Interview with hb+a Architects

hb+a Architects was founded in 2006 with the ethos of environmentally conscious work no matter the scale of the problem. We came from an understanding of the responsibility our profession has in creating a better planet and being part of the solution for the meta crises our world faces, not the cause.

Creative problem solving in essence but also looking at concepts, elements, relationships between objects and environments to determine how to make them/it better on their own and within a larger context.

I like trouble shooting with analytical thiking and bending/blurring the lines to look for the most effective methods to make a difference and be less burdensome on our resources.

We have a couple of ducks, and I loved watching one of them build her nest with her beak as she carefully picked out just what she needed from a bush, I have watched her grow from a duckling so it was quite fascinating to watch her mature into this role in such a short time. There are so many lessons in nature of perfect, temporal designs, hard to pick one favorite. I also find bioregional, vernacular, indigenous thinking quite inspirational

I worked at global studios before starting the practice in 2006, and there was significant production involved, therefore hard to pin one particular 'thing' or environment as the first thing. After starting the studio, we worked on public sector work with another studio and several other projects in the private sector, very diverse in typology.

I like collaborative platforms for large infrastructure projects because these are catering to efficient delivery

Early mornings, I am an early riser and love the quiet of the day and also find it quite inspirational to watch the light changing as the morning unfolds, the sounds of nature before sunrise and changing colors as the day breaks, it is just never the same.

The big picture vision, what are we trying to do and why, before getting into the details.

A design is successful when it serves a purpose that can become a vessel for transformation at any scale.

It is important to understand the message and given the grander scheme of affairs and our collective existence it is also important to understand who/what an object of design is serving.

Given the current meta crises that the world is up against, we have a huge responsibility to serve the planet and its people and remediate through our work and use our skill set to serve our local and global community.

Future of design has to be climate driven, being aware more than ever of our footprint and making our work less onerous and demanding on the natural systems. Our work can't be just in response to a climate emergency it needs to preemptively plan for it.

My last exhibit was in Venice, Italy in July of 2026 focused on exploring shelter in symbiosis, something I have been exploring for over two decades. Next exhibit will be in Seoul, Korea in the fall of 2026.

I am an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, my biggest inspiration for decades now are the natural systems both living and non living.

Design style would be low tech, embedded in the principles of sufficiency with a lighter footprint on the planet and its resources.

I am fortunate to live in California which has been a great experience in driving the climate agenda forward through practice, advocacy and policy work. I am inspired by bioregional solutions and am always looking for opportunities to learn from vernacular and low tech strategies in other parts of the world and am hoping to work on such projects hand in hand with local communities.

We work with all our clients as partners, and think of their success as our success and that includes the whole team, clients, construction teams, consultants etc.

Biggest suggestion would be to come in from the spirit of team work to deliver successfully designed projects. All the stakeholders need to work together for transformational work.

There isn't a linear process, I do become obssesive with a problem at hand waking up with it and going to sleep with it, until I can clearly see it in my head, then I take it to paper and find ways to communicate.

I frequent an antique store in a rural part of California run by a local family, with a furniture shop next to it, it is always fun to find off the beaten path objects/fixtures there. I have a coffee table that I built in a furniture studio at college at my office reminding me how to push boundaries.

A typical day has very long hours, if sombody spent a day with me they will be taken aback by how hard I work and how structured and scheduled my day is. I also tend to make it look easy but my team and peple around me know how hard I work.

There's no substitute for hard work, every hour spent in learning, becoming a sponge to learn the technical aspects of the field and applying our skillsets in real world applications is worthwhile.

We're trained to visualize the big picture and are given tasks to solve which is inherently titled creativity, its a huge positive.
Negatives could be the passion driven work where you tend to loose count of hours.

Always be seeking

There's no substitute for hard work and a good work ethic, also life long learning and being able to adapt and pivot.

There's nothing like an old fashioned pencil and sketch pad to start with. In terms of communicating ideas and for production we use everything Adobe, AutoDesk products to collaborate, create, produce and convey.

I live a very structured and scheduled life, there's very little room to waste time. I am also very task oriented, if I need to get something done, I give it my attention and get it done not matter how much effort it takes. I work very long hours and can compartmentalize tasks quite well, this has all come from practice and experience.

It varies there isn't a formula, circumstantially it also depends on the problems/methods at hand.

"You must be good at drawing" :)

Starting the company was the biggest teacher, doing every job that came our way, working long hours to deliver with innovative, technically sound approaches no matter the size, budget or context, there's nothing quite like that, you just can't replace or replicate hands on experience like that through the different phases of a project's life.

We have worked on varied scales and have clients from a small retail space to large scale transit/infrastructure work. We're fortunate to have a a very diverse portfolio in scales and project types and partially it comes from our desire to develop working strategies for all project types and an opportunity to help.

The studio's ethos has been environmentally conscious work and those are the projects I enjoy the most and feel most fulfilled about, knowing I did good work to conserve resources instead of burdening them.

Continue the work, keep working to provide meaningful services with the built environment as my medium without burdening the natural systems.

We work as a team, I do share my input and lead the conceptual explorations.

I have been working on some solutions to rethink healthcare, I saw a lot of problems with clinical design and operations while taking care of my mother and believe this field needs a redesign from the physical space to operations. Given the stress such environments bring to both patients, health care providers and families, there's lot of work needed to make significant changes conducive to improved physical and mental health.

Through our website https://hbaarchitects.com/ and LinkedIn.