The Revive Archi-Story

Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

I am not one of those people that knew exactly what they wanted to be from age 4.  I wasn’t building great works of design with legos on the family room floor or sketching colorful landscapes in elementary school that ended up on the refrigerator.  In fact, I couldn’t even get a snowman to stand tall without the help of my childhood neighbor tribe (and a few dozen cups of hot cocoa).

               I sort of wandered into architecture by way of my “middle-of-the-road”ness.  Now… I am not trying to imply that I am average – and also not trying to imply that I am not – simply identifying  a point of view that has continually showed up in me.  I am the kind of person that is interested in the grey area, the in-between, the intersections.  In the case of Architecture, it was the overlap of science and art that drew me in.  In college I oscillated from sciencey subjects (pre-dental) to artsy subjects (art history) never able to settle on either extreme.  Ultimately, I found a subject that married the two – architecture. 

               As you might predict, the designer that grew out of that frame of mind (me!) is one that straddles the line between construction / technique / assemblies / details / reality / practicality and design / big-picture composition / creativity / emotion / concept. 

EQUAL PARTS IMAGINATION + REALITY

Each side of the pendulum can inform the other over-and-over again until the vision is clear.  It’s essentially a honing method that uncovers the outcome through the process of iteration and refinement.

               I’d like to think that this mentality of flexibility also gives me the ability to take direction from client visions and follow the threads that will get us to the outcome that is most fitting.  One big reason that I started REVIVE was to do service differently.  A home, a space should be an expression of those dwelling within it – not an egotistical manifestation created in the designer’s mental vacuum.  That’s where client input, tastes and preferences are of the utmost importance. 

              My aim is always to translate the needs and desires of clients into the language of space, materiality, form and ultimately function.  That is why the design process at REVIVE was crafted to capitalize on client/designer collaboration.  The design questionnaire we tailor to each of our projects is where that spark starts.  No great work ever comes solely from one mind or one vision.  The stitching together is what makes projects unique and successful.