"Both practical and visionary"

Jury comments from the Washington Monument Grounds Competition on our winning proposal, October 2011.

FIRM PHILOSOPHY

Hunt Laudi Studio was founded in 2001 by Julian Hunt and Lucrecia Laudi with the ambition to help put the District on the cultural map. Our design philosophy is grounded in long and practical experience, but driven by a belief in the professional obligation to provide the highest public service.

Experience brings a clear-eyed understanding of the hard work of making an idea into a real thing. We have found that given the rapidly changing nature of the profession that a careful use of design/build services we can provide tighter cost and quality control.

Experience also informs us of the critical importance of public space in the democratic life of cities. Inspired by the example of Barcelona, where the two principals lived and worked for nearly ten years, that experience was formative.

Our designs are never seen as isolated exercises, but evolve within a broad understanding of contemporary debate from careful study of the requirements of the client for the specific character of the site. From the simple act of walking and observing physical details, the lay of the land, the cast of the sun, prevailing winds, the flight of birds, we inform our first investigations. Subsequent research into the underlying historic context and a detailed study of the program often leads us to examine the priorities of the program before we engage in the process of working out a satisfying solution.

As evidence of our dedication to public service, an important component of our work seeks to encourage a richer public debate about the critical importance of public space as the connective tissue of urban life. The driving force behind the long effort to open the abandoned streetcar station under Dupont Circle, the Hunt Laudi Studio established the Arts Coalition for Dupont Underground, a non-profit entity that seeks to re-open the site as an important social and cultural destination. We think that establishing a vital new institution in one of the most important public spaces in the city could help transform the perception of the District of Columbia and put it on the cultural map.