Studio g&a | architecture, interior design & space planning


	Warm Modern in Practice Philosophy Ben Ascher Gideon Gelber

At its most elemental, design is the process of giving physical form to a set of constraining facts, disciplining calculations, and liberating desires. Although each project has a unique mix of factors that shape the process of making form, in our experience, these three areas of influence are always at play. The first task of the designer is to fully explore these elements before making the design concrete.

There is a New Yorker cartoon that we keep in mind because it sums up one of the more dangerous pitfalls in the field of design:

Two well dressed ladies stand over a table of h’ors doeuvres one remarking to the other," My first husband was an architect…He wouldn’t let me have any closets because…they ruined the integrity of his 'artistic' vision"

Closets are the integrity of our artistic vision, as are cat doors, air conditioning ducts, awkwardly located plumbing stacks, and uneven ceiling slabs. Architecture that does not embrace the stuff of life is like an empty stage... life in all its inconsistency is the drama that architecture frames.

To impose shape on a circumstance, squeezing the influential elements into a preconceived container usually creates a sterile, un-lovely form. It is the circumstance that creates the most complex and beautiful forms. The architecture is like an empty sack that stretches and bulges to accommodate its contents. When creating form, it is always tempting to try to rationalize away the inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies of life. This is a mistake. Character, sentiment, and warmth are created by incorporating the stuff of life Modern design can be criticized for being cold and aloof, because it hides the complexity of life. Minimalism is like a person treading water. There is nothing much on the surface, but lots of paddling is going on below to keep afloat. Warm modernism as we practice it, does not hide the influences of place, flow, and people; it celebrates them. The result is as sculptural as it is inviting.