Low Design Office is an internationally recognized architecture and design studio that focuses on something simple: realizing more with less.

LowDO formulated around the proposition that high-art borrows from the low, that transformative innovation in creative fields most often originates when the creator must overcome limited means and resources to provide meaning in their work. We use this as a guiding principal to deliver high impact design for a broader public through low resource, low tech, low carbon strategies. Our goal is to find and finesse an integrative systems approach to building - what we call "low design".

We believe that spaces shape well-being, that humans and ecologies perform best at low stress levels, and that optimizing efficiency with harmony can maximize the power of built environments. As an integrated design practice, our process bridges design and construction: we help clients define their goals and project scope, plan strategically, build effectively, and live healthfully. We collaborate to craft high-impact buildings, landscapes, and cities, with low carbon footprint and environmental impact, that bring life into balance for people and place.

We aim to build societal equity by lowering barriers to access and empowering communities through inclusive innovation.

Maybe low is the new minimalism.

PAST COLLABORATORS

  • Kaziah Haviland . Andrew Helmbrecht . Maarten Janssens . Zeke Jones . Noelle Yempuku

RECOGNITION

  • 2023 Exhibitor at the Venice Biennale for Architecture, Arsenale, Venice, Italy
  • 2022 Exhibitor at the Venice Biennale for Art, Ghana Pavilion, Venice, Italy
  • 2021 Emerging Voices, The Architectural League of New York
  • 2021 Top 50 Architects, North America, AN Interiors, Architects Newspaper
  • 2021 A+ Firm Awards Finalist for Best Young Firm, Architizer
  • 2021 A+ Firm Awards Finalist for Best in Africa, Architizer
  • 2020 50 Best Architecture Firms, Emerging, Domus
  • 2020 AIA Austin Design Award: Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform
  • 2020 AIA Austin Design Award: Dakota Mountain Residence
  • 2020 Le Monde Smart Cities Urban Innovation Award: Citizen Engagement: AMP
  • 2019 Next Progressives, ARCHITECT: Journal of the AIA
  • 2019 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, Finalist, Museum of Modern Art
  • 2013 Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Challenge Award

PRESS

New York Times . BBC . TEDxKNUST . Rockefeller Foundation . Domus . Dwell . Texas Architect . NOMA Magazine . Beyond Profit . Austin American-Statesman . Austin Home . Modern Home Tour . Discover Dripping Springs

PROCESS

  • Inclusiveness is a practice – our way of thinking, working, and being – as we draw from broad ranges of backgrounds, interests, stakeholders, and identities. We base our practice around collaborating with other people, with materials, with other living things, and with space and environment in the universal sense.
  • Most things that we design, we also build – ourselves and with other people.

We are a majority woman+minority-owned business.

CASA MARIANELLA . Austin TX

CASA MARIANELLA . Austin TX

TODO BIEN . La Ventana MX

TODO BIEN . La Ventana MX

LOWDO OFFICE . Austin TX

LOWDO OFFICE . Austin TX