About

Design Philosophy

Daniels and Zermack Architects aims to produce the best possible building for the owner, community and public, within the budget and wherever possible to design with sustainable practices.  We achieve this through an integrated design process.

Specifically, for Library design, our extensive experience makes us extremely sensitive to how the Library functions. The Libraries single greatest operating cost is staffing, and it is imperative that the design be efficient for staffing as well as for the patron experience.  We always involve staff in the design process.  Security is always a concern, so focusing on visibility and adequate sightlines is a basic prerequisite to any Library design.  Aesthetically, we believe a Library should represent the community it is a part of and fit in with the fabric of that community.

It has long been the architect’s charge to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare.  We believe that this includes protecting the environment while designing buildings that are aesthetically pleasing to the general public. The built environment can have a considerable impact on one’s attitude, which in turn can affect one’s health and performance.  As designers, we seek to shape this impact through the careful planning of several objective environmental aspects, such as lighting levels, daylighting, ventilation, acoustics, temperature control, humidity, etc.  However, it is less obvious, and much harder, but equally as important, to measure people’s attitudinal response to more subjective qualities of space and form, such as proportion, color, and scale. Our goal is to consider all these criteria within the integrated design approach.

In the past decade, as building materials and systems have become more sophisticated, the building design process has not evolved in response, and architects are often asked to produce design documents in less time and at lower professional fees.  The integrated design approach not only strives to create more efficient buildings, but also promises a more efficient design process for the design professional and owner.  The foundation of the integrated design process is the integration of the individual design professionals, including architects, engineers, interior designers, lighting designers, construction managers, and owners, into a collaborative team. The team meets at the very inception of the design process through design charrettes, whereby participants create several concepts.  These concepts are then evaluated based on the owner’s objectives to choose the best concept or integrate the best attributes of several concepts into a hybrid solution.  Our experience is that this collaboration process brings out the most creative ideas from not just architects, but from engineers as well.  Integrated design looks to increase the efficiency of every aspect of the design and the design process.  Better coordination of the whole building team creates a better detailed set of construction documents, producing less compromises and changes during construction and building systems that perform as they were intended.

Sustainable design utilizing an integrated design approach produces buildings that have less impact on the environment, provide economic benefits to the building owners, and provide enhanced settings for those who inhabit the building.

Environmentally conscious design can reduce the negative impact that buildings and construction activities have on the environment through sound environmental planning, increased energy efficiency, reduced waste and conservation of materials and resources, and the creation of interior environments that are conducive to a healthy well-being for building occupants.  Environmentally conscious design produces functional and pleasing buildings that make practical and economic sense for building owners, and produce environments where occupants can maximize their potential, all while minimizing any negative impact the building process has on our natural environment.