Colin Edward Slais, Architect, LLC

• Simplicity throughout — Form, structure, systems.
• Clarity/Honesty — Clear, honest expression of function and structure.
• Functionality, Stability and Beauty.
• Integral Design Throughout — Materials, details, motifs, patterns.
• Indoor/Outdoor Relationship — Seamless transition between in and out.
• Flexibility — Mobility, adaptability, changeability, expandability.
• Color — From the site/nature and maybe Client's favorite color.
• Relation to Nature — love of nature, stars, sun, moon.
• Site Specific — Harmonious w/ site and Client needs.
• Life Priority — Human and pet scale, proportions, needs.
• Sustainability — Passive solar, conservation of resources/utilities.
• Screen Walls — Screens defining space, not confining. No boxes!
• Balance of Contrasts — Soft/hard, straight/curved, yin/yang.
• Work of Art — Expressive as a complete work of art lifting the spirit.
• Timeless — Ageless & respected by its universality & logic.
• Freedom — Free from "handcuffs" of styles/historical references.
• Creativity — Creative & unique design solutions and use of materials.
• Sense of Shelter — Broad roof overhangs provide protection.
• Intelligence — Rational, thoughtful, useful, reasoned design.
• Joyful — Design brings positive, warm, cheerful feelings.
• Respectful — Respectful of context, history and privacy.
• Friendly — Welcoming/inviting.
• Technology — Use of current infrastructure and "smart" technology.
• Metaphor — Elements/details express design ideas.
• Furniture — Harmonize w/ the design and free-standing for flexibility.
• Low Maintenance — Easy to maintain and clean for better hygiene.
• Informal — Orderly space and structure but also casual.
• Organic Modern Design — The design grows naturally from needs and the site.
• Inspiration — Design inspired by the world's greatest architects!

For me and the architecture I represent, the opportunity of designing a new building (commercial or residential) to be placed between the Earth and sky is an almost sacred endeavor taken both seriously and joyfully! There is a special feeling and connection between the Client, the site and myself during the design process. We are not just building yet another structure – we’re building an important legacy for ourselves and future generations. This should excite and motivate all of us to create at the highest level possible!

  The best buildings are achieved through creative ideas that come naturally from the Client, the site, and the Architect working together as one. To me, a building can be so much more than merely an assortment of boxes (we call “rooms”) with a roof over them and a door to get in & out. A building should come from inspiration and represent that inspiration. It should be uplifting, optimistic, beautiful, and something of which to be proud. 

Most buildings are simply assemblages of different materials (again, usually boxes) that keep the outside out and the inside in. Most people don’t think anything of them. They don’t feel anything about them. They are for the most part unmemorable, mundane background addressing utilitarian functions. 

  This is not to say that buildings have to scream at us by being different just for difference’s sake, but every time a piece of Earth is bought on which to put a building, that should always be considered the most fortunate opportunity for us to respect both Nature and humanity. I design buildings to do both – that are memorable not by being loud or brash, but by supporting, in a more aspirational way, the needs of the community and the people (consciously and subconsciously) who live and work in our unique structures. 

I started "serious" traveling in college when we visited Monticello in Virginia. It was a highly rewarding trip to one of the greatest homes in America. That was all it took to catch the travel bug! Every summer we chose a region of the country to spend a week visiting all of the famous buildings of our mentors (Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies Van Der Rohe, Alfred Caldwell, etc.). We met many original owners who gave us insight and anecdotes about their experiences. These trips recharged us, motivated and inspired us! They gave us confidence that anything is possible, and that one day we could do it too. The owners always encouraged us that if we loved the work our mentors accomplished as much as they did, we should go for it and never look back. They believed that what was designed and built for them was right and good, and that the principles at work were sound and worthy of expansion.
 Travel continued after college to Europe, where my eyes were opened to an entirely new way of thinking. The way they designed and built the newer buildings based on many historical fundamentals was fascinating. The Europeans can make a 1-year old building with all its technological advances feel right at home next to a 300-year old. All of the exciting new buildings were light, free, structurally and technologically expressive! Instructively it was like breaking out of the shell. I came back more confident—challenging my own previous, more limited thinking and beliefs.
 Traveling is an essential part of everyone's personal growth—especially as part of an architect's continuing education. Books are where education starts, experience is where it continues. The power of those real memories is stronger than just reading facts—it shapes who we become and stays with us forever. Those memories can be retrieved for inspiration, and they afford us the ability to ask "What if...?"
We continue our travels to this day—me often dragging my wife to places like Cleveland, Ohio to rent a Frank Lloyd Wright house (which she later admits really enjoying!). 

There is a lizard in the Sahara that turns white to reflect sunlight and has long legs to lift itself off the hot desert floor. Camels store fat in their humps, have long eyelashes for wind-blown sand, and special knee pads for the scorching ground. Saguaros are approximately 60% self-shading due to a circular shape, vertical ribbing (or flutes) and thorn distribution. Nature is an excellent designer and source of inspiration on how to live in the desert.
 Now that "green" building is an important consideration in architecture, the public is more aware of "eco-friendly" building design options. However, many of these design features, especially passive solar, have been used for thousands of years at little to no additional cost. I believe that a thorough observation of nature will reveal intelligent, creative varieties of design responses to the local climate, resulting in harmonious structures integral to the landscape and Client needs.
 Simple passive solar techniques that can be used based on specific climate information include: proper building orientation to the sun and prominent breezes, light colors to reflect the sun's rays (light colors reflect, dark colors absorb), high ceilings with operable windows for breezes and heat escape, wise use of glass with adequate external shade devices, thermal mass for heat storage and dissipation, and an insulated roof with sufficient overhangs for a sense of shelter and protection from the elements. These real, local conditions of our time should influence how our buildings "look", instead of pre-determined styles from a different place and time.
 I firmly believe that a building should be one with the desert — as natural a part of it as the saguaro and the lizard. The two should grow into one another, becoming an integral and essential part of each other. Nature is the ultimate context within which all man-made structures exist. Without nature we perish — both spiritually as well as physically. Both are only happy when we and nature co-mingle peacefully, respectfully and intelligently. 

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fay Jones, Mies Van Der Rohe, Alfred Caldwell, Al Beadle, Richard Neutra, Robert Anshen, William Allen, A. Quincy Jones (Eichler Homes), Sarah Susanka, John Lautner, Santiago Calatrava, Pierre Luigi Nervi, Paul Rudolph, Craig Ellwood...
 All of these architects masterfully demonstrate(d) similar qualities in their work, namely, a simplicity, clarity and beauty of materials, construction, form, structure, composition and space. They have created memorable buildings and spaces of great integrity based on sound, fundamental principles. They believe(d) in an honest and integrated expression of all the components that make up a building. Their spaces contain an ethereal quality that touches us in some profound way. When we are there we feel at once exhilarated while completely at peace. Though originally designed at a specific moment in time for a specific client, the buildings are timeless and somehow for all of us—for humanity itself (the current owners may not necessarily agree). They elevate the mundane in everyday life to an almost spiritual experience. They celebrate all aspects of life and give us a glimpse into the boundless possibilities of the human imagination! This is truly architecture!! 

I think everyone would agree that we live in a much more complex world than we did, say, 30 years ago, and it's getting more complicated by the day. Between rising gas/food prices, a globally volatile economy, terrorism, climate changes, technology, and trying to balance a family and career, etc., our hands are quite full. And, though we must address these issues head on while being flexible and adaptive, I feel that it can get exhausting just trying to keep up, and that it's getting out of control.
 I'm a strong proponent of Simplicity. Yes, in fact, I find it so essential to a less stressful, happier life that I spell Simplicity with a capital "S". I truly believe that if we simplify our lives as much as possible, we can greatly reduce anxiety, and I know that our architecture can help. Instead of fussy, wasteful, complicated, over-sized, expensive floor plans that are difficult to maintain and clean, we could have simpler, user-friendly plans that better suit the everyday needs of our hectic lives. Simpler can often mean faster, easier and less costly—thus saving you time, frustration and money to enjoy more of your own interests. Imagine coming home everyday from the busy, noisy, overwhelming outside world to an inner sanctum of peace, serenity, repose, order, clarity and beauty—a place where things make sense. My family and I try to live by the saying, "Have what you need and need what you have—no more, no less, never a mess." Simplification is the great liberation for a life meant to be enjoyed! 

I have been in countless buildings on a sunny, beautiful Arizona Spring day that have the A/C blasting, ceiling fans on, and every single light on, despite the abundance of windows! There is a simple way of reducing our voracious energy consumption that wouldn't cost a dime — TURN THE LIGHTS OFF!!
 I've been in numerous restaurants that have large windows. It would be barely noticeable if every light were turned off because of the amount of natural light. I recognize that these establishments need to advertise and display their products and don't want to appear uninviting. But, having all the lights on, especially the more decorative ones and those close to windows, are really only necessary at night. I've been in spaces during March that have the A/C and every ceiling fan on when it's 70 degrees outside! Let's turn these things on and off at the appropriate times.
 Architecture can voluntarily help in this endeavor with judicious use and proper placement of insulated, low-E windows with adequate exterior solar protection to lower the need for so many lights. We can greatly reduce A/C with proper insulation, roof overhangs, building orientation, materials and intelligent locations of windows and solid walls. Existing buildings can utilize awnings and tinting at windows as well as more energy-efficient A/C units. These are just some of the many passive solar techniques that can be used readily and at relative low expense.
 The easiest way to help the environment that we can do now at no cost is to become more aware and adapt our habits. Businesses can greatly lower their energy demand and operation costs. They can also market that they have turned off a few lights in the name of saving our environment. 

One of the first questions people ask me about homes and buildings is "What kind of style do you do?" This is tough to answer because I don't consider my design principles, or philosophy, a "style". When designing a building, I simply absorb the information regarding the Client's needs, the site and climate conditions, local context, budget, materials, etc. and devise appropriate design options for those factors (ideally resulting in simple, creative, beautiful, spatial and material compositions). We often hear the terms "contemporary" and "modern" used interchangeably. Though the definitions are very similar, "contemporary" implies a current stylistic trend to me, whereas "modern" means the freedom to respond to a design problem with fresh, new ideas which come from within or from the problem itself. When it's modern, there are no limits to the imagination, whereas a style ropes you in with certain formulas or appearances that must conform to a specific "look".
 "Modern" to me does not have to mean "cold", "barren" or "sterile". Just the opposite, "modern" can be gentle curves with colorful accents and a variety of new materials, textures and forms integrated together. Rather than the large, empty metal and glass box trivializing the human being, modern architecture should be warm and full of life while embracing honest construction, clean lines, human scale and the beauty of nature! That is what "modern" means to me.