Patkau Architects

We began our practice with an outward perspective, looking for specificity in each project as a basis for design intent. We called this approach a search for found potential. Found potential may include aspects of site, program, cultural context, urban conditions, local climate, regional technology, or anything that describes the world into which a building must be fit.

Seeking found potential is not merely a method for stirring inspiration. It is also a counter stance to a trajectory in the built environment favoring the universal at the expense of the particular. A further consequence is that because our projects are fitted to circumstances, each has a unique formal vocabulary. We believe this an appropriate response to the diversity in which we live.