What kind of work?
Flying Dollar Residence by Lundberg Design (R. Gavin Knowles project architect), photo by @brianwetzelphoto
What kind of work do we do? We are a full-service architecture firm focused on the highly personalized and place-based design of residences, restaurants, and other facilities which celebrate their connection to the natural world and long-term land stewardship.
We have been designing residences, restaurants, breweries, wineries, and distilleries for over 14 years. That experience makes us capable, but how are those project types related? The heart of how we approach all those programs is a connection to place, a connection to the land.
“We are unlikely to achieve anything close to sustainability in any area unless we work for the broader goal of becoming native in the modern world, and that means becoming native in our places in a coherent community that is in turn embedded in the ecological realities of its surrounding landscape.”
- Wes Jackson, Becoming Native to This Place
Flour + Water, Lundberg Design (R. Gavin Knowles project architect + principal), photo by @krescentcarasso
Residences are the place we inhabit and when well designed they tie us to our local environment and community through bonds of attention and the rhythms of daily life. This is true whether or not that residence is very rural, suburban, or urban. Every place has a rhythm, and our lives are inherently more fulfilling when we are in tune with them.
Restaurants, especially those with a farm-to-table ethos, are inherently tied to the wider landscape around them through their connection to local farms. Any good restaurant wants the freshest and highest quality ingredients they can get their hands on, which often involves a connection directly with local producers. The menu itself begins to be shaped by the local land, both the ecosystem and the culture which inhabits it. We take that connection as inspiration, treating our materials with the same care and intention as a chef treats their ingredients.
Local breweries, wineries, distilleries, and other production facilities take that connection one step further by literally drawings their purpose from the land, from good land stewardship. Regenerative farming techniques, adapted to local conditions, not only sequester carbon, but produce better tasting finished products. We design the facilities, using techniques like designing for daylight, net-positive energy generation, and carbon-sequestering building materials, with the same sets of goals in mind.
Unbuilt Brewery at Pier 48 by Lundberg Design (R. Gavin Knowles project architect), rendering by @rgavinknowles
For any site (be it rural, urban, or somewhere in between) we take the time to get to know that place, and we take the time to get to know you, the client who wants to make something there. Its with our understanding of that unique combination of people and place that we guide and enable you through the process of building something that will enhance both your health and the health of your place in the world over time.