Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Daniels.
Mark, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our story emanates from the geographic origin of our office, Palm Springs. Host to our home base and many of our projects, the city is a hub for culture and design enthusiasts. While Palm Springs sets the stage for our work, our hybrid office setup allows a team to collaborate both remotely and in person. Through collaboration, we strive to learn from the past as a reference point to build innovative design solutions for the future. We consider ourselves a team of curious, detail-oriented, creative thinkers. The pursuit of knowledge, curiosity, and new experiences is encouraged individually and collectively. We are students of architecture and design with a continued drive to learn and grow. We continue to learn from early California and Palm Springs modernism and strive to push the boundaries of desert modern architecture.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The design process is not always as smooth as the finished product may suggest. We dive deep into historical and cultural precedents to understand how our projects fit into current architectural discourse. Given our location in Palm Springs, design is a common thread among the community which leads to a heightened awareness of architectural principles and precedents. Our engagement within this community has led to a series of collaborations and projects that have provided us the opportunity to learn from and build upon the ideas of the early Palm Springs modernists. A project we are very excited about is our collaboration with Baltic Sands Development on a unique series of homes in Joshua Tree called Panorama Valley. These homes are inspired by the suprematist artist Kazimir Malevich.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In the aforementioned Panorama Valley project, cross-disciplinary studies of art and social movements furthered our architectural ideas and understanding. Venturing outside of the boundaries of traditional architecture is a process we often use to inform our design explorations. To take these to another dimension, we integrate new technology into our workflow. Computer modeling, 3D printing, and virtual reality are part of how we study the range of outcomes of our design ideas. Seeing where the design process takes us is our favorite part of the journey.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Our office values root us in a continued sense of curiosity, candor, and ownership. We use these values to evaluate the success of our projects, our team, and potential projects. When values align between our team, clients, and collaborators, a synergy is developed. ‘Work’ becomes a fun collective experience.
It sounds small, but these alignments lead to the enjoyment of our routines and happiness in our daily processes. In turn, satisfaction and success with our design solutions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mwdarch.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mwdarch/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkWDanielsArchitect/
Image Credits
3 images are by Lance Gerber.
