SMSQ Architects have produced churches, college buildings, residential, commercial, school, and other building types in a large variety of sizes and costs. We conceive our area of design to be not simply buildings; it has included feasibility studies, programmatic analysis, historic architecture, sustainable design, landscape design, furniture and furnishings, and various artifacts. Our methodology is customized to the project and has involved participatory workshops for consensus planning. Our approach is to proceed from a base of sound skills and careful reflection. Our practice is to respond to the context of each circumstance and to let a proper answer grow from the new questions discovered. Design thus attempts to avoid personal whims and public fashions. But underlying the variety of work and solutions we’ve experienced, we like to think there is a faithful adherence to the following principles: * The work should be a sound and durable servant of the Owner’s needs, be high in value, and be responsible to budgets, to maintenance costs, and to energy use. * Things ought to be what they appear, without illusions, affectations, or artificialities—an image of truth, reality, authenticity, integrity. * Beauty should be found not only in decorative features that supply pleasant sensations but also in total quality of spaces and substance. Beauty is an invitation to joy and wonder, nourishing the highest level of the human spirit, and is a key element of all buildings.