Gotham furnishes services for a variety of project types, including residential, cultural, commercial and industrial. Gotham is proficient at working in diverse project scales: from urban design to complete buildings to the detailing of interiors. Gotham maintains a flexible association with professionals and consultants whose expertise may be required for specific projects. With this organization, Gotham is able to adjust to meet the particular scope of each project. In an industry of excessive specialization, Gotham has been able to retain the primary role and responsibility of integrating generalist in the design process.
As the project design coordinator, Gotham helps assemble a collaborative team of professionals for each project. This does not make Gotham the architect nor engineer for the project but enables Gotham to assist the client in bringing these professionals together in a coherent effort. Gotham functions as the client's representative from the initiation of an idea to the completion of construction.
Where appropriate for specific projects, Gotham can provide Project Management or Construction Management responsibilities. This does not make Gotham the contractor for the project nor place Gotham in competition with the trades furnishing materials and work. To the contrary, this positions Gotham to be able to assist the contractor in best satisfying the client's needs. Instead of a potentially adversarial structure in which the designers and contractors see each other as opponents, Gotham's approach builds a team effort with its members, architects, engineers, planners, and contractors working together in the client's interests.
Gotham believes that the best work results from the design and building process being coordinated from the earliest programming and site analysis through to the completion of construction. As a generalist coordinating the project, Gotham is able to integrate the concerns and expertise of the specialists through appropriate and constructive compromise to achieve solutions which are greater than the sum of their parts.
Contrary to the current trend in the architectural profession, which encourages the designer to become a "specialist" with truncated responsibilities, Gotham believes that the best results are achieved with a designer coordinating the project from its very beginning until its completion. At Gotham, we prefer to be involved from preliminary programming all the way through to the administration of the construction documents and the final punch list.
Obtaining approvals has gotten more complicated and challenging in the most desirable communities, where there are often competing concerns for limited resources. Gotham's holistic approach has helped make Gotham effective in obtaining the approvals required from municipalities and other agencies. Concerns with over-development, the "overly-big" house syndrome, and loss of open space have caused the approval processes to become far more complex and demanding. Gotham's sensitivity to both the natural and built environment and Gotham's commitment to working within the context of the place results in Gotham often enjoying a more receptive response from the Boards and officials from whom approvals are required. This has helped Gotham capture the imagination of Board members and achieve goals beyond standard boundaries.
With the Principal of Gotham having shepherded a number of development projects through to completion as an applicant, Gotham has unusual expertise in the development process and is proficient at organizing the various components of a project into a coherent order. Gotham is effective in assisting Clients with real estate acquisition, financing, project programming, presentations, the preparation of environmental impact statements, and the complete approval process.
The people at Gotham have a specific interest in projects that require a sensitive response to existing conditions, including other structures and complex sites: the natural and cultural environments. While a substantial portion of the firm's work is new construction, Gotham has developed a particular proficiency with projects involving the adaptation, alteration, and renovation of existing buildings; often concurrent with the design of new buildings and additions on the same site. This expertise has been particularly effective in several of Gotham's projects involving the rebuilding and preservation of buildings in traditional neighborhoods and historic communities.
