#356 - JOE DANGARAN, Founding Partner of Woods + Dangaran
SUMMARY
This week Architect Joe Dangaran, Founding Partner of Los Angeles-based Architecture and Interior Design Office, Woods + Dangaran joins David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design to discuss his background; how his childhood environment influenced his interest in architecture; his relationship with Woods + Dangaran founding partner Brett Woods; their process of getting to know clients in order to deliver personalized homes; and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT JOE
Many firms describe their work as “transformative”—architecture as an accomplished fact. At Woods + Dangaran, we create modern homes through dialogue and exploration. By collaborating closely with our clients throughout the design process, we are better able to inspire them with the finished product. By working closely with trusted tradespersons, we can deliver work that is uncompromising in craftsmanship.
Working across the country, we design holistically and at every scale: from integrating architecture and interiors to creating custom furnishings. The result are projects that are subtle and disciplined, pure in form, and focused on realizing sublime experiences of space and light. Each building is a carefully curated journey through indoor and outdoor environments that are quietly luxurious, elegantly fluid, and warmly modern.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Online presence and branding a business.
“We're constantly trying to innovate. We're constantly trying to evolve the process. I think that was one of the biggest areas of excitement for Brett and I, when we started the firm, was, we get to design a process, we get to design an office, let's consider the office, the studio as a design project and let's take all of the ways that we approach designing a building or site planning or whatever it might be and let's iterate, let's talk through all the pros and cons of a system.” (07:42)
(12:22) Background.
(21:55) The impact of landscapes.
“I think if you really sat down and kind of critically thought about how those spaces have impacted positively or negatively or maybe neutrally, it's a worthwhile investigation… Because of us moving, I've lived in three or four homes as a child… I can draw every single floor plan of those homes and those structures become the background to memories and life experience. I mean, how powerful is that?” (38:03)
(39:43) Vernacular architecture.
(42:48) Introduction to architecture.
(50:41) Drawing and communication.
“If we only deliver a beautiful object at the end of the day, that's not success. That's not the goal. And in fact, that's a failure, right? We want them to walk into these homes and feel like this is their home and that they have created this along with us in collaboration.” (01:05:56)
(01:17:50) The profession.
(01:26:45) Working with clients.
“I read that the most current data was that for a home, the average size in the US was 1800 square feet or something. And in that process of designing that average-sized home across the country, an architect will have made 30,000 decisions.” (01:30:01)
(01:31:47) Work-life balance.
(01:42:12) Favourite building.
