values based architecture

Values based architecture is the conscious interweaving of what it is that people value most into the creation of the places they dwell in and the objects they use.

Inherent in the understanding of values based architecture is the awareness that the environments humans create completely influence our actions, thoughts and emotions. This is very different from modernist thinking which has failed to value the nature of relationships and connections between people, culture and place, as well as the rich and diverse biological cycle of the earth. 

Softloud Architects have been developing and refining a process for values-based architecture for over seventeen years.

That process began with building an awareness of ourselves and of the practice’s values - to know who we were, and why we are doing what we’re doing.  A vocabulary needed to be established for the effective communication of these values.

The next step is to listen carefully to our clients; to develop an understanding of their values, goals, and needs; and to bring these into the creative process through language, text, drawing, image, and action.

The outcomes of our values-based approach are periodically recorded through post-occupancy evaluation.

You can read more about our values based architecture in our published work:

Towards A Methodology For Values-based Architecture
by Alvyn Williams

Values-based architecture as a regenerative approach to the human – environment relationship
by Alvyn and Pia Williams