01
Pre-Design
In Pre-Design we study all the parameters likely to bear on a project. We research the history of… read more
We believe that a successful design outcome must be preceded by a deep examination of the relevant context: the assets, constraints, conditions and intentions at play. Only after developing such a foundation can we hope to create architecture that becomes a platform for our clients’ success, in the broadest meaning of the word.
Clients perceive our best work as a stable, often “quiet”, product that emerges from a long sequence of asking questions and testing answers (the design process). How does one want to live? How should a building sit on this landscape? How should one anticipate future adjustments? A deep investment in such a process can yield a high-performing yet graceful result.
While aesthetics play a necessary part in our work, we are not taste-makers, nor catalogers of precious products and materials. Our role as aestheticians is tightly wrapped up with our role as space makers – we seek visual, tactile, even aural outcomes that feel coherent throughout a project, and supportive of a project’s goals in general. To get there, we're always looking to implement continuities of scale, from furnishings to landscape; art integrated in a site-specific way to ensure that each project feels unique and intentional; “honest” materials such as wood, stone, glass, and textile that give a finished project a sense that it belongs to and has emerged from the earth.
Formwork can help clients in a number of different ways. A full set of design services can range from site assessment to custom drawer-pull design. Clients also come to us for narrow, isolated scopes of work such as lighting, or interior design.
Architectural services address a range of fundamental needs: a weather-resistant building envelope, structural integrity, and a design that can be approved by relevant authorities. Beyond that, architectural design in our studio often entails the development of a detailed program of spaces and functions, guiding owners during contractor selection and contract negotiation, early documentation to develop cost estimating parameters, and construction observation, which we describe as the final phase of design. In aggregate, the services we provide are coordinated to protect and manifest, at project completion, the promise of the earliest design goals and concepts we have developed with our clients. Architectural services also include coordination with consulting design disciplines, such structural engineering and landscape architecture.
Formwork does not make much of a distinction between architectural and interior design services. We assess all projects within the broad range of scales that define their context: from the urban or landscape site condition down to the fine detail of a custom cabinet. We contribute design intervention where it is needed, sometimes only within a narrowly defined scope, but always by considering the full set of scale relationships at hand. In the end, light, surface and materials combine to build our understanding of our physical surroundings, ignoring boundaries and thresholds along the way.
Our interior design efforts integrate lighting, built-in casework, color and texture, bringing a quiet elegance and coherence to the experience of our projects.
Furniture and art can reinforce the broad design concepts of a project. Even when we are not engaged for interiors/furnishings services, we develop floor plans and spaces with an inventory of the clients’ valued furnishings, anticipating likely layouts. Whether a client has chosen to engage Formwork for full furnishings and art consultation or only to find a few key pieces, we start searching for these items during Design Development or near the beginning of Construction Documents such that the pieces will have been identified by the end of Construction Documents Phase. This way procurement and lead times can be coordinated with the construction schedule.
Artists have a unique influence on our environments. Their contributions lend a layer of richness to our projects in cases where a site-specific art piece takes the place of what would have been a specified manufactured finish. We look for opportunities in our projects to collaborate with artists on site-specific interior and exterior installations.
Throughout our firm’s history, each year has seen an expansion of our technical and design expertise in lighting and control design. We execute the lighting design for most of our projects, occasionally bringing in professional lighting designers on special projects as needed. Our interior lighting strategies focus on combining light sources of different configurations for a layered and adjustable result that can adapt to various times of day.
It is not uncommon for our clients to require assessment of a proposed project before significant investments are made. We help people during contract “due diligence” periods to determine if a candidate property suits their needs, and whether anticipated modifications could be executed with available resources.
Our design process is governed by a strong sense of purpose. Absent deliberate care, ideas developed and embraced at the start of the process can become diluted or entirely lost, as the friction of increased specificity and finally construction threaten to wear away at original motivating themes. A clear organization must be in place to ensure that the many observations and contributions made throughout the process survive in the built result. Most projects are designed though a phased process, in which earlier phases resolve general, broad matters and later phases tackle increasing levels of detail resolution. The process can only advance when the current phase is complete and approved by all parties, thus releasing resources for work that necessarily depends on prior decisions.
In Pre-Design we study all the parameters likely to bear on a project. We research the history of… read more
Once the parameters of the project are established, along with key consultants we develop a design… read more
Between design phases, we generally advise clients to choose a contractor for their project who can… read more
With a budget and scope approved by the client, we develop the scheme approved in the previous phase… read more
Furniture and art can reinforce the broad design concepts of a project. Even when we are not engaged… read more
Following approval of the final Design Development documents, the bulk of our clients’ work is… read more
The last phase of design is Construction Observation. Just as the client, general contractor,… read more
At the end of a project, there may be several tasks the client will want us to perform. Before the… read more
Both principals have a background in fabrication: making things. That origin has continually guided our design work, affecting scale, attitudes toward materials, and our ongoing interest in collaborating with crafts-people and artists who bring expertise outside our own experience. While the firm has benefitted from many talented staff architects since our founding, we determined in 2022 that the studio would not grow larger than three architects plus office staff.
With over forty years of experience in architecture and design, Cecilia is the lead design architect for formwork, setting the conceptual direction for its projects. Cecilia earned a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley where she studied with Richard Fernau and Mark Mack, among others, whose teachings were rooted in Japanese aesthetic sensibilities, valuing craft and the integration of architecture into its natural context. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Pennsylvania.
Growing up in Jacareí, Brazil and Miami, Florida as the child of Cuban exiles, Cecilia had early exposure to the expressive use of form and materials in the work of Latin American Modernists. She is particularly influenced by modern Brazilian design, with its strong integration of architecture, interiors, furniture and landscape. From these early modernists she took on a strong faith in the positive power of design, which she brings to every formwork project.
Cecilia's previous practice includes time in the architectural studios of Belmont Freeman in New York City, Sim van der Ryn in Sausalito, California, Fernau & Hartman in Emeryville, California and Carlos Zapata in Miami Beach, Florida. Her previous partnerships with Margaret Ikeda and Evan Jones of Berkeley, and Rene Gonzalez of Miami continue to be a source of inspiration.
Cecilia taught architectural design studio courses at the University of Virginia and Florida International University.
Robert Nichols is the managing partner of formwork, bringing thirty-five years of experience in the fields of construction, architecture, and fabrication. Robert earned a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Art History from Bucknell University, and is a regular member of architectural juries at schools of architecture.
His previous experience includes work with William McDonough & Partners, and Bushman Dreyfus Architects, both of Charlottesville. Robert came to architecture late in his career after working in finance in New York and Cleveland, in construction in Guatemala and as an editor at National Public Radio in Washington DC.
Robert’s previous experience brings an invaluable voice of clarity and a unique perspective that help to navigate negotiations and to organize decision making, both persistent components of the design process. Robert is responsible for the design integration and coordination of all building systems. Robert’s understanding of materials, methods and systems is key to drilling down into any design so that the larger architectural concepts are carried through to well crafted buildings. His earliest experiences with “making things” was in his father’s home lab/workshop where a family tradition of tinkering and inventing was nourished.
Robert still believes Richard Scarry books contain key insights into successful urban design, applicable to projects of just about any scale.
