our approach is a matter of scale
scale matters
An idea has to survive four changes of scale before it becomes a building. Most die somewhere in the middle — passed from principal to project architect to drafter, thinned at each transfer until what gets built is a diagram of what was sold.
EA carries the idea by a single hand, from the site walk to the shop drawing. That continuity is the method.
1" = 100'-0" — the site
Before a plan, the constraints. Setbacks, grade, solar orientation, the sight line from the road, the neighbor whose opinion the planning board will weigh. Maine towns have long memories and specific tempers. The scheme that survives review is the one that anticipated the objection — work that belongs on trace over a survey, not in a hearing.
EA carries the idea by a single hand, from the site walk to the shop drawing. That continuity is the method.
1/8" = 1'-0" — the plan
Program becomes sequence. How a guest arrives, what they see first, where the room opens and where it compresses. A restaurant lives or dies on the path from door to bar to table; a venue on how a full house enters and leaves without ever feeling handled. Square footage is the cheapest thing on this drawing. The order of the rooms is the expensive thing, and it is fixed here or never.
EA carries the idea by a single hand, from the site walk to the shop drawing. That continuity is the method.
1/2" = 1'-0" — section and detail
Where the design is won. Ceiling height against beam depth. The reveal at the bar edge. How a fixture meets the structure it hangs from. These are the drawings that get value-engineered away when no one defends them, which is why EA draws them in-house and takes them to the fabricator directly.
EA carries the idea by a single hand, from the site walk to the shop drawing. That continuity is the method.
1:1 — the built reality
Mockups, shop drawing review, site visits during framing. Full scale is the only scale that tells the truth. EA is on site while there is still time to correct.
EA carries the idea by a single hand, from the site walk to the shop drawing. That continuity is the method.
