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elevate

manifesto

There is a conceptual schism between ideals and the reality of design, because we do not holistically consider that design is an exercise of power, a creative process, and a market commodity all in one.

If we can weave these three together, we empower people to design spaces for the benefit of all humanity.

Design is Power

To design is to influence the world. It is movement and thought, recorded and then amplified. It is the uniquely human power, and must have foundations in a strong sense of ethics and intelligence. We are a vibrant community of diverse sentient beings underpinned by our virtues; to lack virtue is to lack humanity.

elevate rejects the unexamined impact of work and design, and may only be used for tasks which do not enable or encourage oppression, mistreatment, and exploitation. Users must be acutely aware of the impact of their own virtues and moral frameworks.

Design is a Creative Process

A project begins blurry and comes into sharper focus as ideas are tested and refined. Our design tools should allow, enable, and encourage experimentation for quality project outcomes which are a gift and benefit to humanity. They should enable thought to translate into action, and then onto the page with the least friction possible. Sketch freely and adjust later when the idea has had time to breathe.

elevate allows you to add complexity as you go, then strip it back and iterate. When we draw a floor plan we conceptualise the wall as a single line; our tools should act the same way. Think about how to design, not how to model.

Design is a Market Commodity

Again and again I find myself sitting in rooms with designers presenting schemes that are "good enough", clearly hamstrung by the limitations of the digital tools they are using. There are three streams that get us to this point:

  1. A loose sketch, which is then translated into general shapes from scratch. Time is wasted reinventing each architectural element every time you draw a wall, a window, or a door, and then translating the model into a presentable form.
  2. A loose sketch, which is then translated into a BIM model for presentation. Time is wasted dealing with the jank of heavy documentation-focussed software, and trying desperately not to create McArchitecture.
  3. A hybrid of the two, leading to better design and dwindling fees.

The market equation leads to an inevitable result: fees are wasted on designers translating their design to suit the software rather than designing.

elevate aims to be the ideal version of number 3. Quick, iterative, experimental, but also capable and precise, and exporting cleanly to industry-standard BIM software.

Designers must reclaim design!