DESCRIPTION

"Lundberg Design is located in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, in a 1933 mattress factory building. It is a perfect building for the kind of firm they are – raw concrete walls and exposed timber trusses, with high volumes and enough square footage to house their architectural practice, fabrication shop, and even a work-week apartment for Olle. The practice has always been very diverse – they have designed homes, restaurants, wineries, corporate headquarters, distilleries, hotels, apartment buildings, bars, lobbies, and even San Francisco’s bus shelters. They describe their style as “nature-inspired modernism,” and they strive for elegant, simple solutions in their work. They like materials with substance – wood, stone, steel; materials with heft and texture – really the opposite of veneer. For them the making of architecture is a collaborative act; between themselves and especially with their clients – while they aim for poetry they also pride themselves on making buildings that work very, very well.

The work is quite personal – to their clients, to the site, and to them; and to that end they have always had a fabrication shop as part of their practice. It is a place to experiment with materials and details; it is a place to build things. The shop is a way to emphasize the notion of craft in their projects – the unique piece handmade for just that moment. This enables them to at times act a little more like a sculptor, where the process of making begins to inform the end result, so that the pieces really do end up being one-of-a-kind. The act of making is different from just drawing an idea – no matter the cost the mark of the hand makes the piece a kind of gift, unique and personal to that client. It is an inseparable part of their design practice.

The firm's basic philosophy for environmental sustainability is thinking long term: to design singular places that last. Architects need to lead the way in creating buildings that minimize resource consumption and carbon emissions, and ideally create a net positive impact. They utilize today's latest technologies and building strategies in their design toward these goals. The use of reclaimed materials, artfully integrated to create strong architectural statements that are also highly functional, is another hallmark of their firm. Yet, ultimately, their real mission is to produce beautiful buildings, each unto itself, buildings that the user and subsequent generations of users will love – this for them is the essence of environmentally responsible design. If their buildings work well, capture the imagination of its users over generations, then the materials and effort that went into their creation have been well spent. They strive to design buildings that will far outlive all of us that build them, buildings that are admired and help show us how we can live respectfully within the limits of our Earth." Lundberg Design