< meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content=" default-src 'self' ajax.googleapis.com *.youtube.com; script-src 'unsafe-hashes' 'sha256-{HASHED_EVENT_HANDLER}'; img-src *;" /> Approach | Bird de la Coeur Architects – Melbourne, Australia

Approach

Philosophy – Why we do what we do

Design is about solving problems. It’s got to feel right. By this we mean it is engaging and inclusive, environmentally and economically sustainable. It has quality. Good designs are functionally, commercially and aesthetically more efficient, enhance people’s day-to-day lives and have the smallest impact on the environment.

‘Good design is not just about the aesthetic improvement of our environment, it is as much about improved quality of life, equality of opportunity and economic growth’ CABE United Kingdom

The compelling idea for each project stems from conversations with our clients. Asking questions and listening remain basic architectural devices. Through discussion with our clients we advocate for buildings that radically reduce running costs, that reuse, reduce and are effortlessly comfortable and connected to nature. It is through the design process that the largest impact can be made on operating cost, which can account for 85% of the total lifetime cost of a building.

Good design is not just good looks. It is what it does; about new relationships between things. It’s benefits and value can be its ability to transform how people behave and feel. It is also sustainable: saving energy, limiting emissions, recycling water, and reducing costs. Design is the frontier on which the fastest growing businesses compete.

Bird de la Coeur think design is about both the big choices and the small choices we make everyday. Design is about considered siting, orientation, the compelling idea, incorporating cultural and personal reminders, and supporting great local suppliers. The buildings we design make a difference to the lives of the client and the planet.  As a signatory to Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency movement we committed to addressing our own practices and completed Carbon Neutral Certification.

Process – How we do what we do

We create a dialogue. We do sketches, make models and create 3D models. Then we do more sketches. Understanding the brief, listening to the articulation of the issues and asking questions lead to an understanding of the brief that isn’t always what it first seems. This understanding, the distillation, is essential to the solution.

Max Ernst says creativity is that marvellous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition. Bird de la Coeur think this is fundamental to architectural thinking. The competing demands of various interest groups, clients, or authorities etc require an understanding that will lead to each projects’ unique solution, or its compelling idea. This is achieved by listening and sketching.

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