Our design philosophy centers on beliefs that architectural form can be sculpted and shaped by the environment in which it exists. This idea of site-specific design takes into account such factors as solar orientation, microclimates, existing topography and vegetation, and views. The evolution of architectural form is directed by the client’s personal reactions to these factors, we want to block the hot afternoon sun, or capture a distant view, or maybe preserve a stand of Oak.
Our challenge as designers is to respond to client desires, environmental forces, properties of materials, and principles of sustainable design in ways that result in spaces that are a joy to discover and inhabit. Sustainable design does not preclude one from designing structures with scale, proportion, rhythm, and symmetry that are beautiful to the eye and inviting to the spirit.
Thoughtful architecture will enhance your life experience.
CANTILEVER can provide creative alternatives to unimaginative building design. Our approach produces unique qualities that specifically address client needs and budget. We focus on build-able solutions with thoughtful details to create the space within to be lived in.
As with the design philosophy of Frank Lloyd Wright, we believe Form and function should become one.
“For many of us, design is invisible. We live in a world that is so thoroughly configured by human effort that design has become second nature – ever-present, inevitable, taken for granted.
And yet, the power of design to transform and affect every aspect of daily life is gaining widespread public awareness. No longer associated simply with objects and appearances, design is increasingly understood in a much wider sense as the human capacity to plan and produce desired outcomes.
Urbanization is one of humankind’s most successful and ambitious programs. We remain committed to a global project of extrusion upward and repetition outward in an effort to provide shelter that is safe, healthy, and uplifting. Underway on a scale never before witnessed, urbanization is the triumph of the unnatural over the natural, the grid over the organic. The unceasing growth of our cities leads to the unavoidable responsibility to manage all terrain – and the ultimate opportunity to reinvent our relationship with nature.
We privilege the receivers of our work as readers - as people who are intelligent and appreciative of subtlety. Doing so expands the possibilities for more sophisticated levels of communication - for active involvement rather than passive reception - which in the end gives our work greater resonance and a more lasting effect.
We design for our clients needs and with our client’s input. Everyone’s intimate involvement is a basic requirement for a successful project.” Bruce Mau
I love this quote from one of my upper classmen at Taliesin talking about architects: “We are a new breed of designer, who is a synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist, and evolutionary strategist.” Buckminster Fuller
CANTILEVER hopes you find inspiration in these words, and we hope you will work with us to realize your built environments.
