It is appropriate that the first impression of should recall the practical side of design and architecture. In conversation you will find that she switches easily from abstract philosophical or esoteric musings to the everyday considerations of the building site or landscape context. The spaces she reveals will form a natural focus for the ever changing daily lives of the inhabitants or users of the space and as a consequence heightens the potential for informed and sensitive design to enrich the experience of living.
Louisa's projects are imbued with the core philosophy involving re-describing the site or distilling in an almost alchemical process; the cultural environmental, spiritual and aesthetic nature of the site, allowing the design to emerge in a process that reveals the wonderment of form, harmony and culture in it's deepest essence. By manipulating the sense of the site; it's boundaries and appreciating the existence of the site in it's potential state, Louisa then creates a memorable space, rich in qualities that can be sustained over the life and lives of the environment created or restored.
Reflections on the poignancy of 'collective' space run concurrently with the designing and establishing genus loci. Louisa relies on a philosophy that equates life itself with design; since design can facilitate organizations and settings for interactions in living. The contrasting of individual space with public space (both in the public and private domains), the representation of elements or characters and the potential of ritual (rather than hierarchy) to order group activity are important strategies in creating a sacred space in built and natural forms. Louisa welcomes projects, commissions and collaborations that offer complex and creative challenges and combine an intimate sense of place with the global respect for sustainability - thus improving the essential relationships between the human experience and the environment.
Louisa's interpretation and conception of landscape ideas and empathy for the environment, culture and the human experience is rooted in a deep seated philosophy and appreciation of the connectedness of all things physical and metaphysical.