Hot take: more client involvement doesn’t make a better project.
There’s a sweet spot.
Tell us how you want to live. Give us your must-haves.
Then trust the people you hired.
Clients overmanaging kills momentum(and joy).
The best builds?
Faster. More fun. Way better results.
A client was disappointed in me this morning. Deservedly.
3 things I've learnt:
1. Always use a landscape architect if there's any outdoor scope
2. Never take on a project as a favor or for a group
3. As the team grows, be careful what you promise personally
First trip to Green Bay for the car wash project
Drove the whole city. Met with Community Development. Toured local projects. Had lunch with the team
Lot of good signals. Also very clear this will be a learning process
Replacing assumptions with real inputs, one trip at a time
Clients aren't struggling to decide because they don't care.
They're struggling because they're carrying Pinterest, Instagram, AI renders, and five designers' opinions all at once.
I used to think my job was to give more options. Now I think it's the opposite.
What happened with dating apps is now happening with interior design.
Too many choices. Nothing feels decided. Projects stall not because of scope — but because decisions keep getting reopened.
A new Instagram idea. A dinner party comment. A late-night Zillow scroll.
At my first internship, a friend used to call the front desk asking for famous architects.
"Alison, Louis Kahn is on line 2."
My daughter is now a first-year at Cooper Union. Her nickname is already "Smeis" van der Rohe.
Architecture culture travels.
We're documenting our full internal process — not because we have it perfect, but because writing it down is the only way to see clearly what's working
Every project teaches you something. The goal is clarity, not perfection
Good design is everything that happens along the way.
Someone made a triple coaster for April Fools.
I have three drinks on my desk at all times so I felt personally called out.
This should be a real product.
https://t.co/npdtwI9aL2
I've spent my career helping clients avoid bad building decisions.
Now I'm buying 2 acres in Green Bay and building a car wash to find out if I can do the same for myself.
Doing it all in public — numbers, mistakes, design decisions, everything.
Let's see what holds up.
When people have a home that prioritizes how they want to live,
they connect more intentionally, they stop waiting for “someday.”
That’s why I’m excited for the idea of “Second Home First”
one home at a time
until more people build lives they don’t feel the need to escape from!
back where it belongs — @ReggieBush’s 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy has officially been reinstated by the Heisman Trophy Trust. 🏆✌️
Welcome back to the Heisman family, Reggie!