The term groundbreaking in architecture defines “…the ceremonial breaking of the ground to formally begin a construction project”. It defines that moment, when the official (often times political), gingerly shovels a cup full of earth to signal to the public, the press, and the present on-looker that change and improvements are imminent. Although not every project has this formal beginning (it often starts silently, without announcement or public celebration, with a construction crew and an excavator on a site), it defines a transition point. It is the point when a design leaves the realm of the architect’s sketches, drawings, diagrams and renderings and becomes physical, inhabit-able space.
This final product, that of the inhabit-able, is the ultimate goal of the architect.
The journey to the inhabit-able takes many routes; traveling sometimes in a straight line (like the Pacific Coast Highway where our office is located), sometimes on the back winding road (like Old Topanga Canyon), and sometimes it never reaches the final destination… Hayne Architects travels these various paths to design completion and ponders out loud, often over coffee, what all of these stops along the way mean for the architect and the architectural profession as a whole.
-hlj