Architect as Developer

Explaining the why behind Winston Design + Development

Design is about constraints. In my years in professional practice, I’ve always prided myself on finding creative and impactful solutions within the constraints of a design brief, a budget, or whatever other kinds of requirements set by real estate developers. And still, I’ve wondered what could have been different had it been up to me to design the requirements and set the brief myself: what were the actual constraints of the project? What conditions did the design brief as written ignore, or make difficult to address?

As I’ve grown as a professional, I’ve also grown as a person, and my experience working with community-based organizations in Pittsburgh has given me a point of view about how the built environment can help support communities. Specifically, I believe that quality design, by which I mean thoughtful design solutions that are grounded in green building practices, can produce short- and long-term value for people (for investors, residents, and communities).

In Pittsburgh, I’m especially interested in — and am currently working on — community-scale residential, commercial, and civic/institutional infill projects where I’m able to act as a the developer as well as the architect, and work within a community context to help bring about extraordinary solutions.

I’m excited by the opportunity to expand my practice into this new (but adjacent) domain. Do you have an idea for a project in your community? Contact me — I’d love to talk to you about it.