DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

These five simple and comprehensive principles inform our work across all project categories.

A modern kitchen with wooden cabinets, a blue backsplash, and large windows showing trees and sunset. There is a wooden island in the center, and a stackable washer and dryer on the right.

Shaped by Natural Light

In visual art, the modulation of natural light controls composition and narrative. In architecture, light informs the aesthetics of a building as well as its functionality. At TJA, we use natural light to transform spaces, enliven the experience and contribute to the sustainability of a building.

Open-concept kitchen and dining area with high ceilings, large windows, wooden cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and a wooden dining table with patterned chairs.

Gorgeous and Carefully Detailed

Great design is a balance of restraint and exuberance. Informed by the context of the project as well as by our clients’ aesthetic wants, our attention to elegant design extends through construction ensuring that our projects are carefully detailed.

Two young girls looking at a vintage record player in an art gallery.

Supportive of the Earth and People

As a leader in sustainable design, we serve the earth and the people who experience our buildings and we do so cost-effectively. Our projects are designed at LEED levels of green building design through the application of the latest building science and sustainability principles and strategies. Deep knowledge of construction strategies and tactics ensures that our designs can be cost effectively built.

Interior of a modern building with wooden wall panels, a potted plant, a wall-mounted light fixture, and a large glass window on a curved wall, in black and white.

Building Science Informed

Building science is the science and technology-driven collection of knowledge that informs indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency and comfort and satisfaction. Through continuous learning and application of the latest building science informed practices, we ensure that our designs leverage that knowledge and deliver at the highest level of building performance.

Small wooden cabin on a sloped, wooded landscape with stone pathway, potted plants, and colorful kayaks hanging on the side.

Integrated Design Approach

From the onset of project scoping, we balance the potential applications of sustainability and building performance as well as design aesthetics to achieve the most cost-effective outcomes for our clients. Our designs integrate these four principles elegantly and intelligently.