#2501 | Paradox

I've been thinking about this a lot these days, about the practice and our approach to design.

Through the universe's intervention, perhaps we are blessed with the opportunities to explore.

After a few short years of experimenting, we never really looked back at our design progression (or the familiarity of it) as a whole, until now.

As I come to realize, our work expanded in ways we didn’t expect.

Not because we chased everything, but because each project asked for something different.

"That switch between universes,

both measured and unruly,

is what keeps the work alive."

One day it’s a future mask,

the next it’s someone’s family home

(at least I'm speaking from a personal capacity). Some say the design language is consistent and undeniably ours, although trust me, that was never our intention. Ironically, since it’s never the work of one, perhaps it’s the dialogues we’ve had across all these projects that tie them together cohesively. I was apprehensive about acknowledging it at first, but as I'm personally handling the compendium of our recent works, I’d have to say it’s an accidental, welcomed outcome now.

Having said that, it is highly paradoxical that our works and commissions overlap across genres and scales, blurring the lines of what an “architectural” practice is. I’ve never been one to dwell on “architecture” per se. Perhaps I’m more keen to take on the general role of a designer, across the layers and components of our lives. That has always been the proposition, and the direction that shapes our office.

"One day it’s a future mask,

the next it’s someone’s family home"

Interestingly, the thoughts unhinged in speculative works and the restrained briefs of a family home somehow hinge together in the same design principles. entirely possible.

Jumping between scales and worlds keeps the mind from getting comfortable.

The small details inform the big moves.

The big moves teach restraint for the smaller ones.

It makes the practice more aware.

It shouldn’t be, in the traditional sense, but it is. and that's a PARADOX but a welcomed one. sincerely, -SYARAWI-

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