An Assembler’s Attitude – Greg Faulkner of Faulkner Architects

For Greg Faulkner – founder of California-based practice Faulkner Architects – life and architecture are one and the same, and his understanding of this reasoning stems from practical tools and seminal lessons that speak directly to this rationale.

Greg Faulkner’s predisposition towards architecture is “not as literal as you might think,” he says. His is not a story of a telling, adolescent preoccupation with drawing houses or an early interest in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Rather, it is a case of formative – and seemingly quotidian – conditions informing character in abstract yet profound ways. “I grew up in a modest household, and my grandmother, who was almost self-sufficient as far as growing her own food, had a barn and a farmhouse in the rolling hills of Kentucky near horse country. We fixed our own stuff and we had a big, real garden,” recalls Greg.

“Being an architect is not this creative, one-off hack of designing a hero piece: it’s more about taking an assembler’s attitude or responding to stimuli from the client, the site or the climate,” says Greg.

As a child, Greg rarely considered the gravitas of these experiences – for him, doing useful work was a fact of life – yet now he draws parallels between this early resourcefulness and his practice as an architect. “Being an architect is not this creative, one-off hack of designing a hero piece: it’s more about taking an assembler’s attitude or responding to stimuli from the client, the site or the climate,” says Greg, adding, “you realise, when you start to make place, that this attitude is helpful and the design process becomes a lot easier because you’re not so filled with angst about what to do.”

This intuitive and pragmatic approach to placemaking ultimately paved the way for Greg’s career. After working as an architect for 10 years, he founded his own firm Faulkner Architects in 1998. Aside from having an unquestionable knack for the nuances of designing and building – as well as a concern for the purpose of architecture or, more specifically, architects – he was also driven by an interest in carrying projects from start to finish. “I wanted the excitement and the fun of being the person that transformed someone’s idea into a built place,” he reflects, adding, “that whole thing in the beginning is why we do it, then every day for two to three years as you’re working on a project, that’s your gift and you have all these gems to play with.” His propensity for quiet, focused work and an ability to deeply connect with clients have also fuelled his success, informing the ins and outs of his practice and shaping his work.

His propensity for quiet, focused work and an ability to deeply connect with clients have also fuelled his success, informing the ins and outs of his practice and shaping his work.

Today, Faulkner Architects is a California-based team of nine – seven of whom are licensed architects – working across two offices: one in San Francisco and another in Truckee. It is an intentionally small group of people whose shared interests and wide-reaching skill sets define Faulkner Architects’ consistently compelling output. Greg is neither a figurehead nor a tyrant, and his equanimous involvement in each project demonstrates not only this but also his personal temperament. “I don’t pull rank. I help to get the design started, do a conceptual pass at material and form and lay out the question we’re trying to answer.” Projects often pass through the hands of every team member; as Greg says, drawing on the aptitudes of a team ultimately helps to propel work to unexpected and exciting places.

The practice’s portfolio, which spans the private residential and commercial sectors, illustrates a slew of highly crafted, site-specific work. A distinct design sensibility and a “common sense view of building” underpin each project (Greg cites Architecture Without Architects by Bernard Rudofsky, which evaluates architecture’s primitive connotations, as a favourite piece of literature), and an appreciation of vernacular traditions is innate to Faulkner Architects’ enduring rationale.

Projects often pass through the hands of every team member; as Greg says, drawing on the aptitudes of a team ultimately helps to propel work to unexpected and exciting places.

The firm’s approach to understanding site – from evaluating the soils, rock formations and contours of the land to tree patterns and orientation – is highly involved; in fact, Greg describes it as “a landscape intensification in built form”. Further, each new project brings with it an opportunity to understand a new environment and its conditions, from historical context to plant species. This notion reveals a lot about the practice’s impetus, which is seemingly grounded in a type of evolution inherently tied to and inspired by people and place.

Greg moves freely between the San Francisco and Truckee offices; however, these days he finds himself spending the majority of his time at the latter. Just last year he collaborated with Olson Kundig to design his own home, Analog House, in California’s Martis Valley. It was an important milestone for Greg who considers that firm’s founder, Tom Kundig, a close friend. A true collaboration, the house “has the Olson Kundig DNA” as well as Faulkner Architects’ signature sensitivity to site and massing. “Working with them was a super experience because they’re so humble but bring it on a detail level. I can’t say enough good things about them,” says Greg.

The practice’s portfolio, which spans the private residential and commercial sectors, illustrates a slew of highly crafted, site-specific work.

This rapport between architect and client is a familiar notion for Greg, who has built similar relationships over the years; repeat projects make up a third of the practice’s work and clients often become friends. It is a marker of the deeply personal side of architecture and of Greg’s intense and prolonged connection to his work, which he humbly describes as a lifelong interest in fixing and building things.