DHD Architecture and Design is a versatile practice that encompasses residential, commercial, retail and hospitality projects, with full service capabilities in ground-up architecture, site development, interior design, and fine art consulting. DHD maintains a diverse portfolio of work in New York as well as internationally, including an active practice in New Zealand that reflects principal David Howell’s creative ties to his home country.
The philosophy of DHD begins with a commitment to outstanding service. Design excellence involves a deep understanding and development of our clients’ aspirations for their projects, as well as a thoughtful fulfillment of their real budgetary and scheduling goals. From early conceptual and planning stages through to construction documents and administration, our intent is to provide intelligent direction for our clients that will create both value and beauty. We focus on collaboration with all of the partners in the process, so that the design experience is transparent, responsive, foresighted, and flexible.
The design foundation of the office is modernistic – an approach both naturalistic and modern that combines elemental and ecological forms with a minimized, sculptural architectural imprint. While we begin no project with a preconceived style, we do aim to instill spaces with certain principles: an appropriate bridging of indoors and outdoors; a wise and atmospheric use of light as a fundamental part of architecture; a sympathy for site and origin; an exciting use of materials; a marriage of the organic with the common and industrial. And in all of our work, we believe in peeling away generalized expectations to reveal a true sense of the occupant’s personality or the company’s brand, in a form that is elegant, joyful, and sustainable.
Our team of 22 designers has end-to-end experience in the complex process of building in urban settings as well as in the particular requirements of working with clients and companies abroad. We offer a skilled hand in the restoration of historical buildings, and we are expert at retrofitting modern systems while preserving original structures.