Why Blackwell & Associates

We believe design is all about improving the places in which we live.
Our aim is to add value to our projects through exemplary design.
Our focus is on creating attractive and functional designs that impart a distinctive sense of place and are readily manageable.
Our designs are informed by their environmental and cultural context.

Context Based Design - Creating better places for people

 

Our Philosophy

PROCESS DRIVEN - OUTCOME ORIENTATED

We recognise that, even if sometimes only in an abstract sense, our work is based around achieving a vision. Hence our approach to project delivery is both “process driven”, based on the application of first principles, and “outcome orientated” to the extent that we recognise that certain KPI’s must be met, eg as identified in the brief and as they further evolve during the course of the project. This process has resulted in us achieving a very high success rate in terms of taking our projects from the preliminary conceptual design phase through to finished construction.

INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED SOLUTIONS

The practise design philosophy is to consider each project on its own merits, being guided by the site and its context and the Client's/user's expectations and aspirations for the development. From these references we draw our design inspiration.

LATERAL APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING

We take a lateral approach to problem solving, ie thinking “outside the box”. In this way we have saved some of our Clients considerable sums of money. This approach has also helped to produce some of our more unusual and innovative results. We believe that each constraint is potentially an opportunity.

INNOVATIVE RESULTS

The design process we employ involves the exploration and testing of a broad range of ideas and options, which in turn opens up the opportunity for producing unique and innovative solutions. The practise believes in “innovation not imitation”.

OUR COMMITMENT

Our commitment is to producing design solutions that are: individually tailored; highly attractive; inherently functional; contextually appropriate and practical to maintain.

Sustainability

BLACKWELL & associates’ sustainability principles are based around contributing to community wellbeing, championing environmental stewardship, meeting if not exceeding economic goals and achieving design excellence.

At the highest level our sustainability principles revolve around:

  • respecting culture and community wellbeing;
  • caring for the environment, including working with existing topographic conditions and any natural and/or established urban ecosystems;
  • recognising that economic imperatives must be met to make our projects viable; and
  • achieving design excellence through proper planning and process

We adopt a practical approach to applying the above principles, specifically adapting our solutions to meet the individual aspirations, physical needs and budgets of each project. In all of our work we aim to achieve low water and energy use outcomes with minimal demands on non-renewable resources and minimal ongoing maintenance expenditure. We are firm believers in the benefits of achieving attractive, adaptable and durable environments that will pass the test of time as the most sustainable approach to design.