Transforming materials is at the core of who we are and what we do for you.
They are the raw ingredients we use to shape your project and build atmosphere. When you walk into a space, the surfaces and shapes that surround you define your experience. What you see, hear, touch, and even smell all contribute to how that space makes you feel.
With knowledge of the intrinsic qualities of materials, we craft your projects so materials come to life and contribute to the overall atmospheric expression. Our hands-on experience working with artisans, working in wood and metal shops ourselves, grinding pigments, casting metals and exploring new fabrication techniques guides our design approach. We have trained our eyes to see the unique qualities of each material—surface, color, texture, density, weight, reflectivity and plasticity—to see the possibilities of how they can be used.
Our local and global network of skilled artisans, craftspeople and fabricators allow us to bring our love of materials to your project. Seeking new ideas and possibilities, we find the right places to go and people to collaborate with to create what hasn’t been seen before.
Creating atmosphere is a magical process of combination and transformation. Here are some of our favorite materials.
Light, both natural and artificial, is the most essential material and defines how every other is experienced. The way light brings life to a building or space is fundamental and the shifting qualities of light and shade throughout each day and across each season tells the story of place. It’s expression is at the core of every project.
Gilding, which dates back to ancient Egypt, is the process of applying thin metal to architectural surfaces. Gold, silver, copper and aluminum and other metals are pounded into thin sheets and applied with different techniques. The process is remarkably versatile, and allows the subtle nuances of the base metals to be experienced in their pure form.
Black walnut, the only dark native hardwood to North America, has warmth, depth, exciting figure, and medley of subtle intermixed colors — browns, reds, black, purple, yellows. It can be a wildly beautiful wood and imbue a rich and natural feeling to any space. Black walnut really comes alive under a good finish and it will develop a lustrous patina over time.
Marble exudes an aura of positivity and vitality. It’s a luminous stone that can be carved, honed, polished, and sliced for a vast range of uses and to a variety of effects. Its subtle nuances of color caused by veining and soft clouding effects are infinite, and can bring to mind images of nature such as water, ice, snow, land covered with woods and lichens, and cliffs, provoking soothing and relaxing sensations.
Decorative float glass with traditional and contemporary techniques offers endless possibilities from unique metal leaf applications, to sandblasting and etching, to painting and printing. It’s transparency, reflectivity, and impermeability make it well suited for controlling light and sound. It can be used for both interior and exterior applications.
Corian, a man-made material, allows designers to create things that could not be made from any other material. Joints can be made invisible and its seamless appearance is a signature characteristic. It can also be shaped and molded into limitless forms. These unique properties can be harnessed to create minimalist and futuristic atmospheres of seamlessness, or to shape evocative sculptural elements.
Fiber is the basis for materials made from animal, vegetable, mineral, wood and synthetic sources. Products range from soft luxurious cashmere and silk fabrics to contemporary materials like stainless steel fiber and fiberboard. Fiber, like fabric itself, is woven throughout the building process and always plays an important role. When used successfully it can elevate a space creating warmth, tactility and harmony.
Concrete, the building mud of the ancient world, is just sand and rocks mixed with cement and water. A versatile and durable material that can be both structure and finished surface and perform this dual role simply and elegantly. Developed and used masterfully by the ancient Romans the Pantheon from 126 CE still stands with the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. Today, new high-performance concrete makes cutting-edge design and engineering possible.
Sound is an important defining quality of architecture. It is an ever-present material. The way it reflects from other materials can produce great harmony or discord. Care is be taken to understand the acoustic properties of a space and it is intentionally controlled to unify and elevate the experience.
Patinated copper exudes warmth and character and changing color over time. Copper patinas from a bright golden orange color to iridescent brown to near black and finally to a greenish hue. It’s evolving beauty can feel sumptuous and even mysterious. Its earthy metallic tones complement other organic materials like stone and wood to create a unique chromatic palette reminiscent of changing autumn leaves.
Together, we make materials come to life.
Check out our Projects to see how we use materials.