Designers of the built environment—architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, and artists—have the opportunity to imagine and create places that celebrate, inspire, and challenge those who walk and live within these spaces.
At Dickinson + Partners, we believe the processes of design should celebrate a multitude of voices. A diverse collection of ideas, values, desires, and experiences brings richness to the design.
Often, we begin our design process with an intensive “Charette”. Charette translates into “discovery” through an intensive, hands-on experience that brings people together to capture the vision, values, and ideas of the community. Design charrettes are a good way to build positive enthusiasm and energy and, at the same time, be responsive to the creativity of the community.
Come to a Dickinson + Partners charette, and you enter a world of discovery. Walls pinned with images of what exists and what might exist: site plans and visual images of nature, civilization, movement, lifestyles. It is far more than just bricks and mortar that go into the concept of buildings here. We invest in listening and understanding.
At the end of the Charette process, we — all of us, client, contractor, architect, interior designer, and engineer — will have a clear, cohesive direction. One that we all agree upon and one that we all understand.