How we work

Architects do not work alone

The design of a public or institutional building is not a solo authorship. We use collaboration to externalize decisions — through workshops, reviews, and presentations rather than choices imposed on a client after the fact.

We structure communication as concentric rings. H3 and the client at the center; the consultant design team in the next ring under our direct management; stakeholder groups — leadership committees, user groups, donors, patron groups — in the next; and the broader public in the outermost ring. Each ring has its own cadence of meetings, its own communication tools, and its own role in informing the design.

Public input is paramount to the success of public projects. We have created both formal and informal engagement formats — including our Coffee and Conversation sessions — to integrate public participation in meaningful ways. We know the process is working when questions and objections become few and far between as the design progresses.

Programming sets the project's destiny

Our methodology begins with programming, and a direct interchange of ideas between client and architect. Programming includes charts and diagrams that graphically illustrate activities and adjacencies, supplemented by detailed information for each space — square footage, room requirements, floor heights, acoustics, natural lighting, building systems, HVAC and telecommunications, audio-visual and theatrical systems, security, and servicing.

Our consultant team reviews and verifies every programmatic activity needed to meet the goals of the facility, based on client information and our own experience in planning, designing, and constructing the relevant building type. A cost model is established at this phase and updated at every subsequent milestone — so the decisions with the largest financial consequences are made with full view of their impact, not discovered later.

Alternatives, evaluated honestly

A successful design solution arises from the open consideration of credible alternatives. We explore options for master-plan layout, architectural character, space planning, circulation, material selection, mechanical approach, and service access — and we evaluate each against functional requirements, aesthetic goals, and community objectives.

We approach each project without a preconceived architectural vocabulary. We look to the existing fabric of a community and to local context for inspiration. Site and program play significant roles in the development of massing, open space, and pedestrian areas, but the built imagery of a surrounding campus, district, or neighborhood is also a contributor to a new building's architectural character. As a result, no two H3 projects have led to the same design conclusion.

Four practices, layered through every phase

The majority of document inconsistencies in construction documents occur between disciplines, not within them. Our quality-assurance methodology is built to catch those inconsistencies before they reach the field. Four named practices are layered through every phase of design and documentation.

Together, these practices produce documents that stand up to the scrutiny of bidders, contractors, agencies, and — eventually — the people who use the building every day.

Every dollar of the budget is treated as if it were our own

Budget fidelity is our promise to the client. It begins with the recognition that the window of cost opportunity is widest at the start of a project and narrowest at the end — and that programming is therefore a cost-management activity, not an aspirational one.

As the facility program is refined, we prepare a total project cost model that identifies every category with a financial impact on the project, including operational and maintenance costs, and we associate costs with each element of the model as the program develops.

We typically work with a professional cost estimator from the start, and we continually track information for design alternatives so we always have budget flexibility in hand. Priority lists are established early for items that can be designed into the project but deferred if necessary. Alternates — particularly for mechanical and electrical systems or architectural finishes — are built into the documents so that value-engineering decisions are made by design, not by attrition.

Sustainability begins with the building that already exists

The energy-efficiency provisions that defined sustainable design fifteen years ago are now mandated by code in most of the jurisdictions where we work. Compliance is no longer the differentiator. H3 approaches sustainability as a layered commitment: preservation first, performance as baseline, adaptability as the long horizon.

The building that opens is the only one that matters

The effectiveness of our project management is measured not by individual deliverables but by the number of multi-project repeat engagements the firm has earned. Our work with the Brooklyn Academy of Music now spans more than thirty years, across the BAM Harvey Theater, the Majestic, BAMcafé, and BAM Fisher. Our work with Lincoln Center, Theatre for a New Audience, and McCarter Theatre Center has unfolded across similarly long horizons.

Construction administration is treated as a design phase, not a cleanup phase. Principals remain involved through documentation, bidding, and construction — because the difference between a good drawing set and a great building is the attention paid in the months between bid and ribbon-cutting.