With mask mandates slowly lifting and in-person meetings creeping back into existence, we have been focusing on innovations arising out of the pandemic that can help our firm remain healthy, grow, and stay relevant through this extremely challenging time. This pandemic highlighted the need to reexamine existing paradigms; and many are broken. This is certainly true for architecture. But remember, architects and designers are inherently problem-solvers and optimists. It’s often precisely why you hire an architect. Out of chaos can come ingenuity.

Architecture is evolving in a unique direction with the advancements of technology over the past decade, and we have leveraged this technology to stay connected to our team, clients, and partners during the pandemic. We learned how to effectively work together as a team remotely, to bring designs to our clients in new and innovative ways, and to create hybrid meeting styles that had some stakeholders in person, while others participated virtually, yet all could be involved in the design process in real-time to allow for true collaboration.

Over the past year plus, we leaned further into technology, continuing to invest in our virtual reality (VR) studio, which allows us to communicate ideas to our clients and collaborators with increased clarity and precision and fine-tune our designs into a cohesive plan with fewer surprises down the line during construction. We also continued to sharpen our rendering abilities to deliver realistic imagery to our clients and partners on every project.

Serving our clients has always been the core of our business, and our VR studio allows all parties to understand and experience a design, and it leads to more engaged discussions that drive the design forward. Walking through a space before it is built allows our clients see if a kitchen island is too close to a counter, if a skylight is in the wrong spot in their bedroom, or if a hallway feels too wide or tight. VR does this with much more clarity than with plans and elevations alone.

Realistic renderings, both as stills and in video format, also have so much value to our clients and the contractors with whom we partner. We employ interior and exterior fly-through tours that we continue to share remotely with our clients to help them visualize their spaces; but, we realized, they also began sharing these with their families and friends during the pandemic so they could stay connected to their renovation plans during times of increased social distancing. Renders and render videos are helpful in the design stage for clients to review and approve spaces, but they also have so much value to the contractors that we partner with who can better ascertain the design intent of the rooms and exterior of the homes for more granulated and accurate pricing, estimates, and ultimately, execution. We often say that our goal is to make our projects boring in the best possible way, meaning that when construction is wrapped, each space looks exactly like it did in the renders and in virtual reality.

This year we had the privilege of working with many clients to expand and update their spaces in creative and useful ways. We designed a lower-level spa and plunge pool in the heart of the Agassiz neighborhood in Cambridge, created a family playroom in a well cared for Victorian on Winter Hill in Somerville (see below), and updated a classic Tudor in Chestnut Hill with a special fireplace to fit the period of the home. These projects benefited from our visualization abilities so that our clients could be “virtually home” and explore the space before construction began, and we were able to provide these services in a variety of settings, both in person and remotely.

If you need help redesigning a kitchen, adding a garage or guesthouse, renovating a bathroom, or rebuilding an entire home, please give us a call. We apply these services to every project, regardless of size. We’re currently bringing families virtually home all over the New England region.