Design is better when the soul leads.

"You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."

– George Macdonald (paraphrased)

Macdonald captured something essential: the body and soul are not separate. They work together to shape who we are and what we’re capable of.

What if the same is true of buildings?

We often treat buildings as just bodies—concrete, wood, and steel. Measured in square feet, desk counts, and finish schedules. But every building also has a soul: its purpose, its values, its impact on the people who move through it.

We’ve all felt it. In cathedrals, museums, or even your grandparents’ home. Some spaces shape us long after we’ve left them.

A building’s soul isn’t reserved for the iconic few. Every space has one. The difference is whether we take the time to find it. Before programming starts, before plans are drawn, we must ask deeper questions.

When we begin with soul, we design places that don’t just function, they flourish.