Development

On five of the projects below, Ruh was not the architect appointed by a developer. Ruh was the developer.

An architect working for a developer arrives downstream of decisions already taken: the plot is bought, the budget is fixed, the unit mix is set. The drawings answer a brief written by someone else, and the specification is usually re-opened after the design is signed off, by people whose incentive is to remove cost rather than to protect the building.

When we develop, we write that brief. Facade systems, materials, landscape and lighting are chosen by the same people who carry the cost of choosing them, which means the elevation that gets built is the elevation that was designed.

That is also what we bring back to client work. We know the cost of every design desicion, how long a plan amendment really takes , and which details survives and which not, because we have paid for the answers ourselves. It makes our advice on a client’s vision considerably less theoretical.