August 18, 2014

Comfort + Delight

The success of design is often determined by a detached picture or drawing, collected statistics, or a competitive award. While these outcomes matter, we also find meaningful success from the whole beauty of space, through its atmosphere and corporeal experience. To us, this multisensory arena is where architecture, and the architect, can achieve the design’s most elusive impacts: to charm, to inspire, to motivate, to console, to strengthen, to restore. Through an intimate knowledge of the body and of perception, we can better understand how to satisfy diverse comfort requirements in creative and delightful ways.

Comfort is a mercurial friend. Delight, a subjective goal. The two have a reciprocal relationship, but exist independently. Without clear quantitative means for studying their connection, what they cause, and what initiates them, it can be tempting to deprioritize both. Yet to fully nurture the human condition, comfort and delight are essential for a spatial experience.

We understand buildings as a collection of spaces and uses, but also as a collection of atmospheres, microclimates, and moods. An awareness and a deep appreciation of the world’s diverse phenomena will cultivate expertise in how to nourish the body and soul. We have experienced architecture’s tremendous capacity to uplift the spirit, to ground us in the world, and to connect us with each other, and we believe in continually seeking to understand the possibilities of this unique capacity.

In exploring Comfort + Delight, we will delve into questions like:
+ How can architecture make us better? Not only healthier and happier, but also more aware, more engaged with our surroundings, more present in the world?
+ Can architecture foster empathy?
+ If we could measure joy precisely when a space became occupied, how would we design differently?