Our approach is to search for the essential elements of architecture; to return to the starting point of any space in order to arrive at the essence of architecture through a minimum of gestures.
Minimalism is not only negation, subtraction and purity: it is about reducing the creative process to the basic concepts of light, volume and mass. This austere and simple formalization, which sometimes hides elaborate technical construction, eliminates all superfluous elements and results in a clear, intense perception of the spaces.
We perceive interior space being experienced as a narrative, as a passing of time; the architectural scheme unfolding as a sequence of events or experiences. As we progress along the axis of movement, our experience is structured as a set of juxtaposed spatial fragments whose propositions and relations develop once seen as a whole. Our proposition is to define clear passages of flow punctuated by spatial pauses.
Therefore a minimum of vertical partitions, both static and mobile, are incorporated into the schemes; any that do remain perform multiple tasks, doors are recessed into walls and may occupy various positions recreating the spatial layout accordingly.
Materiality is used in such a way as to act and react within a space and its particular idiosyncrasies; these being the occupants, the use or program, the lighting conditions, both natural and artificial and its context.
Materials can be incongruously juxtaposed to provoke interesting contrasts at their interface, and therefore delineate areas solely on the horizontal plane; not only on the visual level but also on the tactile.
Lighting can be used to model a space; it manipulates how we view form, surface and texture. Our eyes register any light reflected from surfaces, refracted through transparent layers or projected onto translucent skins. Voids may be intersected by the calligraphic passage of light; upon solid form, light etches its surface.
The element of lighting becomes part of the structure, being integral to the architectural form.
Furniture is used for a variety of purposes; to reinforce the spatial layout, almost inseparable from the architecture, but also to create flexibility within discrete areas due to their multifunctional designs; to introduce another layer of materiality which contrasts with the more permanent finishes; and to provide an object for the lighting design to describe, or be incorporated into. All of these purposes may combine to create a genre of furniture which makes a purely personal and subjective statement.
Finally, and most obviously perhaps, is to fulfil a function, or combined functions, from the simple to the highly specific or specialized.