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GREAT DESIGN STARTS WITH CLARIFYING YOUR ASPIRATIONS

Mutual Learning by Mutual Listening

In helping you achieve your dream, our creative process always starts with listening to you...

I have an old hand-written note framed on the wall of my office. It says in part,

“I longed for an old-world feeling, but I didn’t know how to create it. Daniel, you came alongside me and helped me create my life-long dream.”

I worked closely with this client. We talked, traveled, dreamed and worked together for three years, taking her project from conception to completion. We had continuing, engaging conversations about her tastes and reactions to the design throughout its evolution.  It was accomplished through careful listening and skill...

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."— John Ruskin, 1819 - 1900

Like many of my special clients, she brought her own passionate, personal view to the creative process. That passion, combined with ours, became a great shared sense of achievement as she grew to see a magnificent new work of architecture reflect and become an integral part of her life and enduring legacy.

Mutual learning is an essential time for us to share visions, aspirations, concerns and hopes for your project. Ultimately your project will reflect what are now seen as intangible goals or aspirations. This is why we must both learn from each other in the process. Looking within your dreams and aspirations helps us shape the spaces and details that will surround you. You may find this process one of the most gratifying parts of working with our firm.

Research and Visualization

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."— Albert Einstein

"I had no idea it would be so beautiful…." I hear this from many clients of my when they see our first visual suggestions for their project. Like a sonogram of a child in its early development, visualization gives all of us a glimpse of the road ahead and provides proof that the client is part of an important creative process. We can take what you have imagined and make it almost real, using handsome freehand sketches, watercolor washes, detailed scale models – even animated cutting edge computer visualizations where appropriate.

With our visual representations we hope to draw out deeply emotional, even mythical responses from you, because we believe that the creation of architecture, the distinguishing of one’s place in the world, is an abiding human need. This is why we make sure you understand the direction we’re going, so we can refine key elements of the vision, to make the project truly and uniquely your own.

"Art does not reproduce the visible...it makes visible."— Paul Klee

To include the right spirit and detail in these renderings, we sometimes travel with our clients to see the architecture that inspires them the most. Many clients choose our firm precisely because of our renowned expertise in various styles and attention to authenticity, and our ability to transcend style to meet unique personal goals.

This singular approach provides all of our projects with a fresh and timeless spirit, appropriate to you, the Owner of the project. A great home has heart and can tell a great story, through its vocabulary, supporting form, details and proportions. Our great public buildings engage people as places of appropriate public spirit – perhaps of dignity, majesty, strength, whimsy, humility, serenity, conflict, civic discourse or, in the right circumstances, even holiness.

Whatever story or spirit you consider essential to convey through your project, our firm employs unmatched, meticulous goal clarification, visualization and implementation to define and carry your message.

Careful Instructions

Once your project’s personality has been confirmed through visualization, we prepare careful detailed instructions for the artisans and technicians who will give your project its actual physical form. These instructions normally cover all disciplines, with their preparations consuming the largest block of time prior to actual construction.

This is the single most important step in assuring that the finished project’s design and quality of materials and craftsmanship will fulfill or exceed the expectations we developed during the visualization process. All architectural, electrical, mechanical, structural, interiors, ornamental, decorative, landscaping and other specialty disciplines are documented at this time in extensive detail.

These instructions form the basis for negotiation of final pricing and construction contracts with selected general contractors. Composed of many detailed drawings and comprehensive specifications, they are called the Construction Contract Documents.

Advancing Construction

After construction contract negotiations, a big day has arrived and construction begins. Construction Documents from the previous phase serve to guide and control all construction in the field until the project is fully completed. These documents assure that you will get the results you expected.

Daniel Lee and the firm are very active throughout the construction process on your behalf. We continually assist the builder as he seeks to fully understand and complete his work. We monitor his compliance with the detailed documents, evaluate his requests for payment for you, and review in detail all shop drawings and other quality control submittals for consistency with the design intent of the project. We also visit the site on a regular basis to observe progress of the work on your behalf.

"A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through immeasurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable."— L. Kahn

If you to wish to change the direction of the design midstream, we assist you in determining the precise details to be adjusted, modify the Contract Documents, and coordinate with the builder to mitigate impact of the change on schedule and costs.

For our clients who travel extensively, or have heavy work demands, we offer to be their sole point of contact or single source for the project, if needed.

To assist in a quality outcome, we are involved and focused on your project until construction is completely finished, every step of the way. And we are always available to serve you after you move in, during the warranty phase and beyond as you wish.

Managing Time and Money 

Protecting your time and money is a stewardship of equal importance to creating a great design.

Responsible stewardship of your resources is itself a craft. What if you have fresh ideas after work has begun? What if we find the right materials but they are halfway around the world?

We help you balance time, resources, and ambitions so that as compelling ideas evolve into built form, you fund them and any inevitable changes, under an agreed stewardship plan. Our mutual priority is to manage the project responsibly, keeping each other fully informed at each step.

From information intake to visualization, design to budgeting, project scheduling to monitoring the actual construction, we walk with you through every step of the project’s stewardship. Our experience and guidance gives you the practical insights you need for a successful project. You will be as pleased by the management of the project as you will be by the impact it has on your family or organization.

Going the Distance

At Daniel Lee Architect, our commitment to architecture and to our clients leads us to undertake extraordinary measures in the pursuit of design excellence and personalized service. We regard the creation of architecture as a sacred trust, as a response to the needs of our clients, as a calling in life. With Daniel Lee Architect, your needs will be tended to by a carefully selected group of designers, specialists and collaborators, whose ambition is to create a work of design that reflects your story.

We invite you to read about and visit architecture with us, to experience architecture first hand, whether the styles you want us to pursue are at home or abroad.

By engaging with us in developing your own understanding of how architecture speaks to the soul, we build surpassing achievements.

A legendary car designer expressed our view this way,

“Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.” — Sir Henry Royce

Let's create architecture together...     - Daniel Lee