Author: saularchila

You are progressing through an hour and a half long zoom meeting trying to coordinate mechanical ducts and wide flange beams while the aroma of chicken and spinach roams the air as lunch fast approaches. Your father in law is blasting reruns of WWE in the living room because of course he will. The hours turned to days, the days then to weeks and going outside has become an uncommon occurrence. The vast majority of your time is spent staring at a computer screen and a wall painted the color of someone who obviously grew up in the 80’s assuming the taste of the future will never evolve.

This inevitably leads us to a conclusion before we can fathom a hypothesis. Soundproof, breathable, non distracting, visually stimulating spaces. We can imagine the idea without seeing it. It’s as if you were on a hammock on an island off Port Barton on Palawan Island in the Philippines. But even being there doesn’t give you the satisfaction you are looking for.

What does the future home office look like? What doe it sound like? What does it feel like? What are the operating hours? Is there a separation between working out and a client calls? Does there need to be? The 1950’s version of the 9-5 has come and gone and we will need to embrace a new norm.

Today is April 29th 2020, and many of us have been cooped up at home for the last month and a half waiting for this nightmare of a pandemic to come to an end. Social distancing, hand washing, and wiping down everything you come into contact with has become the new norm. While there are many unknowns about what the future will bring us, whether it be the economy, our health, or politics. One thing is certain, once the stay at home orders are lifted and we all have the luxury of freely moving about, we will not be interacting with the same world we once knew. There was a Pre-Covid-19 world and there shall be a post Covid-19 world.

As we progress in this new world, Architecture will be flooded with innovative widgets to reduce physical contact with the physical world but we as designers need to ascend beyond the widget. We will need to rethink design to not only give the perception of cleanliness but to physically alter an individuals interaction with space. Movement through environments ought to be thought as labyrinths;  designated entrances and exits that move the body in a singular direction. The open floor plan (an idea fraught with little regard to the individual) shall be an idea of the twenty teens. The square foot to individual shall be increased 3 fold, and the conference room lose its status to the virtual.  Material selections ought to be solid  and non porous but must refrain from being sterile and tasteless. Saturation shall be the driver of experience.

This apartment complex situated in the suburbs of Pomona had recently been approved by the planning commission and neighborhood council after months of back and forth design negotiations. This although standard practice now in the world of architecture poses the question as to who the real architect in new developments shaping the urban landscape are?

Many cities impose what are known as design criteria which is then evaluated by a board of often non design related professionals who proceed to tear apart every design feature added to the building. In situations such as these full realistic renderings pose the greatest harm compared to hand sketches/colored renderings. When full realistic renderings are presented before these neighborhood council boards the average Joe will pick apart every tree species a renderer has placed into the scene. Yet when presented an abstracted hand sketched rendering the public typically reacts to the building with more leniency.

As Wes Jones once told me “if you are going to make it look real it has to look the part. If not make it as abstract and fake as possible otherwise it just looks wrong”.

This series of anatomical studies focused on three distinct fish species; the Swordfish, Yellow Fin Tuna, and the Halibut. Evolution has biologically designed each to adapt their physical bodies for strength and speed to best suit their hunting needs. Summarizing the clear distinction of natures form follows function.

Photograph of our Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot

Originally conceived in November of 2015 the Pawn lamp is a 3D Designed / Printed Lamp. Inspired by the retro futuristic ideas spawned during the Metabolism movement of the 1960’s, the lamp is intended to use modulated single cast forms as a direct result of its 3D printed uprising.