Understanding a Place.
What it wants to do, what it will permit & what it will help us do.
The Living Story
Every site has a story.
To me, that story is what will shape the design. And the success of the design.
Water, wind, climate, ecology, gradients, soil, people...
As designers, our responsibility is to uncover those stories, integrate them creatively, and contribute to them positively.
The Living Story is a design methodology that lets nature lead. It’s about learning what the land naturally wants to do, what it can support us in doing, what it will permit us to do and what it might inspire us to do differently. It’s a holistic perspective that includes GIS and flow modelling, unique site analyses, and engagement with indigenous people – those with the longest relationship with a place – to help us better understand the trajectory of a place and therefore, how we might better fit in.
“In every case, the Living Story inspires us to go beyond the idea of “doing less harm” to actively design regeneratively because it is rooted in the belief that if our breath feeds trees and our bodies feed our soil, why can’t our buildings feed their ecosystems?”
A Living Story: Metis Crossing Infrastructure Masterplan
A Living Story: New Lowell Visionary Masterplan
A Living Story: India Biomimetic House
Hunnu Village is a 31,000 ha site in the ecologically sensitive Steppe of Mongolia. Our Living Story laid the foundation of the design, inspiring the masterplan to emerge from the people and place that is already here.