Creating the perfect space requires careful listening and interpretation to make sure you get the design of your dreams. At Design SI, we approach your ideas with an imaginative blend of design style and modern convenience. From the simplest to the most luxurious designs, we work hand-in-hand with you and your available resources. We believe design is bound to a situation, the ‘construct’ you are looking for is intertwined with the rituals of your everyday activities. We can modify an existing plan to suit your current budget, expand your blueprint to provide a customized design or design your dream home to match your tastes and desires all while making your space ‘your’ space. Each project is unique, resulting from a close collaboration between you and Design SI. We strive to create thoughtful spaces with innovative forms, copious details and timeless materials. We hope to project an outlook based on principles as universal as possible, producing spaces using the latest and most relevant products and methods that are real and utilitarian, for everyone. With Design SI, you become part of an exciting process – the art of making your dream space come to life.
Our process
Introduction
Services Offered:
Who we are
Design SI is a creative studio offering both interior and exterior design services for unique architectural homes, timeless interiors, and sustainable products. Our projects include new residences, home additions, restorations, and interior design. With a creative design approach, we offer distinct design solutions accommodating a range of budgets and individual needs. We pride ourselves on being a well-rounded team of design professionals comprised of designers, artists, and craftsmen who are all excellent listeners and interpreters. Each project is conceived in terms of its individual potential and opportunities for the client. Every detail- from space planning to material selections, accessories, to furnishings, artwork, millwork, lighting, and other systems, are designed to complement each other while fulfilling the overall objectives of your project. As we like to say, “Design SI is intelligence made visible through creative design.”
We are committed to the idea that design is a problem solving process; a craft in the service of a program towards the needs of our clients. While many designers are known for a particular “signature style”, we believe that a project should be a reflection of its owner and its context, not the personal taste of the designer. We have labored extensively to be responsive to each and every one of our clients and to each project on our client’s own terms, rather than from a preconceived viewpoint or our own aesthetic agenda. Our attention to detail and eye for design ensures an enjoyable design experience. Part of our effort to respond individually to each client’s need has involved the goal of ridding ourselves of a repetitive personal style and a self-consciousness of “our signature” design. Here at Design SI, we are committed to the idea that design is actually a problem solving process. Every detail, from the accessories, furnishings, and artwork, to the millwork, lighting and systems, are all designed to complement one another while fulfilling the overall objectives of the assignment. We have an emphasis in the idea of crafting ideas that works only towards the needs of our clients. Design SI is dedicated to providing you, the potential client, with a level of service through an extensive collaborative design process that is unmatched anywhere else in the North State.
What we do
How we think
Our approach is based on direct experience. Our work incorporates an explorative design methodology with sustainable programming and practices– it is our way of approaching an idea, from inside to outside. Using both traditional and alternative materials, we aspire to produce wonder and beauty within each project’s design potential. We believe design is bound to a situation within the rituals and activities of a place. Our design process centers on the use and appreciation of materials native to the region, all hand-picked and inspected for quality to ensure the best value for the client. We are sensitive to cultural forms and customs, all to imbue the project with the quality of “fitting” in its context as we intertwin idea and function, our hope is to combine making and meaning with efficiency and precision. Working with the finest materials, shaped with intense skill and craftsmanship, we hope to project an outlook that is both holistic and integrated, a design that is based on principles that are as universal as possible while simultaneously producing space and objects that are real,utilitarian, and up-to-date with the latest trends and technology.
Our Design Process
01.
Preliminary Design
Every journey starts with a direction. Understanding where you are and where you want to go is the first task we do together. Basically, we ask a lot of questions here. We discuss the goals, needs, and function of the project; design expectations and available budget; and pertinent building code and zoning regulations. We help you arrive
at a realistic budget estimate for design and building by leading you through a series of discussions about the implications of several design approaches in light of local costs for materials and construction. As we listen, reflect and learn, we encouraged you to have a candid discussion on the actual budget for the entire project. Following the initial discussions, we will produce an outline of the scope of the proposed project.
02.
Schematic Design
Once we know where you’d like to go, we start mapping out your journey. We create the first round of drawings. Your reactions are a crucial at this point. Does it fit your criteria? Will it work for your daily life? Does it feel right? Paying attention to your gut feelings as well as your rational ones, we take the time to examine all the issues. We double-check your goals, and then evaluate it all. In this phase we will provide concept sketches of design options and explain how they meet the requirements discussed in the programming stage. The overall scope of the project, proposed building materials, and a preliminary budget related to the schematic design are also discussed. Refinements are made
until you approve the design.
03.
Design Development
Now that we have a vision on paper, we can move closer to making it happen. We turn those drawings into design documents and evolve them into visual models and renderings. As we get more detailed with your drawings, your understandings and feedback are needed and even more crucial. We explain the design documents, translating any unfamiliar sections. You evaluate how these designs are fulfilling your vision. You make changes accordingly. Though the first nail has yet to be hammered, your vision will feel increasingly real. In this phase we will prepare drawings that finalize the design plans, showing actual sizes and shapes for rooms. Construction specifications will be outlined along with listing the major materials to be used.
04.
Design Documents
Accurate, detailed documents ensure that your builder will build your project exactly the way you want it, down to the last detail. This will ensure accurate cost projections from your builder. Relative to the project, among these documents will be plans, elevations, interior elevations, details, schedules, and specifications and additional documents for the permitting process.
05.
Bidding & Negotiation
We can assist you in selecting contractors by reviewing bids and
estimates based on the construction documents. We can help you find the right person to bring your dreams and drawings into the sunlight of reality. It is time to interview contractors, give them specifications and contract documents, and then review their proposals and prices. We help you to analyze the contractor bids as well as their strengths and weaknesses. After a careful review, we’ll help you get ready to make the final decision, justified by facts and confirmed by feelings. In this phase you will have several options when it comes to hiring a contractor, including asking us to make recommendations or choose a contractor of your own.
06.
Project Administration
We are with you every step of the way. We check the project as it develops and notify you of any deviations from the standards. We compare the progress of your construction against the budget parameters and intervene on your behalf to keep costs in line with your expectations. We respond to RFI’s and keep you fully informed of all relevant developments of your project. Nobody likes to make changes, but on occasion, necessity demands it. We’re happy to help you deal with the contractor, evaluate the budget and scheduling consequences, to figure out how to execute the change order in an orderly, efficient manner. In this phase, we observe the pace and quality of construction. As your agent, we look out for your interests, keeping you informed of the project’s progress and overseeing any changes or problems that may arise. Construction phase services are helpful in keeping your project on track and within budget.