preserve
Historic Preservation and Adaptive Use has for sometime, begun to look at activities in building, community or neighborhood preservation as one of the activities in the much bigger pursuit of cultural identity and conservation--a much broader concept. I want to take the existence of a successful building or group of buildings beyond the study of architectural history and the application of new problem solving abilities and designs beyond the realm of creation. I study and learn about our human selves through the medium of the built environment that we create for ourselves. I hope to develop in myself and to impart to my clients a new ethic of stewardship of our natural and material culture, both tangible and intangible.
design
For me it is about the act or the building not just the thought or depiction. I have kept my practice such that I am able to be as involved as possible in every aspect and stage of the creation process. That process has many inputs. The client or originator has desires, a program and a budget. Our culture and community requires that we be responsible in as far and much as what we do affects those around us. The building action is not as simple as maybe it once was and therefore it takes a true community or group to construct even the simplest of structures. One thing however is singular in fact--the best and most successful buildings are those have made the translation from thought to completion through a singular language and a singular interpreter.
learn
It begins with interest, the want to know who or where or why. Where did they really walk or what route did that road actually follow...when it began? Being a part of a wonderful family with generations of culture developed in a great house, drives my interest in the design of houses that become homes. A need to see and to go and see...my state, my country and three continents and counting. The mode and route of the journey is as important as the destination. The turn of a page, a click of the mouse, a pack over the shoulder, the click and clack of the track, behind the wheel or through the clouds...what ever it takes. It ends with passing on all that you find--to teach. Only through teaching can you truly say you have learned. Teaching is in my blood and I am proud that it has been a major part of my personal and professional life.