A boxed set in four volumes, each volume in the series represents a core sample of the firm at this moment in time, highlighting a grouping of four major projects that share a common theme but not necessarily the same typology or program. The themes are threads that weave the work together and as a whole define the design philosophy of the firm. The firm's emphasis on sustainability is a current that runs through the narrative of each book. Each book focuses on design process and collaboration. Each project is presented in depth and will underscore the methodology, aesthetics, techniques and ethos of the firm. With future volumes planned, these sets will track the progression of ideas that evolve over time through the work that enacts the ideas, and informs the work to come.
FUSE - Blurring the boundary between landscape and building. From the scale of the building to the scale of the city, these projects integrate architecture, building systems thinking and natural systems. This philosophy takes the landscape and ecological forces that are the context and incorporates them within the design of the building, urban planning, and infrastructure design.
EVOLVE - Repositioning and Adaptive Re-Use of existing buildings. These projects investigate buildings as artifact and re-construe them for a new life as the original architecture degrades and the mission of the buildings change. Analysis of original design intent, construction methods, ornamentation and the cultural processes that have been enacted on the building over time form the basis of design. Fundamental architectural relationships, building envelope and circulation are re-thought and restructured to create new uses and relationships, completely transforming these spaces.
FILTER - Integration of culture and climate into sustainable architecture. FX Fowle practices a contemporary language of modernism, one that contrasts sharply from the original ethos of universalism and the tabula rasa. The specificities of climate and culture impact the design of form and program in FX Fowle buildings. The lenses of culture and climate are necessarily specific to the location and cultural values of each project and ultimately create an integral sustainability.
FLEX - Derived from a programmatic interpretation that re-thinks building mission, function and performance in office buildings, education, cultural institutions. FXFOWLE's process begins with finding the values of the institution, identifying its community, and then working to embody this in the architecture. The design achieves this through form finding, envisioning new types of interior circulation that encourages particular kinds of interactions, and creating gathering spaces that are fine tailored to the institution. The architecture sets the stage for interactions of the community and ultimately works to develop a new relationship between the individual and the institution