Approach
We see our work process as slow architecture1. Believing that it is preferable to rethink and repurpose existing resources2 than to tap new ones, we infiltrate existing systems that are responsible for built form, rather than reinvent the wheel each time. We explore local conditions3 to discover how an efficient (and economical) reconfiguration of available materials, forms and methods, informed by the latest advances in technology, can result in an improved quality of life for communities and individuals. For us, this is sustainable design4—both vis-à-vis the environment and our own business—and it is particularly well-suited to the twinned economic and ecological crises that we face today.
Collectively, A+M has extensive experience in a multitude of disciplines5 (architectural and landscape design, graphic and interior design, development and construction). We solve design problems around multiple obstacles, time and budget constraints, available materials and long-established local methodologies. We follow through on our work in all phases from initial schematics to implementation. We design, research and discover by making.
1
What is Slow Architecture?
“Slow” does not necessarily mean it takes forever; and “slow architecture” means that it would last a long time, because it is well considered, created with the end-user in mind, and it allows for future modifications, additions, re-organization and even use and program change. Fast architecture ends up in a demolition heap only after a few decades, slow architecture evolves with time.
Case Studies
2
Existing Resources
In the aftermath of the industrial 20th century, where everything, from buildings to food, tended to be produced quickly, cheaply, and in vast quantity, we now have huge piles of stuff – materials, buildings, landscapes, technology – that is no longer needed, useful, or adequate for us today. The question, for us, is how to make this legacy become a resource for today and the future.
Case Studies
3
Local Conditions
“Local” is very much related to “slow” – what is around us, what can be a resource, what makes sense to be built given the climate, ecology, economy, culture, and beliefs in a particular place (or “loci”)? “Local” can be a point of inspiration and/or a moment of resistance, but it is always a place to start.
Case Studies
4
Sustainable Design
Much has been said of sustainable design: much of it is about trends and fashion. It seems that the moment “sustainable architecture” becomes a tautology (i.e. “greasy butter”), is the moment when everyone will assume that buildings need to be made from materials that are reused and reusable, and in manner that does not waste energy, and in a way that allows for dramatic change without waste, and, ideally, in a way that makes the people who use them happy – then this built environment can last a long time. The Colosseum in Rome is the most sustainable building, as in the last two millennia it has been an arena, a city, a church, a stone quarry, a rare plant garden and now a museum, amongst other things.
Case Studies
5
Multitude of Disciplines
It is certainly the fact that a building takes many disciplines to put together, and an architect is an organizer of this communal effort. But we also look to other disciplinary experiences (often visual ones, but not exclusively) to glean new ideas and, frankly, wisdom, about other ways to understand how to draw, how map, how to construct, how to hear, see, experience and how to think about the past, present and future of the built environment and its inhabitants.
Case Studies
