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Haus Rules: This firm's minimalist digs reflect its founder’s passion for Bauhaus design principles.
By Matthew Hall
The lobby of Graham Downes Architecture (GDA) is pointedly devoid of the typical trappings of a modern office environment - no plush reception area, no walls lined with plaques, no pictoral roster of company accomplishments.
"There's no place to sit and wait. We don't keep the people we want to work with waiting," explains Downes, a 51-year-old native of South Africa who founded the San Diego-based firm bearing his name in 1994. Clients looking for the comfortable references of project images, awards or professional licenses won't find those, either. Instead, they mostly see blank slates of white wall. "That's because what we offer clients is either in our heads, on our boards, in our computers, being built or already built," says Downes.
The centerpiece of the reception area is a 15-foot-long lightbox showcasing black-and-white portraits of the firm's 60 or so current and recent employees. Downes' goal was to create a space that feels like a talent agency.
Then there are the dogs. Not live ones, mind you (though staffers can bring their four-legged friends into work, if they so choose) but a pack of seven wooden statuettes. That canine crew is a set of artifacts from a Brazilian mountain village, and Downes procured them at a Miami gallery. While each dog is individualistic - having been hand-carved from found-wood pieces - the pack is essentially similar in size and appearance, and all face the same direction: toward the door. "For me, they represent teamwork and solidarity, and a horizontal, non-hierarchical structure," says Downes.
The lack of ornamentation and the dog pack are just two of the many ways GDA's offices reflect the founder's fervent belief that hospitality architects and designers should practice what they preach.
"I am all for design that enlightens and delights, but it needs to do so by using utilitarian simplicity, total efficiency, essentialism and minimalism," explains Downes, whose company specializes in designing boutique hotels, ultra-hip lounges/clubs and urban-infill mixed-use complexes. "I deplore waste, including the excess use of materials, space, time, effort and any unnecessary detail and ornamentation."
Emphasis on Creative Collaboration
In keeping with that philosophy, GDA is based in a brick warehouse that was built on the fringe of downtown San Diego in 1910. The one-story edifice first housed a shoe factory, and more recently, a rescue shelter for homeless single mothers.
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