Patrick Tighe:
Urban, Green, and Socially Conscious
Environmental Showcase
Tighe founded his tiny firm of two architects and three designers (non-licensed architecture graduates) just five years ago, but already he’s attracting the kind of attention even a seasoned practitioner would be proud of. He’s won both the National AIA Young Architect Award and the prestigious Rome Prize, a fellowship that will support his studies in Italy during the coming year.
Best of all, Tighe’s firm has 10 projects in its queue, a lively mix of design challenges that keep the young architect puzzling over the next inventive solution. He’s creating a store where fashion designer Linda Loudermilk can showcase her environmental sensibilities — and not just in the couture clothes she creates using sustainable materials, but in the “Luxury Eco” lifestyle products she’ll introduce to bring more green options to her customers.
“The store is an extension of her whole philosophy,” explains Tighe. “It will be a fully LEED-certified green building, using all recycled or rapidly-renewable materials, with a roof garden irrigated by a storm water retention system. Linda will even sell some of the materials we’re using to build the store, like tile and renewed wood products.”
Seeking Balance
Another project Tighe likes to talk about is a mixed-use affordable housing complex for disabled people in the city of West Hollywood. “Since starting my practice, I’ve done a significant amount of pro bono work for non-profits,” says Tighe without affect.
“I think architecture has the ability to improve people’s lives, and this project shows how that can happen. It has retail space at grade; above that are 42 affordable housing units centered around a courtyard with a bamboo forest. It uses green materials and reclaims gray water from the showers to irrigate the garden.”
The point for his firm is that “we’re very design-oriented — and we have a social conscience, too, says Tighe. “I grew up in a big family where we were always told that by giving of yourself, you benefit in other ways.
“I do believe that, and I’m trying to teach my own kids the same thing. Because it’s too easy for kids to not see how other people live. So if you’re fortunate enough to have great opportunities, you try to balance that by giving something back.”
Dream Job
“It was always my dream to start my own firm,” says Tighe. “It’s great to do your own thing and to try to produce new, innovative work.”
Tighe laughs as he describes the exaggerated parameters of an assignment like Fine Living, which lacks the reality test of an actual client, site, and budget. “It’s very decadent, in a way,” he says, “because it’s all about design — sort of a fantasy of design. But we balance a project like that by doing more practical ones. They’re also very design-based, but they’re more grounded — they’re for real people who can benefit from good design.”
For instance, says Tighe, “look at our affordable housing project. My hope is that by being well-designed, it will help people be happier and more fulfilled in their environment. At the same time, it has a connection to the city — it’s part of the urban fabric. And the Linda Loudermilk store, that’s an extension of her vision to promote sustainability and make it more accessible to people.”
The architect continues: “I believe design has the power to bring good. In this country, we’re starting to see the benefits of good design in different communities — from the grand, master schemed of urban planning in some cities to individuals designing live/work spaces like the Fine Living: 2026 project for L.A. Mart Design Center. People in the U.S. are more conscious of design than they were 10 years ago.”
In part, he says, that’s because technology makes the world smaller. “With computers and internet communication, we’re all exposed to more information, and that elevates design — people are exposed to more and better design every day.”
Also, says Tighe, technology lets architects work in a more sophisticated manner. “We’re better able to relay information, say between builders and contractors, than we could a decade ago. Technology is a tool for that. And it enables us to push certain directions, to create forms we wouldn’t have been able to create — because it would have been too complex and time-consuming to document and build them.”
