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PEOPLEPLACE PLASTICITY

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page 03 + contents

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+plus by name believes in the +added value of an inclusive, additive design process and the opportunities for architecture to include, heal, and share. this is what makes +plus: +plus

page 04 + firm structure [micro]

+ int

egrat

ion an

d expl

oration of progressive

GRANT COGAN + MICHAEL ZHANG

+

BRI

AN N

G

+ founding partner (CA) founding partner (CA)

fo

undi

ng p

artn

er (C

A)

DESIGN TEAM

TECH

NIC

AL T

EAM

CLIENT + C

OM

MU

NITY

ENGINEERS + MATERIAL SCIENCE+ ENVIRONM

ENTA

L CO

NTROLS +

+ INTERNS + PROJECT ARCHITECTS + GRAPHIC + LOCAL A

DVIS

ORS

+ URBAN

NEIGBORHOOD + CITY + LOCAL + GLOBAL + LEGISL

ATIV

E + C

IVIC +

LOCAL CONTRACTORS + DEVELOPERS + POST-D

EV M

ANAG

EM

ENT +

+ community involvement from day one +

+ employment of local staff +en

viron

mental

+ str

uctural

knowledge +

education for smart upkeep + continued

+ BIM integration and cross- disciplinary

flexibility post-contruction + businesses durin

g deis

gn pr

oces

s to

+ development of o

ccupa

tion-

phas

e

continue healing p

rocess

of ar

ch +

++ due diligence

++ democratic design++ office flexibility

++ designprocess

integration

++ movementof firm to

site contextfor culturalimmersion

TECHNICAL TEAM

page 04 + firm structure [micro]

+ ABOUT US+ FIRM STRUCTURE MICRO MACRO+ BIO

page 05 + about [us]

+PLUS in structure and ideology is founded upon three core principles:

[+1] +PLUS should foster a community of democratic design that promotes interdependence between designers, clients, engineers, and businessmen through transdisciplinary collaboration. Although +PLUS’ partners serve as the constant in a dynamic and shifting workforce, decisions in design development are made democratically through open communication with an emphasis on equality, not hierarchy. +PLUS team members are selected not only according to their diversity in process, background, and interest but also to further consistency and commonality in skillsets and tools. Consequently, +PLUS dilutes the traditional titles of project architect, constructing architect, intern and graphic designer in favor for “project designer,” in order to symbolize the fact that all team members have the ability to contribute equally across all aspects of the project.

[+2] +PLUS should remain flexible and retain organizational plasticity in both the scale of the local office and the overall network. In light of the recent global recession and the massive amounts of lay-offs in the architectural job field, +PLUS aims to maintain a small core population while temporarily expanding and shrinking in accordance with the demands of the current project. However, temporary members of +PLUS are not discarded after the project’s conclusion but instead remain as part of the +PLUS design network, linking them with other professionals that +PLUS has collaborated with in the past and therefore plugging them into a global design collective. This network is facilitated by past and present technologies like the internet and cloud storage and allow for intimate communication regardless of physical location. Members of +PLUS’ network are thus encouraged to collaborate with each other and draw on each other’s collective knowledge.

[+3] +PLUS should overcome the separation between home/site and us/them. Contextuality cannot be gleamed from sporadic day trips to the project site and instead can only be understood retroactively after one is fully integrated into the environment. +PLUS strongly believes that the success and failure of an architecture project has as much to do with responding to the context as the design concept, load-bearing walls and construction process themselves. By shifting office locations according to project, +PLUS is able to engrain the firm and the resulting design into the context of the site. In addition, +PLUS connects with as many local designers at each project location to further the firm’s understanding of the site, whether it be through a formal hiring process or through informal collective consulting sessions. These local designers are also incorporated into the +PLUS design network, imbuing the global network with local flavors. For this particular project, +PLUS has consulted with the Scandinavian architecture firms of VLA and C.F. Møller, along with the School of Architecture of Stanford University in California and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.

+PLUS in design process is centered upon a fundamental interdependence of analysis and exploration:

[+] +PLUS works as a responsive and proactive design team, integrating the digital and analog and initiating a sequence of concept, analysis, development, and production that understands the existing conditions in order to better them. Analysis is seen as the heart of +PLUS’ work, giving the firm the ability to recognize the fundamental needs of othe context, develop a rational solution, and produce a compelling story. Through a more substantial understanding of the world, +PLUS aims to respond not only to the conditions of today, but to the conditions that we, as a society, hope for them to be.

page 06 + firm structure [macro]

page 07 + firm structure [macro]

Where the traditional firm works internationally from a static base, leading to a weaker cultural, geographical, and contextual connection, +PLUS moves according to the location of its current site: with no home-base nor permanent address, +PLUS pledges to design for the context, by being a part of the context.

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page 08 + bio

Michael Yifu Zhang+ founding partner California Polytechnic State University -- San Luis Obispo Danish Institute of Study Abroad+ born xian, china+ from sacramento, california+ interests- candle-lit dinners

Brian Pui Ming Ng+ founding partner California Polytechnic State University -- San Luis Obispo Danish Institute of Study Abroad+ born hong kong, china+ from san jose, california+ interests - long walks on the beach

Grant Cogan+ founding partner California Polytechnic State University -- San Luis Obispo Danish Institute of Study Abroad+ born san francisco, california+ from santa rosa, california+ interests - champagne + sunsets