My standpoint within the field of architecture is strongly influenced by the idea of social impact,
the importance of community and how it can be integrated within the confines of architecture.
Architecture needs to allow for a people-centric society and enable the user to coexist with, learn
from and participate in the narrative created the designer. Liz Ogbu (2014) states that we as designers
are expert citizens that can create an impact through design, but it is vital to understand that the people
we design for are citizen experts. Both are equally imperative to the process of making architecture.
I understand architecture as a relationship between different layers that respond to man as well as nature.
Influences are collected from various perspectives and scales, whether micro or macro, from the way the
building sits within the landscape to the experience of the user. With the creation of space comes the
responsibility of ensuring a sustainable future for not only the building but also its environment and
the systems within it. My approach to architecture is a conscious hybrid of modern and postmodern;
the indigenous and the universal; existing and new, man and landscape – to achieve a synthesis between
opposing approaches to create a reconciling identity.