I Love to Design

I Love to Design

I love to design! When I am presented with a new project, I prefer to have all of the restrictive ordinances and site considerations upfront with the client program. These tell me what my design options will be. Starting the design process to soon creates unnecessary delays and negates many options. Such as: integration of elements, true sustainable design for each site, and limits the design responses to putting out the fires you now have to resolve because your design did not take into consideration the sites  program opportunities. My process is layered, scheduled, and percolated in the night as a design meeting within my mind. Then the process is turned into sketches and ultimately full construction plans. When I design this way, it invites creativity.  

This process provides a path, one step at a time, to create a development project that the client understands and appreciates. - J. Heimler

This process provides a path, one step at a time, to create a development project that the client understands and appreciates. They know why each element is designed the way that it is and the purpose it serves. This creative process works in a single direction with the least modifications. This is the efficiency that I thrive on! Well planned design, development, production, approvals, bidding, construction, and commissioning, gives our clients a leg up on other approaches to the architectural services we provide. It is not easy. This is an integrated design process that relies on all our design team to provide input in a timely manner. This keeps our clients schedules, budgets, and priorities on track. Unfortunately this process does not always go as smooth as we hope. Unexpected delays in Plan Check or Inspections can occur. But our process has greatly limited lost schedules, assisted in design opportunities, and controlled overall budgets. Our clients have appreciated this process. If you what any proof look at the quality and quantity of projects we have successfully completed over the last 30 years.

2085 Site Plan a10My love of designing, brainstorming, and helping others reach their goals is very personal for me. I have always enjoyed a timeless design that supports the human condition, responds to each client and their user groups, and enlivens one’s life. It is all about the quality of life! We all want to enrich our lives. Architecture is one of the oldest ways the human race has used to do that. Investment in ones needs and dreams. Each has its cost and not everyone can afford all of both, but everyone can expect to achieve a level of comfort and spiritual enlightenment out of each design. Good architecture is not just a box but can be an experience. Honesty in design is absorbed in your life. Some feel the energy and vibe architecture can evoke. Some see the variations and flexibility of the changing use a space has over time. Some just see the dollars, spend or planned as an investment. Nowadays almost everyone wants to know how to reduce their utility bills. Some even want to be part of the global warming, environmental, and social justice movement to help heal the earth, our communities, and join in common ground to care for our family, friend, clients, and all the people around us and extended around the globe. Each breath you take does affect someone else.

Leiberman ResidenceI just finished reading a book about Alvar Aalto, a Finish Architect. Over the years his designs evolved from strict modern to locally modern with the development of a spatial context that met the specific situations he was designing for. Community buildings used by the public to strengthen the civic pride and creating a place, a community place, with varying needs and uses for the people he was assisting. He thought about the environment. He thought about the people. He pushed the envelope on how typical buildings evoke emotions and how they were built. He could think of the big picture in the master planning of each of his designs and then get down to the very personal details of sound, texture, color, and views. He spoke with the older generations who had lived in the communities and incorporated their past experiences. He believed people had value! That human experience of feeling, touching, visualization, smells, and audio were all part of this experience. He played with perspective, making more space available to the eye. He dematerialized the boundaries of space. Spaces become ethereal, free of focus, opening your mind to new experiences. He was acute to the sensitivities of the human experience and used those in his designs. He cared and could envision a responsive design for each of his clients. He was active in defining building experiences and letting his views be known.

I’d like to think I’m following his example. Alvar Aalto cared about the community around him. He grew and adapted with this knowledge. To me, I have lived my personal and professional life in a similar fashion. I hope my legacy will have a sampling of his. I feel it, and live it. It goes back to the soul. I do not have a choice. I extend every part of my being to assist in developing the very best outcome for each of my clients within the reality of the project. To this day, I continue to assist communities in developing modifications to their building codes and planning issues as part of my path in life.

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