Design at Schmidt Associates flows passionately and intentionally out of our Core Principles of Design. We covered the strategic principal in our previous post of the series.

The second of these principles is Stewardship. Design solutions respond to this principle through their functional usability and the way in which people are able to flexibly activate their spaces, serving their needs now and in the long run. Effective design solutions are developed to provide the client long-term value. These solutions must be affordable: maintaining usability, sustainability, and energy efficiency.

Questions to consider include:

• What are the functional requirements of each space, and how can we create more value and effectiveness through adjacencies, dual use, or access?
• Is there flexibility that we can build into a space that will enhance its value and purpose for the users?
• What sustainable features and energy efficiency measures are most appropriate given the budget, the context, and orientation? What are the owner’s and user’s desires and abilities to manage them?

How well the built solution responds to these questions will greatly determine its success as the most effective solution and appropriate value for a given owner/user group.

Buildings are a substantial investment for a client. Designing for sustainability protects that investment.

We will cover “Integrity” in our next series.