Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jared Haas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jared, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The planning and designing of our current built environment is a broken system that rewards a “bigger, faster, cheaper” mentality. Mid-century mass production gave us access to the automobile which caused us to plan and design networks based on vehicular transportation. Instead, we should be focused on planning at the pedestrian level, which in turn, allow us to create more healthy and socially engaging communities. This concept is the crux of what we refer to as authentic living design and have articulated into 6 different principles (see https://www.blackrabbit.co/authentic-living). These principles are counter to what I refer to as the “fast food” approach to planning and design that we have been experiencing in the US for many decades.

We are determined to resolve and undue decades of poor planning and design by leading by example, one project at a time. We started our own construction company to offer design-build services that allow us to more holistically control our projects from start to finish. We have started to develop our own projects as well which will allow us to experiment and push the envelope beyond what the market might anticipate. Our ultimate goal is to create micro-communities that utilize all 6 authentic living principles.

To further our holistic approach, we have adopted a BIM (Building Information Modeling), or “3D CAD”, system that allows us to holistically do feasibility, design, construction documents, consultant coordination, modeling, and rendering. Our clients are given access to our 3D models which they can view on a mobile device app, which allows them to engage more directly with the design.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I have always been a problem solver. I thrive on solving puzzles and challenges and my profession allows me to do so from artistic and technical perspectives. I originally founded Un.Box Studio in 2010, which offered “out-of-the-box” creative solutions to design and construction industry. By “creative” solutions, this typically meant trying to achieve higher-end design on tight budgets. I spent the next 8 years learning from these challenges and refining my solutions, systems, principles, and values into a rebrand of my practice in 2018. Black Rabbit, is a design-build studio with a focus on creating authentic living environments. Our projects range from residential to commercial to mixed-use developments. We work with clients and consultants from concept through construction using collaborative processes and 3D BIM technology. We strive for holistic and unsynthesized materials with the intention of creating more communal and socially engaging design, which can even occur at the single-family residential project level.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

While we often try marketing and advertisement strategies to expand our audience and target new demographics, our best source for local clients is through client and network referrals. There are a lot of great local firms in town to sift through and we are not always going to be the best fit for every project or personality type. Doing work that is non-conventional requires much more time, effort, and creativity than what is expected. In other words, it is hard to do things that are different. Working with us, you will be guaranteed a path through a series of challenges that will be required to achieve an exceptional product. Those that have been with us through this journey are always pleased at the end and are glad to recommend us to their network of other like-minded groups or individuals.

What do you find most rewarding about being creative?

Creativity is an outlet. My favorite part of the day is the evening (or weekend) when all employees are gone, meetings are done, the phone stops ringing, emails come to a halt, and I can relax to some ambient music and just focus on the design challenges at hand. It is like a mental massage.

What is equally rewarding about our profession is being able to physically experience our spaces when they are complete. Watching others experience our spaces, or gaining verbal feedback from the users, allows us to absorb and learn from their interactions. Creativity, in our profession, is about subjective ways to create positive interactions with our environment, which always have room for growth and development.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blackrabbit.co/
• Instagram: @blackrabbit_co
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blackrabbit.austin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2275511

Image Credits
Personal images photographer: Cassandra J Klepac Photography Native Hostel, Bar & Kitchen photographer: Chase Daniel Architectural Photography Lake Austin Cabin photographer: Leonid Furmansky