Intent is the first material we build with.
Essays and studies on architecture, interiors, objects and the arrival of AI in the studio. Written from practice: briefs, drawings, site meetings, budgets and the decisions made between them.
A building is an argument that has to stand for fifty years.
Most of what makes a building good is decided early and then defended for years. We write about how intent survives the trip from first sketch to construction issue, through briefs, cost plans, consultant teams, contractors and the RFIs in between.
- Work stages
- Brief to handover
- Drawing scales
- 1:500 to 1:5
- Frameworks
- SACAP · RIBA · ISO 19650
The room is the unit people actually live in.
Plans are read from above. Rooms are experienced at eye height, by touch, in changing light. Interiors are where intent meets the body: door widths, tread heights, glare, acoustics, the feel of a handle. We look at how finishes schedules and FF&E decisions shape everyday life.
- Turning circle
- 1,500 mm
- Task lighting
- 300 to 500 lux
- Documents
- Finishes · FF&E · RCP
Objects carry their maker's decisions.
A chair, a printed part, a typeface and a phone app are all designed with the same discipline as a building, at a scale you can hold. We write about making as a way of thinking, and about what architects already know that product designers rediscover.
- Scale
- Full size
- Tolerance
- ±0.2 mm
- Media
- Prototype · Print · Code
The tools now have opinions. The signature is still ours.
AI generates options, drafts specifications, checks drawing registers and writes code. It does not carry professional liability, read a client's hesitation in a meeting, or decide what matters. We test these tools in real practice and report what changes, what breaks and what stays human.
- Option cost
- Near zero
- Judgement cost
- Unchanged
- Accountability
- The professional