COMMERCIAL DESIGN

COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES

The scope of services provided by Winds Architect & Interior Design is wide in range and depth. These vary between relatively small and simple structures to projects of the greatest size and complexity. The range of types of projects undertaken includes academic, research, performing arts, sports and recreation, library, exhibition, healthcare and residential uses.

Clients’ needs and aspirations are the foundation for the services we provide. As a consequence, much preliminary work consists of establishing both those aims, which in turn are translated into practical solutions and then celebrated with an architecture that accommodates all factors.

MASTER PLANNING & URBAN DESIGN

The aim of master planning is to utilize each building component as an incremental addition to a larger whole. In other words, each building must satisfy two objectives – one to accommodate its particular function to advantage and the other as a contributor to an aggregate that is greater than the sum of its parts. Provisions for growth should be those that add to the aggregate and enhance the form of the complex.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGN

It is the inclusion of a social dimension that elevates buildings to architecture and planning to urban design. It is also the creation of a symbiosis between buildings and the open spaces they shape that ensures their durability. Most of all, the open space should not be decorative, but perform useful roles as meeting, performance, ceremonial or a host of other public functions.

COMMERCIAL INTERIOR DESIGN

There is, in our view, a symbiosis between the architecture of the exterior and that of the interior. This is not to equate the two in regard to their contexts, which clearly are different, but to relate them in terms of aesthetic consistency. Both are in service to a greater goal, which is to comprehensively serve the practical and symbolic aims of the building, while catering to very different environmental conditions.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

As architects we are in a position to facilitate change and set an environmentally responsible agenda to reshape the design process. Winds Architect & Interior Design have a design mandate to use less of the world’s limited resources, and a responsibility to ensure we play a significant part in the creation of sustainable projects. We see sustainable design as a driver, as an integral aspect of the creative process – equal to user satisfaction and contextual response.

Constant innovators of sustainable design solutions, Winds Architect & Interior Design pioneered the integration of bio-filter wall technology in buildings, were early adaptors of geo-exchange technology to reduce energy consumption, and promoted grey water recycling long before building codes recognized the benefits.

Our insight on the impact of sustainable design continues to evolve as we challenge the norms of energy provision and utilization in projects. Through collaboration with our clients and consultant partners we seek to offer innovative solutions to address the principles of social, economic and ecological sustainability.

FEASIBILITY STUDIES

This is one of the services that explore the means to deliver clients’ needs and aspirations. A thorough analysis of all relevant factors to be taken into account is made in order to test the extent of constraints, the potentials of the site, space program, available building technology, sustainability and the means of utilizing the budget to maximum effect.

FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING

Most functional programming exercises merely establish the quantitative amounts of space required and perhaps the relationships between program components. This, in our view, is only the first step in establishing a space program. To achieve a result that is greater than the sum of it parts requires the inclusion of the qualitative aspect of the space program: the character of the place is as important as its physical dimensions. Qualities of light, proportion, and materiality, are among the factors that ultimately contribute to a building to facilitate that which otherwise would be only functional in its most basic elements.

BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is 3D technology designed to engage a wide range of users, including architects, consultants, contractors, constructors and clients in a model environment. In addition to generating three-dimensional representations of building schemes, BIM incorporates an extensive database that allows coordination of all building elements through a single platform.

The program allows the coordination of all construction systems, it provides functional operations tracking and cost control monitoring, an ease of information exchange between consultants, clients and authorities with building construction jurisdiction. Project coordination in three dimensions provides all concerned the ability to monitor project progress and thus allow any issues to be addressed early in the process, reducing the opportunity for cost overruns during the construction period.

The office employs this system as appropriate to each project we undertake.

RESTORATION, REVITALIZATION & RENOVATION

Bringing new life and purpose to old buildings is a challenging and rewarding task, not to mention a fundamental pursuit of sustainable design. We have uncovered soaring wood-beam ceilings in a college library, transformed a derelict brick factory into a centre for sustainable cities and are repurposing a textile mill into a Fine Arts faculty. By reinterpreting buildings for contemporary purposes, we keep alive a vital link with the past and blend new and old in the fabric of urban life.