At LS3P, Design Excellence Means We Refine Through Iteration
At the beginning of a project, the opportunities seem limitless.
Jeremy Alford, AIA, NCARB, LEED AG // Architect ©LS3P 2023At the beginning of a project, the opportunities seem limitless. Designers wrestle with a multitude of variables: project vision, site, form, program, stakeholder needs, community impacts, materials, sustainability, technical details, and many other elements that will impact the building. A complex endeavor rarely involves one ideal solution, and arriving at the final design requires many layers of refinement. We refer to these layers as iteration.
The product matters, but so does the process. In fact, the success of the product is heavily dependent on the quality of the process.
Laying a Solid Foundation
We begin by exploring the multiple possibilities presented through a deep investigation of the place, culture, and people impacted by the project. This discovery process is the foundation upon which we build. We then develop a thorough understanding of the client’s goals, aspirations, and intentions. We distill these into “Guiding Principles” – a list of benchmarks against which all design decisions will be measured and tested. This framework serves as a reference for the design team as we begin to explore possibilities through sketches, modeling, writing, and thinking.
Making Something, & Making it Again
The process of making allows the design to become, to be discovered. It is in the act of making that we come to understand the opportunities for placemaking. In his book Make to Know, Lorne Buchman states that we must “do the making, engage in the creative act itself, to get to a place of knowing both the work and the ideas behind it.” To move past our initial ideas or familiar approaches to a project type, we create defined spaces and time within our discovery and schematic design phases to explore, test, make, and remake.
Stepping away from the work makes room for afterthoughts to arise. Acclaimed graphic designer Paula Scher describes this pause from focusing intently on the work as a place where, “Nothing is going on, so everything is going on.” Having space to make, evaluate, explore, question, pause, and revisit helps us discover aspects of the work that are not available on the surface when we first engage in the design process.
Communication is Key
Design iteration is collaborative, and communication is a thread that runs throughout the process of creating architecture. Each iteration informs us of what the project is becoming. We dialogue with our clients, colleagues, and the intangibles of place, culture, and story that are inherent in a site. We engage the process through questions, often beginning with, “What if?” Investigating possibilities requires a curious and inquisitive mind. In his book Creativity, Inc., Ed Catmull relates that the intent at Pixar was “to foster a creative culture that would continually ask questions.”
In this environment of trust, the client is a full participant in the design process; their collaborative engagement aligns expectations throughout the design phase. This collaborative culture is essential to bringing about work that speaks to more than just utility, to one that embodies aspiration and sustainability.
Within our established parameters, iteration helps us dwell in possibility for what the project could become. Architect Michael Maltzan states it well:
Through this iterative process, we can elevate our work into something that exceeds expectations and embodies design excellence.
Meet the Author
With a Bachelor of Arts focusing on Art Studio and Graphic Design, Architect and Associate Jeremy Alford excels in drawing and producing beautiful graphic renderings of various projects that are able to allow clients to visually see what their buildings will resemble. To better assist the flow of a project, Jeremy uses an open line of communication with the client and team to continually be on the same page and keep the client updated on any developments along the way. Jeremy is currently coleading LS3P’s Alchemy Knowledge Team, which is dedicated to advancing design excellence firmwide.
“It’s in the process that you get not only to the building but to the continuity of ideas & ambition.”