Having been in the design business for over 40 years designing some of the most unique destination resorts. I was working with one of our founders Jerry Allison on a project in South Africa. The project was a Marine theme park called Ushaka Marine World. I was asked to attend a design and budget meeting … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Value

January 8th, 2024 was the first Monday after the final week of the regular NFL season. Out of 32 teams, only 14 teams make the playoffs, that means on Monday the 8th, 18 teams were having conversations about whose fault the season results should fall on. Thus far 25% of the teams have parted ways … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – FIRE THE COACH

A few years ago, one of my first post was about storytelling.. in fact I phrased it as such. “ the art of crafting the guest journey. Engaging their imagination. Connecting with them on an emotional level. Creating the Sense of Place. This is the key ingredient to a destination.” Our founder Pete was credited … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Storytelling (expanded)

In 1996 , I was part of the team designing the destination Atlantis in the Bahamas. I was a young, tenacious project architect. I had worked on the first renovation of Paradise Island, when we converted the old Coral towers and placed in the large aquarium. On this day I was traveling to Paradise Island … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Know when to hold them.

For a while I have been recording my musings on a life a designing destinations. Creating my clients dreams and visions. It seems it may not have been sharing the posts with the social media groups. This is a reconnection attempt.

I have had many caring and bold mentors along the way in my career. Some taught me how to lead and mentor teams. Others how deal with internal politics and lastly how to deal with clients. One mentor would often have quotes at his disposal to use with clients. This quote was one I noticed … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Mentorship

As we start this journey of design discovery it is important that we pay attention to five key design goals and how they interplay with each other. We want to discover the story that we tell to guest, we want to craft the story into a journey that the guess senses upon arrival, a journey … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Design Goals

Collaboration, in the dictionary you see words such as concert, participation, partnership, joint effort alliance, working together and association. These are positive attributes. I always felt it was interesting that clients will put a value on design tension as a positive for the project. I have  worked with a group of people that prides itself on collaboration.   It was … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Collaboration

The profession of architecture was once referred to as a profession that success comes late in your career. Why? This isn’t about the experience of “How” to do the job. But rather life experience. I had the opportunity to work with some of our senior partners as i was coming up the ranks. I witnessed … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Experience (life)

Often as designers we have a vision of the destination. The mood and character that needs to be put on display. We must challenge ourselves not to design TO the vision but rather design starting FROM the vision and allowing the vision to develop beyond the initial inspiration. Deeper developement of detail, art, culture, and … More DESTINATION ARCHITECT – Inspiration