tenure Professor at the National University of Rosario, where he previously obtained his degree in Architecture with gold medal. He is also a Professor Fellow at the School of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. having lectured and participated as a visiting professor at several universities and schools. Matías leads his firm I+GC [ar], based in Argentina, where he also directs the research group Lab.Id. His production is focused on housing, competitions and research projects. Modelo spent some time learning about what led Matías to pursue a career in architecture and about what continues to inspire him today.

On becoming an architect
Design has always been my passion since I was a child. Beautiful buildings and big infrastructures have always attracted me, so to study architecture was almost an involuntary decision.

On discovering his voice as a designer
I studied at the School of Architecture in Rosario, Argentina. The great advantage there is that, once you get your diploma, you have access to construction very easily. However, the school is not updated on some key issues, which makes it kind of isolated.

While studying, I met some professors who encouraged me to continue my education abroad. So I decided to apply to Harvard GSD in Massachusetts in order to understand how contemporary architecture was evolving. The rapid and sustained development of new technological processes emerged as a pivotal design concern, motivated by the synthesis of two worlds that seem opposites: digital and material. That was the beginning of my design research.

On founding his firm
After finishing school I had a couple of housing commissions, so I decided to start a young firm, a common situation in Argentina. I used those houses to apply the concepts I learned while studying, but also to learn how to lead and how to put a building together.

Then, Harvard GSD was a life-changing institution not only regarding education but also influences and vision. When I decided to come back to Argentina to develop my firm, the architecture we practice evolved towards a more systemic approach, based on digital design tools. Apart from that, the scale of projects we are building have changed, mostly housing/mixed-use developments.

Our studio was conceived with the philosophy of stimulating constant interaction between academia and the professional scenario, between research and practice. This design research is what feeds our role as university professors, as well as the importance given to postgraduate studies as a source of experimentation and continuous feedback. Additionally, I decided to create a research branch called Lab.Id as a tool to work mostly on competitions, able to speculate and test concepts more freely. Lab.Id aims to promote a permanent debate about the development of contemporary architecture, trying to understand where to position our architecture. We give a persuasive value to utopia, understood not as an impossible achievement but as something that has not been developed or materialized yet.

On specific principles he strives to adhere to
As a general design principle, we share the idea of generating a contemporary architecture that addresses its time and place, as a way of contributing to the cultural progress of society.

As a specific design principle, we always use a systemic approach, based on the use digital tools, but we tend to define simple systems that can be easily applied with local technology. For example, in the 17×17 House we used a system of folded concrete planes to define form and interior space while accommodating programmatic functions For SnJ Building, the strategy was to use a sequence of stacked boxes that follow programmatic functions, defining, at the same time, the building´s materiality.

We believe in diagrams as a powerful design and communicational tool, to share our design concepts with clients, colleagues and most importantly with ourselves, to understand and substantiate our design procedure.

Architectural design is understood as a system of symbiotic relationships, becoming a hybrid between intuition and systemic thinking. Being more emphatic on processes rather than forms.

On his role at the firm
I think my role as Principal is divided in two tasks. On the one hand it is essential to impart a strong design philosophy to the design team, and be able to convince clients and contractors to believe in that philosophy. On the other hand, leadership becomes crucial in order to organize the tasks, to increase productivity and to get things done. Additionally, there is another role, which runs in parallel to daily activity: constantly thinking in perspective about the future that the firm should pursue in terms of design. A critical thinking to create a feedback loop with daily activity, otherwise you can get lost in daily routine.

On recent projects that represent the firm’s approach
I do not think we have a unique design yet. We still have to work harder in pursuing and clarifying our interest, being able to hack the use of digital systems in a low-tech environment as Argentina. I try to use my teaching experience in Torcuato Di Tella University as an experimentation lab. Last year we finished a Pavilion called Ditebius Torus, an investigation that combines reciprocal structures, timber wood, and the use of digital tools for design and manufacture. The geometry of the pavilion responds to a generic three-dimensional form called ‘moebius torus’, used as proof of concept of the versatility of the system. Afterwards, the real challenge is to be able to express those academic concerns into architectural design process.

The Disseminable Pavilion is one of the most convincing projects we created following that challenge. As a strategy for our the low-budget proposal required by the Iberoamerican Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, we submitted a pavilion made y steel benches that can be installed in several parks and squares of the city, after the event is over. A Pavilion that articulates Architecture and Urbanism, and remain imprinted on the collective memory of the citizens. The result is a pure compression dome populated by benches, structurally optimized by finite element analysis software.

Increasing the scale of the project, another interesting proposal came up for the Guggenheim Helsinki competition. Morphological and material strategies were carefully designed in order to merge with the existing architecture of the city, respecting its historical tradition. The fragmentation of the program reduces the visual impact of the building and gives independence to the exhibitions, being able of re-arranging them in many possible ways. Each programmatic unit has a steel egg-crate structure with a cladding façade of brick panels. The exterior panels use digital technology to create a pattern from a traditional Finnish forest. Additionally, the robotic fabrication of the panels allow making them off-site during the winter (when the harsh weather complicates the construction on-site) and setting them together during the summer, reducing construction time and cost.

Finally, at the urban scale, we got a prize with our proposal for the newest country in Europe, Liberland, besides the Danube River. The critical challenge of the project is how to create a city within a flooding forest. The Danube river dynamics generate lateral migration according to the geometry of the meanders, shaping the landscape of Liberland. In order not to interfere with the natural ecosystem, the project develops two superimposed strategies at different levels. It creates a floating city capable of coexisting with the flooding forest, allowing nature to flow underneath. Scripting was essential to replicate the forest pattern (created by the affectation of meanders), and arrange the city grid accordingly, developing a symbiotic relation with the existing landscape.

On his design toolkit
Incorporating digital systems allows us to reliably engage design and manufacturing, providing new opportunities even with traditional materials. Rhino and sometimes Grasshopper are present during the whole process, from design to fabrication. They are used to develop initial concepts, to understand space complexity and to study building details.

Projects as the Maria Elena Walsh Educational Complex, the last competition we have submitted, would have been impossible to develop without the use of digital tools. The project has a huge open-office space that was conceived as a helicoidally continuous ramp. The resulting complex space and its reciprocal Vierendeel-girder structure, were impossible to solve without 3D modeling.

On the state of design software today
I think there is a lot of powerful design software. In the last ten years I have noticed an important diversification in the software industry, and the appearance of more specific software to work on different design topics. I remember while being at school, knowing four or five software was enough. However, nowadays, architects need to handle a complete set of tools in order to use the computer as the as a powerful design tool. In the near future, architects will be required to use these tools and to be able to create their own tools, using scripting or similar methods, to be considered literate.

Another software branch is the design of apps for smartphones, popular as an interface between designers and clients. For example, in our submission for the competition One House (an innovative pre-fabricated housing system), we proposed the use of an app, so clients could choose and test their houses preferences, seeing results in seconds. By doing so, clients act as designers, into a controlled environment developed by architects.

One House (Image courtesy of I+GC [ar])

On the future of architecture in the next 5–10 years
I still notice some resistance in the use of digital technology for envisioning architecture. Although digital technology is pervasively around us, we still have so much to learn regarding not only design and fabrication, but also augmented spaces where technology behaves as a surrounding interface.

Of course that technology will continue developing; however, as it happened since the Renaissance, there is always a need of and architectural way of thinking in order to produce innovative buildings conceived according these new set of technological systems. Nonetheless, the challenge as architects is to be able to use technology as a tool to address not only formal/spatial issues but also crucial social problems.

I think robotics and new smart-materials still need to keep expanding to affect all layers of industry. We live in a world in which robots can perform complex surgeries. They are making a strong impact in different areas of our society. Architecture, as discipline and as industry, should reflect these social changes. There are a lot of research prototypes in academia and some few examples in architecture as a practice, but robotics and smart-materials still have a major role to play.

On the evolution of his firm
My firm is based in Argentina, a developing country, so regarding advanced technology we are always one step behind. However, Internet, social networks, smartphones and so on, are tools that keep us informed and connected with the rest of the world. We try to use competitions as research projects in which we can speculate about contemporary technology.

Eventually, as a firm, we will try to expand globally, to be more in touch with these fabrication technologies, and actually use them to construct, not only in competitions.

On advice he would give himself
Dream big, trust your instincts, be perseverant, and never give up.

Design Manifestos: Paulo Martins-Barata of PROMONTORIO | Modelo

Paulo Martins-Barata is a Partner of Lisbon-based PROMONTORIO. He was born in Lisbon in 1965, studied architecture under Fernando Távora at Porto School of Architecture (1983) and holds a MArch from the Technical University of Lisbon (1988), an MBA from Edinburgh University (1991) and a PhD from the ETH in Zurich.

In 1990, he co-founded PROMONTORIO as an experimental studio which consistently grew into a practice of fifty architects, planners, landscape architects, interior designers and graphic designers. PROMONTORIO has accomplished projects worldwide, among others, in Angola, Croatia, Dubai, Germany, Mozambique, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, USA and Vietnam.

The work of PROMONTORIO has been widely published in A10, Abbitare, Area, Architectural Review, Arquitectura Viva, A+T, Detail, 2G, Domus, Prototypo, Lotus, Techniques & Architecture, The Plan, etc, and was exhibited, among others, at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennial, La Triennale di Milano, Arc-en-rêve, Cornell University, Aedes Gallery and more recently at the Boston Society of Architects. Recently, Modelo had the opportunity to meet with Paulo and learn more about the studio’s collaborative approach to design.

On becoming an architect
I come from a family of three consecutive generations of artists, architects, movie directors and designers, so ever since I can remember I was surrounded by visual arts and culture. So the decision to enroll in the architecture school was not something I pondered a lot. It came as a natural choice. However, a few years later, I had a moment of serious doubt and hesitated in changing for painting. I regained my interest for architecture on a long and solitary trip to Scandinavia where I was exposed to the work of Aalto, and perhaps even more, of Lewerentz and Asplund. On my return to Lisbon, I stayed for some time in Germany and was fascinated by the classics Von Klenze in Munich, and Schinkel in Berlin. It was also the time of IBA (Internationale Bauausstellung Berlin) and the whole Europe was vibrating with ideas and debates.

On finding his voice as a designer
I am a great admirer of the French master August Perret who once said: “He who, without betraying modern materials or programs, produces a work that seems always to have existed may consider himself satisfied.” In my opinion, this remark encapsulates the greatest virtue of the architectural profession, which is to create vessels for peoples’ lives to unfold with gentleness and simplicity, with grace and tolerance. The conceited and self-absorbed excitement placed on the uniqueness of the architectural object seems vague and ephemeral and bears little interest to us. I would like to think that it is much more interesting to design buildings that withstand time both culturally and physically, buildings that weather gently and blend with our experience of the quotidian as part of something inherently sustainable.

On the experience of starting his own firm
We were started our firm in fresh out of school as 4 partners who had studied together in Porto and Lisbon. It was a great time in Portugal; the country had just joined the European Community and there was great optimism. Still, at the beginning work was scarce, and we survived in part working as architect-of-record on construction documents and site supervision of international offices that needed support in Portugal.

Meanwhile, Alvaro Siza and Souto de Moura work started to receive world recognition, and this indirectly brought momentum to Portuguese architecture in general. Through competitions, interviews and presentations we slowly began working in Spain; later in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and now finally we are starting to have work in the US. As an open partnership, we have a very cohesive and interactive design culture which ends up involving all stakeholders. It is a dynamic process that fosters collaboration above all and enables us to deal with large and complex projects both in terms of design and program sometimes facing incredibly tight schedules.

On principles he strives to adhere to
Over the years, we have consolidated a set of principles in our design approach, that do not wish to impose, but we tend to value the projects which include them:

I. Design buildings to last

We believe buildings should be solid and durable. Places are realized in history through the preservation of memory and the buildings that withstand time are the ones that determine the identity of a place. Architecture should bear the normal wearing of everyday life. Moreover, and given that the land is a scarce resource, buildings that last are an ecological response to the energetic waste that extemporaneous demolishing or refurbishing implies.

II. Produce exceptions, respect conventions

In an urban context, we believe that the formal autonomy generated by dramatic and spectacular buildings can only be justified by the exception of a notable civic status or an innovative program. If the latter are conventional, we prefer that buildings blend gently in the urban fabric or, given a larger scale, create a context that is able to accommodate, without stridency or gratuity, the flow of the quotidian.

III. Encourage mixed-use program

Diversity, multiplicity and adaptability are attributes inherent to the very idea of the city and, having this in mind, we try to avoid designing mono-functional urban systems. Ideally, we incorporate the three main functional spheres of life in the city —housing, offices and commerce— allowing for a continuous inhabitation of ensembles across the day.

IV. Discriminate the use of technology

For the most part, buildings should not depend on technological systems and materials that are predictably obsolete in the short run. On the other hand, there are new materials and innovative applications that can be valuable and interesting, given that these are previously tested and carefully balanced.

V. Understanding market conditions

With the general decline of the welfare state, the bulk of the city is increasingly built by the private sector. In this context, we believe that, even without exceptional programs or large budgets, architectural dignity must be achieved; we believe fine buildings can be produced with the market conditions of private developers. Moreover, we believe in moving a step further and gradually changing the habits of the industry by fostering quality in design and construction.

VI. Incorporate ideas from artists

Historically, art and architecture are aesthetic disciplines that complement each other. Working with artists can bring powerful new insights and ideas to architecture, and vice-versa. The unrestrained freedom of art can challenge the boundaries of architecture without any of them having to loose their core disciplinary character and métier.

On his role
My key role, like with any other partner, is to get jobs and manage clients. We do not live in an imaginary bubble where projects fall into our lap, so effectively partners have to search for opportunities and make them happen. Having said this, it doesn’t mean that we do not focus on design. This means being at the onset of creation and following very closely the production and development of design together as a team.

On his approach
“Unique” seems to me a worn out marketing phrase for such a time-honored profession as architecture. We do not aim to uniqueness per se; we aim to create great architecture that answers to programs, weathers beautifully and makes peoples’ lives better; as simple as that…

I would like to highlight two recent projects, namely, Lubango Centre and GS1 Offices, designed and build for entirely different contexts.

Lubango Centre is a mixed-use program, build in the hinterland of Angola, in one of the poorest regions in the world. It’s now in peace after 20 years of devastation and conflict. The building is inspiring on many levels, but the fact that we were able to design and build —with comparable quality to European standards— an elegant, middle-class, non-fenced building in the center of the city, makes us truly believe that there is hope for Africa. Not everything needs to be about extreme poverty or super wealth, and an urban middle class can rise with dignity and sustain a post-colonial economy.

GS1 is a small office building in Portugal for the international barcode association. We re-used an existing structure in a science and technology park and re-clad the building with bas-relief concrete panels working together with young artist VHILS, who usually works in anonymous large scale street graffiti murals in abandoned places —much like his friend Banksy. By positioning the panels at a 45º angle we created a kinetic view that changes from different perspectives until one reaches the corner and sees it complete, when all fragments come together and finally seem to make sense. Inside we used a combination of rough materials, like beton-brut and sprayed plaster, with warm and ecological materials like cork and textiles.

On his design toolkit
We have a kind of schizophrenic design system wherein 3D takes a large messy role. We produce sketches, cardboard models, mixed with basic and ever-changing computer renderings in search of the form we want. It is an a crazy and “ugly” system until we stabilize the built form and pass it on to our rendering affiliates. From there on they produce the magic, with us following it up closely.

On the state of design software today
I am not in production. I am that annoying partner that sits next to the collaborator and asks: “Do you think you could make it smaller/ wider/ larger /darker…?” I guess you’d all be familiar with this persona. When all said and done, I am happy with the capabilities I get out of the system and I have no criticism, regrets or longings. Time is too short for that.

On the future of architecture in the next 5–10 years
I do not see the fundamentals of architecture going through major changes. In the 1990s parametrics frenzy, many people believed that construction would became quasi-elastic and the industry would be robotized to a point which would make all forms possible and affordable. Evidently, that didn’t happen and architecture remains a discipline eminently tectonic at its physical core.

On firm evolving in the next 5-10 years
We have become a truly international firm able to respond to complex RFPs (Request for Proposal) from a wide range of countries and continents. We have a team of amazing people who can design a skyscraper in Saudi Arabia, a small school in the hinterland of Africa or a boutique hotel in Boston. The bottom line is to create great architecture—that is to leave a legacy of hope, of freedom and good will to all.

On advice he would give himself when first starting
I would advise patience and resilience together with integrity and passion.

Design Manifestos: Stephen Boyd and Jeff DiBattista of DIALOG | Modelo

Modelo recently interviewed Stephen Boyd and Jeff DiBattista of DIALOGbased in Edmonton, Canada. Stephen is an Architect and offers an outstanding combination of design talent and project management skills. He has shown this in a variety of projects in locations such as Canada and the Caribbean. Stephen has a particular ability to develop creative solutions while meeting the hard realities of schedule and budget.

As Practice Principal at DIALOG, Jeff’s leadership and technical qualifications are matched only by his energy, enthusiasm, and design creativity. With his commitment to the highest standards of professionalism and his love of a challenge, Jeff inspires dedication and hard work from his colleagues. He believes that open, honest, and collaborative communication among team members is the key to delivering effective results for our communities and the firm’s clients. A big-picture thinker and proactive communicator, Jeff enjoys working with clients to develop project delivery strategies that create success.

On becoming an architect / structural engineer
Stephen: I always appreciated architecture, but I didn’t fully understand it until after high school. Even though I always enjoyed drawing and experiencing places, it wasn’t until I got into a technical school in Edmonton which put me down a path towards drafting. I learned to appreciate and fell in love with the profession of architecture through my drafting experience.

Creating spaces and places during my time at university became a growing passion, and since becoming a professional architect a number of years ago it’s turned out to be a full-time passion.

Every project is a new, unique challenge and getting to see inside the world of other professions, groups of people and how others interact is inspiring. Whether we’re designing something like a zoo, an airport, a museum or an art gallery, you get to look at the world through a number of different eyes. That’s what keeps me constantly fascinated.

Jeff: I love to build things. Ever since I was a little kid I used to take my tricycle apart and put it back together. I was constantly building things out of Lego. I decided to do my undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Waterloo. That’s where I started to fall in love with structural engineering. As a teenager, I had a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge up on my wall. I always thought I would love to build structures like that that make a real difference in our communities and give places a sense of identity. I ended up going on to pursue a master’s degree and Ph.D. in structural engineering so that I could have the technical confidence to do the coolest work around.

On discovering their voices in the profession
Jeff: I think I’ve been able to find my voice through my work with an incredibly diverse group of architects, interior designers, planners and electrical, mechanical and structural engineers. I’m not shy about participating in the design thinking or pushing any aspect of a design. Stephen will attest to the fact that I’ll look at the architecture and say ‘wouldn’t it be better if we used wide flange shapes on this building? Because it’s going to give a lot more interesting shadow line.’ I care about the whole design, not just the structure.

Stephen: My passion and ‘professional’ voice comes alive when the conversation is about designing a building, place or structure that is responsive to how it fits within the environment as well as meeting the needs of the client or user group. For me, it’s about the idea that is the spark to create a unique space.

As an architect, you get to reimagine how things are typically done with the buildings, usually through certain building typologies. We have an understanding of how people inhabit places and how the architecture and the design can actually be reflective of place. Finding that special attribute and creating a language to it is what I find most fascinating.

On joining DIALOG
Stephen: DIALOG has been a multidisciplinary firm since our roots were founded in 1960. This approach is by deliberate choice; it’s not by accident. We operate very differently from others. I felt that this was an important evolution, not just in my career but in the profession and how we work. It’s how we work together. It’s really important. That’s why I joined almost 15 years ago.

For example, the traditional model is one where the architect envisions a design and then has others respond to it in a way to attempt to make it work. Our mission is to pursue the work we’re passionate about, but in a much more collaborative way. When we talk about conceptual ideas, about how things can be different and better, we find it enlightening to work as a collaborative group with diverse perspectives. We’re no longer just talking about our individual or isolated silo of discipline. Instead, we approach design by working closely with our colleagues across architecture, planning, interior design and engineering.

I am an architect and my principle role is one of the lead design architects in the studio. As such, I’ve had the joy and pleasure of working with and leading teams often through some of these design exercises and projects that we’ve done. It’s profound in the way I actually think about architecture and design — it’s made me a better designer and the portfolio of work that I’ve been involved in much stronger. Collaborating across the firm keeps me interested and wanting to do more great work.

Jeff: DIALOG came together as we know it today about seven years ago. I joined the firm as a structural engineer because it was doing really interesting work. While we were relatively small at the time, the group was fully integrated and had all design team members together at the table at the same time. That was intriguing, and markedly different from the other structural engineering opportunities I might have experienced in my career. Over the years, as I grew in responsibility and became a partner in 2005, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some fantastic projects throughout Alberta and Canada.

Where we’re going as a firm is what keeps me engaged. The importance of design and how it can affect our communities to meaningfully impact the wellbeing of people — at the building, infrastructure, and urban scale — is really exciting. Today, we’re practicing more across North America and around the world. Our intent is to become a design practice that is doing globally competitive design and making a positive difference in communities wherever we practice. It’s wonderful to be a part of that. I will never practice anywhere else; I have no interest because I’m having way too much fun at DIALOG.

On recent projects that represent the firm’s unique approach
Stephen: One that I’m personally very proud of, and I know we worked hard as a collaborative team on, was the Edmonton International Airport. It’s a combined office and control tower. It was and remains a signature piece. We were tasked by our client to create a signature design tower for the Edmonton region. The airport project embodies our values and how we work better together. Right from the beginning, the question was “how would we design this tower to be representative of Edmonton?”

We had talked about it in the studio for weeks before we even drew anything. We drew upon the insights of our staff, their families and the Edmonton community to understand what the primary impressions of our region were. We exploited this level of collaboration rather than basing a design decision merely on my opinion.

It was an engaging process because we had people from the profession, community and staff from all over our firm working with the engineers and designers in the studio. Everyone had an opinion about what it is to be in Edmonton. People have different perspectives and views of a place, whether they had grown up here, spent their entire lives here, or who had immigrated or moved here from another part of the world. From that, we tried to understand the perspectives so we could try to embody a more holistic idea what it was to be part of Edmonton.

It was through this process that we had come to an evolutionary thinking about the airport. From there, the design started to evolve. We had a base concept and everybody agreed where it was coming from. It was a good touchstone for us to come back to. It became a collaborative effort of the entire studio.

One challenge was the need to integrate the control tower with the office tower. We had to solve all of the pragmatic, highly technical issues of what a control tower must embody. As an integrated team, we were able to discuss and address the real life and conceptual challenges. Despite the pragmatic challenges, we were able to retain a strong concept, a sense of place. Our client’s reaction has been very positive, and the people of Edmonton are proud that we’ve created something that has become a symbol for our city. It’s something that we can be proud of as an entire team and it embodies the way we chose to work.

Jeff: Another unique project that represents our belief in community wellbeing is the Mechanized River Valley Access project that we’re building right now with the City of Edmonton.

The crown jewel of Edmonton is the North Saskatchewan River valley, which runs right through the heart of the city. To give you a sense of the urban geography, the river valley is a bit similar to but deeper than the Mississippi River valley in Minneapolis. It’s quite naturalized, and the park system in the Edmonton River Valley is something like twenty times the size of Central Park in New York City. While it’s a wonderful asset, it’s extremely difficult to access because of its depth — about 175 feet — and we don’t want to build parking in the valley. Folks that have any sort of mobility restrictions do not have the same opportunity to enjoy the river valley that other citizens and guests to our city have.

Like many other places in the world — Switzerland or Chile or many others — our solution for connectivity is a funicular to join the downtown to the valley. But the experience from the downtown to the valley and back is much more than just a ride in the funicular: From downtown, the funicular leads to a promenade and lawn, then connects to a pedestrian bridge to a lookout over the river’s edge, and an elevator tower that takes people right down next to the water.

We believe the Mechanized River Valley Access project will become the foreground of the postcard view of downtown Edmonton. With the historic Fairmont Hotel Macdonald anchoring the funicular where it connects to the downtown, the project has the opportunity to become one of Edmonton’s great urban experiences. And that urban-to-riverbank experience will now be open to everyone: wheelchairs and cyclists, strollers and joggers, the young and the young at heart.

As a fully integrated project where all of our designers, landscape architects, planners and engineers have been working together, it’s going to make a huge impact in our community. We’re excited to change mindsets, to change the perception that the river valley is a barrier. The funicular cabin is large enough for you to roll your bicycle in with a bike trailer on the back, so if you’ve got your kids with you and they’re too small to ride their bikes up and down the hill you can still take your family down into the valley and back up out again.

On their design toolkit and the state of design software today
Jeff: The advances in technology are having a profound change on our industry. That said, it’s important that we don’t lose the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish with design: we need to use the tools in ways that makes the design better, and does not make design a slave to the tools. That’s sometimes challenging because for us old folks — Stephen and I being part of that group — because it’s hard to keep up with the pace of technological change. The reality is that we have exponential growth happening in the power of automation, computing, storage and network capability, but humans only learn at a certain, more linear, rate. As the exponential growth of technology takes place, it becomes more and more difficult for humans to keep up.

How do we stay ahead of that curve? How do we take advantage of it as we go forward? Our process is still heavily weighted at the front end to understanding the clients’ needs, the opportunities of the site, the opportunities in the community and it’s focused on what we’re trying to deliver. We don’t see that changing, but we do see bringing the right tools and technology into the picture after that initial concept has been usually sketched out or built in a physical model. Then we start bringing the right software into play.

We are essentially a BIM firm, and feel strongly that’s a form of automated drawing is the way of the future. But BIM by itself is no longer leading edge. It’s the connectivity between BIM and all sorts of other software; an example is the use of 3D scanners. For the last year and a half, we’ve been using the Oculus Rift goggles to do virtual reality simulations for our clients so they can better understand the feeling of the building and the space. And that’s just the beginning: the advances we’re making with computational design are astonishing in their speed and impact.

Our national design technology group is responsible for helping our firm make better and more unified use of the available technology. They have started to use augmented reality with the Microsoft HoloLens as well as drone videos. You can take drone pictures of sites that are typically hard to photograph, like the Mechanized River Valley Access. Getting all of these various pieces of technology to work together in a seamless way that isn’t overwhelmingly complicated is really the big challenge and opportunity for us.

On the future of architecture in the next 5–10 years
Jeff: We’re seeing the future now! There are a handful of projects around North America that have started to use model-based delivery of design rather than 2D drawings and old-fashioned specs. I don’t think it will be very much longer that we’re building our designs in 3D and BIM, spending an inordinate amount of time dumbing them back down into 2D. We’re going to transition to a time when we give the model to the bidders and to the contractors and they’ll build directly from our concept without the need of reverting a 3D design back into 2D. As a firm, we’re trying to get there as quickly as we can. But there are still several roadblocks and we’re sure that other firms are experiencing the same road blocks.

The next challenge is having a construction industry with sufficient sophistication, particularly among the subcontractors and sub trade, who can pull the 3D information directly from the model in order to bid a job without having a host of contractual and change-order issues later. The contracts need to evolve and those are being worked on both in the United States and in Canada, as well as around the world.

Simply put, the buildings we design today are becoming more sophisticated. It’s important for us to meet higher levels of sustainability, occupant comfort and wellness than ever before. It’s necessary for us to design buildings with the future in mind. From net zero energy consumption to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions to using less clean water. What we foresee is that there is real potential for the design and construction industry need to work together more closely than ever before. If you look at other industries, such as the automobile industry, back in the old days it was common for auto manufacturers to have manufacturing in one building and design in another. They didn’t talk to each other. They weren’t side-by-side. In recent years, the quality and complexity of automobiles has increased dramatically. But the level of quality and durability is increasing year over year. How have they done that? If you actually look at the research around it, it’s because they’ve integrated the design into the manufacturing process.

Generally speaking, I don’t think we have that in the design industry right now. It’s designers designing and constructors constructing. While there are design-build firms around, they’re pretty few and far between. Our whole industry is set up to have isolation of design and construction. I believe that a change is required to somehow realign our industry so that designers and constructors can work together more seamlessly from project to project. Learning happens through repeated action and working together time and time again will allow us to start to advance the building industry. Undoubtedly, Design Build and Integrated Project Delivery and other forms of collaboration will become more valuable to enable this transition.

On advice they would give their younger selves
Stephen: I’ve described to others that architecture is an art form that’s inhabited and realized in a very different way from other pieces of art. When I came out of school, I was the young kid who was passionate about design and wanted to change the world with great design. The evolution for me was through the school of hard knocks. When you get out into the real world, you realize people think differently about architecture and architects. It took me a while to learn and to grow. There are the pragmatics of cost and schedule and all those things that come into play. It was about learning the balance between them, so you didn’t lose the art of architecture, the passion of design and the changing of our community.

It went from a solo sport to a team sport. It’s taken me time to adapt. Had I known this coming out of school, I probably would’ve saved myself a lot of time and gotten to a better place more quickly. The one thing I would tell myself is that the learning curve that was ahead didn’t have to be as steep and arduous as it was. Accept it sooner rather than later.

Jeff: Take more risks. As engineers we learn in school, particularly as structural engineers, that failure is not an option. Your acceptance of failure as a structural engineer is zero. That’s a good thing because that’s the way it should be. But in terms of taking other types of risks, like business risks or trying interesting technology, moving into a new market, or taking the risks of pushing the envelope — without compromising public safety in any way — those risks should be seen as a good thing.

There’s a bit of a dichotomy in the education of engineers. We’re taught that you’re supposed to reduce, control and minimize risk all the time. When in fact you should only reduce, control and minimize certain types of risks. Other types of risks we should embrace and celebrate. Finding that right balance between entrepreneurialism and innovation, while maintaining the importance as an engineer of ensuring that the safety and wellbeing of the public is balanced. If I could tell my younger self a bit of advice, it would be: push as hard as you can on those areas where you can take risks. And enjoy the ride!

Design Manifestos: Alex Hogrefe of Visualizing Architecture| Modelo

Alex Hogrefe created his website, Visualizing Architecture, in the summer of 2009 while he was a student at Miami University of Ohio working towards a Master of Architecture degree. The original intention was to use the website as a means to communicate to his instructors the progress he was making on his thesis work. However, the site quickly turned into a place to upload all of his thoughts, work, and experiments, whether it had to do with thesis or not.

While Alex’s background has always been architecture, he’s constantly experimenting with all things visual. He still posts his photography and drawings as these mediums play a large part in his understanding of proportion, layout, composition, lighting, and many other factors that directly relate to architectural illustrations. At the end of the day though, it all comes back to architecture and architecture illustrations. It’s Alex’s biggest creative outlet and what he lives to do. Modelo spent some time learning about Alex’s inspirations and some of his recent visualization projects.

On transitioning from being an architect to a visualization specialist
I have always been interested in Visualization. I practiced quite a bit in school and managed much of the visualization at the architectural offices that I worked at. The opportunity came a few years ago to leave the architecture field and pursue visualization with my partner Andrew, and it just seemed like the right time. The transition was smooth, since visualization was something I did a lot in my free time with my website. However, it was the now.

On starting his website Visualizing Architecture
I started my website in grad school as a way to communicate with my professors over the summer about my thesis work. However, the website quickly transitioned to content about architectural rendering techniques and explorations. Early on, the blog was very rough with no real identity or consistency of content. It was never intended to be widely followed and read by others. However, today it is solely focused on all things architecture visualization, with the content much more organized and the direction of the website clearer. The work itself has evolved quite a bit from when I first started the site. I think that is one of the best parts of my blog, you can see the change of my understanding of image making over time, and the slow transition from novice to more professional looking illustrations through years and years of practice.

On specific principles he strives to adhere to
In respect to my website, my biggest goal is to always maintain a sense of experimentation and exploration. I am always trying to create work that is different from anything else that I have done, and I am always trying to better my skills and artistry with every new illustration. It is very easy to get stuck in a particular style and create the same type of image over and over again. I want my website to be a place that people can use as a jumping off point to create illustrations that best fit their project. I am worried that architectural visualization is becoming to standardized and generalized with the introduction of the computer. It is too easy to click render and accept what the computer creates. It is important to maintain the human aspect of visualization, giving each illustration a personality that matches the narrative of the project.

On his role and the goal of Visualizing Architecture
My role is simple, to create unique content every few weeks. The site is meant to teach young architects the fundamentals of image making, and give them the tools they need to generate compelling images that tell the story that they want to tell. I am the only one who runs the site, so it is up to me create, write, and produce each blog post, as well us manage emails, social media, and my site store. It takes up a lot of my weekend and week nights, but I have a pretty good system in place that keeps me from getting burned out.

On engaging his followers
I will be the first to say that I am really quite bad at engaging with my followers. I place most of my priority on creating new content, and then what time I have left goes to answering emails and messages through social media. Sometimes it seems an infinite amount of time can go into managing social media and community engagement, and it is something that I struggle with. With that said, I think a lot of my audience knows that I have limited interaction, or that I am only one person, and thus I can’t always respond to every comment on my website or every message through social media. There are four main areas that I focus my engagement. Comments directly through my website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I don’t spend time trying to get people to follow me on Facebook nor do I make big marketing pushes to promote my work. Instead, I focus on producing engaging content and hope that people find their way to my work through word of mouth or links from other popular websites.

On recent visualization projects that stand out as representatives to his unique approach
It’s difficult to choose a single project that represents my approach because I try to push each project in a slightly different direction style wise. However, a recent project that garnered a lot of attention was my cliff retreat design, and specifically the aerial perspective rendering of that project. That image was largely created in Photoshop, and is a good example of what a photoshop heavy workflow can produce. It consisted of many images stitched together with extreme lighting and textural manipulation. In some ways, that image combined many of the tutorials that I discuss on my website into a single narrative. Other illustrations of that project such as the sections took on a much more textured and rough quality that recalled some of the ruggedness of the landscape, while other images had a more contemplative feel referencing the undeveloped and ruralness of the site in such a dramatic and inspiring setting. While each illustration was different in style from the other, they all attempted to reinforced the story of the project.

Currently, I am also developing series of illustrations for a design that I created of a research lab in Alaska. The setting is within a birch tree forest which sets up a unique and poetic environment. One of the things that I have been discussing on my website is the use of visualization as a design tool and not just something that happens at the end of the project. In this project in particular, I am using visualization to make decisions early on about form and materiality. Because of technology and modern workflows in visualization, files can be setup to allow for quick editing and updates. Thereforehigh quality visualization can be used in parallel with the development of the design/3d model to help make decisions during the design process. Because these images are being used to study the design, they naturally have taken on an experiential angle, as opposed to something less natural such as a bird’s eye view or an aerial. Instead, the cameras are placed at important moments of the experience such as when one first approaches the structure from a distance through thick trees, or as one walks underneath the structure getting ready to enter it. A completely different type of illustration was created to study different sectional ideas that was more diagrammatic in nature. All of these illustrations are serving an important role in the design process as opposed to quickly being generated at the end to better present the project.

Projects such as the Boston Cultural Center and the Boston Wharf where also important in the sense that those projects took some of the early fundamental techniques discussed on my website and applied them to higher quality visualization. For example, a technique on shifting a daytime image to a nighttime image using only Photoshop was revisited in an illustration of the Boston Cultural Center. The newer illustration was much more advanced in its setup compared to the original tutorial, but the same principal of darkening the image and then erasing to reveal the lighter image below was unchanged. A technique of adding grass was revisited in an illustration of the Boston Wharf, but again at a much higher level of quality and sensitivity than in the original tutorial. Many years of working on hundreds of illustrations have built up a higher sensitivity to image making, but the fundamentals largely remained unchanged. I think this is important for people to understand, but also see in action through my website.

On his design toolkit
Like I said, I use a very Photoshop heavy workflow on my website. In terms of 3D software, I primarily use Sketchup and V-Ray. The combination gives me the right amount of speed and flexibility. Once I have a decent base file to work with, I will usually spend 50%-75% of my time in Photoshop adding textures, people, vegetation, and atmosphere.

On the future of the architecture industry in the next 5–10 years
All signs point to Virtual Reality. With that said, Virtual Reality won’t replace traditional visualization methods, it will just be an additional tool in the representation toolbox. Clients will still need 2d images and video, but VR will slowly incorporate itself into the presentation deliverables as clients become more comfortable with the technology and presentation of VR becomes more accessible. Also, software is becoming more and more intuitive and advanced which means an understanding of the technical side is becoming less important. However, it still difficult to get software to make proper artistic decisions, and that is where the visualization artist will still be depended on to generate compelling images.

Boston Wharf Black & White Site (Image courtesy of Visualizing Architecture)

On advice he would give himself
That’s a good question. I probably would tell myself to study composition and light more. Similar to photography, composition and light make or break an image. I spent much of my time trying to master Photoshop techniques and render settings that I didn’t put enough emphasis on some of the more fundamental parts of image making. I think studying light and composition would have pushed my earlier images to a much better place. It’s a mistake that many people starting out in school and this profession make.

Thoughts on going back to architecture
I miss some parts of architecture a lot, but there are many parts of architecture that I don’t miss (laughs). Conversely, I can’t think of any part of architecture visualization that I don’t enjoy. Every week, I get to work on completely new images for some of the most exciting projects being built around the world. I get to be an artist everyday, and through my website, I get to talk to and meet people all around the country and world. It really is exciting.