Insights

From the Architect: Good Design is Good Business

When I decided to initiate a large development project from within our architecture studio, called Hudson Woods, among my primary goals was to reinforce the notion that good design is good business.

I achieved this goal, together with a talented team. On the back of good design, we sold all 25 homes in the development in 2 ½ years, made a healthy profit for investors, and created benefits for our studio and project partners that continue to propagate to this day.

The first thing most people think of when they think about design is ‘what something looks like’. When thinking about business, most people first think about profit and loss. Specifically, they think of financial profit and loss. What I want to unpack is: what lies between visual character and profit or loss? In between is a process where decisions are made and work gets done. This process, I believe, is design. Design is not solely the initial idea, or what something ends up looking like once it is produced. Design is the process, and all of the component parts of a project that lead to resulting success or failure.