I am very proud of our town, Santa Monica, CA, at this moment. This Saturday, the ribbon will be cut on Santa Monica’s third universally accessible playground. Universally accessible playgrounds allow children of all abilities to participate and enjoy one common play area.
Read MoreThe reason we get engrossed in the details (see blog post “We Love Puzzles” 8/8/18) is because through the application of the details the bigger picture comes into view. And it is the bigger picture, the final product, that makes us go “wow.”
Read MoreI love teaching. I realized I loved teaching while working part time in my college design Mac lab. I really enjoyed helping people figure out how to do something, and doing my own learning in the process.
Read MoreSome people talk about the devil being in the details, meaning although something may look simple, the deeper you get into the details the more complicated the undertaking becomes. We prefer to talk about details like puzzle pieces that need to be fit together to form a picture.
Read MoreWhen working with a new client I always explain our team structure and introduce the team members. This is not an atypical practice in any service industry. However, our team is special. I am pretty sure this also isn’t an atypical statement in any service industry, at least I would hope other company leaders appreciate their team as much as I do.
Read MoreI particularly like Anne Frank’s sentiment because I feel it applies to what we do as a design + construct firm and what we do as individuals in our community.
Read MoreADU. Accessory Dwelling Unit. Not as romantic sounding as Carriage House, or as quirky as Grannie Flat, or as loaded as Mother-in-law Unit. But all are different names for the same thing, a space for dwelling that is separate or attached to a single family home on a piece of property.
Read MoreRemember the TV show “Golden Girls”? How about “Friends”? Or perhaps “Three’s Company”? All of these shows included family or friends sharing a home. We called them roommates at the time, now in this new “sharing economy”…
Read MoreToday we’re doing different things with traditional space layouts to accommodate our lives that are becoming anything but traditional. Our desire for space types seem endless. A few of the types being revolutionized are master bedrooms, home offices and living rooms.
Read MoreThere was a lot I loved about Greece, but what sticks with me most about that trip as a young adult, are the colors. The bright bold colors that always look freshly painted against the alabaster white stucco walls.
Read MoreIt is finally that glorious time of year again when there is a remnant of evening daylight at the end of the workday; just enough time to enjoy a meal or a glass of wine on the back patio or at an outdoor café with friends.
Read MoreOur architecture evolves along with our lives. As our lives, on a whole, become less formal and less socially structured, so do the spaces in which we work and live. We wear far fewer suits, work far outside 9 to 5, and can work virtually anywhere.
Read MoreWhat seems like long ago I would see for-lease signs on the sides of buildings advertising available space as “fully wired” or “wifi enabled”; these technologies were new and unique amenities at the time.
Read MoreWhen you ask Abeer Sweis what kind of space excites her, she would say one that influences people. Whether it’s a residential home or commercial space—wherever people spend time—she wants to bring out quality interactions in relationships that stimulate ideas, fuels communication, creates intimacy, and allows for growth.
Read MoreWhen selecting a firm, it’s important to understand the difference between the types of services each one offers so you will know what to expect. A firm that exclusively offers design and drawings means that it creates the design and drawings and then hands them off to the client.
Read MoreAbeer Sweis has come a long way in the 20 years since she started her own boutique design firm. She remembers being in business for just three months when she hired one of her Architecture students as her first employee.
Read MoreWhat inspires one to become an architect? Ask Abeer Sweis, and she’ll tell you about a time when she was nine years old. On a Sunday afternoon drive with her family through the countryside of her native Amman, Jordan, she noticed a building unlike anything she’d ever seen.
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