shift

Why “Shift Collaborative”?

The “shift” in the name comes from a strong belief that good design can cause a positive shift in the way people perceive and enjoy the world.

The “collaborative” comes from our approach of leveraging insanely talented people from many industries, not just architecture, to custom create the best possible team for every project.

At Shift Collaborative, we are not a traditional architecture practice. We strongly do not believe in them. Having spent 20 years in that mode of operation, we believe a disruption of the model is necessary, and here’s why: in standard architecture practices, an employee hired to work for a particular project is thereafter on the payroll and so must be repurposed, and despite lacking the specific skills necessary for a new project, is tasked with it anyway. This inefficient use of talent costs the client time and money.

Instead, at Shift Collaborative we are an architecture practice that is perpetually agile. We believe that upon achieving a breadth of success in one’s career, the natural next step is to leave and build your own firm. From this stems a network of highly specialized individuals and firms who know that the best ideas emerge at the intersection of disciplines. And just as most startups in Silicon Valley have found success by disrupting the old model, we too have broken the mold and proven that collaboration and combined resources yields new, innovative solutions. By building collaborative teams of architects, engineers, construction managers, interior designers, graphic designers, and even brand strategists and researchers, we custom build the team that is best suited to your individual project.

Each project presents an exciting opportunity to create something truly unique. It is not, however, without its unique challenges and as such should not be without its unique team.