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Philosophy"Projects that work" is the clearest summation of Tierney/Figueiredo Architects' office philosophy. We believe projects must work on four levels: aesthetically, contextually, financially, and functionally. A successful project cannot fail at any one of these levels.Aesthetically: The client must be proud of the project; the project must express the client's image, visions, and aspirations; the project must inspire not only the client, but also those who will use the project, now and in the future. Contextually: The project must fit into its physical, social and historical context. A successful project cannot ignore its surroundings. A design suitable for downtown Los Angeles may be unsuitable in a small community; a brick building may be inappropriate in a town of wood framed, traditional north coast buildings. A well designed building should not only integrate into its community, but also enhance the surrounding environment. Financially: A project must be financially successful in the short and long term. An initial budget must be determined at the earliest stages of the project analysis process. Preliminary construction cost estimates should be obtained before final design concepts are established. A cost estimate of reasonable accuracy must be established prior to the start of construction documents for the project. The actual bid process for the general construction contract should validate these initial cost estimates, not produce an unexpected surprise! Cost cutting revisions are most costly, difficult and disappointing at the end of architectural process, therefore decisions must be made in the earliest stages of the project to control costs. These decisions require the direct participation of the client in the design team working together with the architect and consulting engineers. A well informed client able to make timely, firm decisions is an architect's best ally in controlling costs. Functionally: The ability of a project to efficiently meet the functional needs of a client is perhaps its greatest requirement for success. A project must provide the client with what the client specifically needs, even if the client is not precisely sure what that is in the initial stages of project analysis. We believe the architect's primary duty is to listen to the client and provide them with solutions to their problems. This may or may not involve the designing of buildings. We never forget that we're not working on our project, we're working on your project. A successful architect cannot allow his or her ego to interfere with the success of the project, and that success can only be measured in the eyes of the client. We have always prided ourselves on the large number of repeat clients we have had over the years; for us this is the true measure of our success, a more meaningful testimonial to our ability than the awards we have received from civic and industry associations. In order to meet the high standards described above, Tierney/Figueiredo Architects has established the following goals: 1. Maintain an office size that allows the two principals to be actively and directly involved with the client and the design process. We strive to be accessible and service oriented. 2. Listen to the client, be responsive to their needs, and be flexible in arriving at options and solutions; we believe that constraints only provide challenges, not problems. 3. Include the structural engineer in the design team from the earliest stages of the process; this not only keeps construction costs to a minimum but also provides for the graceful integration of architecture with the structural system. 4. Stress innovation at all levels of the project. Our successful work over the years with commercial developers has taught us that creativity and perseverance can produce efficient, elegant and cost conscious solutions within budgets below those typically found in public and institutional projects. 5. Enthusiasm for all projects. Every client deserves our complete and enthusiastic attention; after all, no project is neither too small nor too ordinary to be transformed into a source of pride and profit for our client. |
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