re-constituting power
Quality design is a value-added service that deserves respect and investment–and yet it is so relatively rare in our built environment.  Simply put, this is because bad design is quicker and cheaper and the producers of real estate tend not to value the difference. The tendency toward mediocrity is exacerbated by a professional guild that shuns the acceptance of risk, fearing liability, and thereby divorces the architect from true authority.  Furthermore, as technological innovations become increasingly complex and revolutionary, professional tendencies lean toward specialization and designers lose the capacity to impart a project with a comprehensive vision.

What intrigues us about independent filmmaking as a comparative business model is the implicit courage to market outside of the mainstream and the dedication to maintain the authorial intent of the writer or director.  It represents a restructuring of priorities and power fueled by technological innovations, but built on a foundation of increased access.  The platform for moderate distribution of film content via the web is virtually free.  Access to the construction industry is comparatively guarded in this respect, but the kind of shifting terrain that we occupy re-constitutes the relationships within the process of development.  We believe there is a latent market for entrepreneurial developer-architects to provide innovative multi-family housing in New York City.  It is imperative that young architects make a compelling case for quality infill housing that raises the bar for design in middle class communities.

Played out through the capacity of Architecture, we can re-frame the calculus of cost-benefit analyses to elevate the standards of expectation in our built environment, and therefore the quality of our existence within the city.

filmmaking
The processes and players involved in realizing an architectural development and a film are remarkably similar.  In typical development scenarios, the real estate developer is the film producer.  The architect is the writer.  The GC is the director.  The sub-contractors are the actors - each contributing a certain expertise and attitude that makes a piece of work more or less dramatic, and there are endless behind-the-scenes characters.  We have blurred many of these compartmentalized distinctions in the blended architect-developer role that we play.

Where this comparison diverges is the medium of the work and the origin of the idea.  The medium of the writer is the script, and the burgeoning script itself is often the origin of the idea.  The architect hoping to build in New York City today needs a site for their idea, and that site must be available and finance-able within a specific time frame in an open market that is extremely competitive.  Add to that complexity the required capacity to quickly secure the property with substantial funds, likely with an at-risk deposit buying 2 or 3 months to close on the deal.  For these reasons it is often the developer who originates the "idea" of the project by purchasing a site and determining the program before selecting an architect to fill out their vision.