Design resides in the threshold between the idea and the making.  The myriad decisions in that space - aesthetic, pragmatic, functional, whimsical, conscious, and subconscious - all coordinate toward a reality. To be proclaimed “good” or “bad,” an object’s design must be considered as a whole. Allowing for the visual, without regard to the practical, misses the bigger issue, as does creating an object based on functional considerations at the expense of the transcendent.

Good design is not linked to a style, a philosophical movement, or trend. It comes from the perfect marriage of the sensible and the sublime. It exists when nothing can be taken away; when every piece is integrally linked creating a composition that lacks nothing, but is not superfluous. It meets the needs of the user perfectly, while delighting the senses, and wasting nothing.

Nowhere is this truer than Architecture. Louis Sullivan said, “form follows function.” True. But, it also follows scale, proportion, budget, context and materials. None acts alone. None is more important. To be well-designed, a building needs all of these to be harmonious. A beautiful building cannot be considered well-designed if it exceeds the budget, wastes natural resources or ignores its neighbors.

The charge of the designer is daunting: balance, everything in its proper place. Design it so there could be no other solution and all who view it know it to be true. Impossible? This is the challenge and ultimate responsibility of the designer…

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