CAA offers architectural services for residential, commercial and institutional clients. All work is channeled through this web site - please consult the User Guide and Snapshots from the Field for an overview of how it works. For an introduction to CAA ideas about buildings and practice, please see At Zero Remove; if time is short: The Architecture Traveler.
CAA's Design Practice
CAA's open practice approach to design derives solutions from the insights of all participants, and from direct engagement with its context, defined as broadly as possible (please see: Key Ideas). Since 2004, the imaging of decisions on this web site has dramatically improved our collaborations and results. Design now quickly parallels clients' and contractors' responses to the drawings, fly-through models, and photographs regularly posted to their "progress pages" and, since 2014, to commercial cloud-based data facilities (please see: User Guide), as well as the face-to-face consensus built up through close contact.
The inherent efficiency of an open practice enables CAA to approach standards of time, cost and aesthetic durability orders of magnitude beyond that of typical construction. With new materials, we've extended building life spans and drastically cut their maintenance; using new thermal strategies, energy use has declined by up to 50% since 2000; with new structural systems, construction has been dramatically shortened. CAA's focus on discovering and combining such innovations means that large performance gains remain within reasonable reach.
Clients
CAA works for people and organizations seeking original solutions to the challenges of finding shelter, based directly on their particular needs. Our clients have run the gamut from virtually penniless to extreme wealth, from small local companies to international conglomerates. They are united in their independence from conventional expectations, an aspect of their strong individualism. Accordingly, our focus has not been on a type of building or construction (not on offices or houses, for instance), but rather has followed the dictates of each unique program. At any given time CAA may have up to a dozen projects under way in various stages, of which many are commissions from returning past clients.
Scope of Services
CAA's scope of services includes:
Design: Creation of original designs for renovations, additions and new residential and commercial structures.
Consultation: Creation of architectural programs, and review of plans and budgets.
Supervision: Oversight and administration of architectural aspects of construction projects.
Specializations
CAA is expert in a number of areas:
Sustainable Design: Design of durable, efficient, environmentally responsible buildings.
Adaptive Re-use: Restoration of historic buildings, including historically correct details and materials, and their adaptation for modern uses.
Art Space: Design of spaces for production and display of art, with an emphasis on natural light.
Please down load these Project Focus PDFs for additional information:
Background
CAA was formed in 1993 as an offshoot of the Houston-based real estate company CAC Inc. to pursue strictly practical approaches to new building types and construction technologies. CAA is now dedicated exclusively to the custom design of buildings and renovations. In recent years, CAA projects have attracted tours, publications, and sometimes controversy, and have been widely featured in United States news media (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, etc.). See the Contact section for more information.
