We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mark A Silva. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mark A below.

Mark A, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you ever seen (or implemented) a really awesome way to show a client you appreciate them

The best way to show a client I appreciate them is to do the best job I possibly can on their behalf. Making their project a major priority in my life.

I do this for every client on every project.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“The individual elements of architecture matter and should be honored in their contribution to the greater whole, is made manifest in architect Mark A Silva’s 21st century contributions to San Diego’s modernist landscape, and it is an idea that informs every facet of his designs.” From Architectural Digest Magazine.

I design organic architecture in the truest old-school sense of that term, Organic architecture is shaped by the characteristics of the site and the purposeful intent of the owner. Every element that makes up the composition of that design has meaning, and the homes that are born from those designs are meaningful as a result.

Those elements, in my mind, go far beyond a simple inventory of materials comprising the fabric and finishes of a home, but also live in both its occupants’ desires and the details of its physical environment.

When I design a home for a client, I start by getting to know them and getting to know the site. Visiting where they currently live is a good first step. I want to understand how they live, to see their things, and to get a feeling for who they are and their needs. Then I do what I call a ‘camp out.’ I take a table and chair, the survey, and some sketch paper and scope out the site. I walk it to see the sun orientation and where the breeze comes from, listen to the sounds, experience the smells, and I get to know and understand the site in the same way I’ve gotten to know the owners. When you combine those two experiences and let that information inform your design, that is how true organic architecture is formed.

I was raised in a William Krisel designed post and beam midcentury modern home in San Diego, the vernacular’s devotion to open spaces, expanses of glass, and seamless indoor-outdoor living has resonated with me from the outset of my career and is a visible thread throughout my portfolio.

Post and beam midcentury modern architecture shaped my understanding of design from a young age, so it definitely influences my work, but I bring several different things to the table. The architectural language of midcentury modern is just one of those factors. At the end of the day, every design
is a unique creative work that comes from my head, hands and heart to provide a beautiful, functional, and correct solution to a project’s unique needs.

I have designed an array of award-winning homes over my 39 year career, I view my work as ever-evolving creatively and, while rooted in an affinity for the philosophies of architectural luminaries like Kahn, Wright, Neutra, and Niemeyer, and others my process is a constantly adaptive approach to realizing authentic architecture.

My clients are interested in building not just a house, but a home and a work of art that expresses who they are, which requires more than a rote representation of iconic ideas, and that’s the kind of meaningful architectural experience I strive to provide them.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

One of the most successful strategies I would have to say would be my approach/reaction to the internet. Early in the 90’s when the World Wide Web was just starting and people had the ability to have their own domain, I jumped at the chance, creating my own website (silvastudios.com) Immediately. Looking back now, it was a pretty sucky website, but I controlled it all myself, and I still do.

The strategy – 1. Being a bit of an amateur photographer I was always taking photos of my projects under construction and when completed. This was before digital cameras of course but I found a company Seattle FilmWorks which would develop my film and provide the images on floppy discs. I discovered that the construction photos were not only very popular with the public, but were also very helpful to the builder, the owner, and myself in spotting potential issues or questions.
2. Posting the photos of the finished projects was extremely helpful in showing my abilities. But more importantly, I used them to steer any new projects in a direction I wanted to go architecturally. By the time I had several completed projects featured on my website, as I completed new ones that I liked better as examples of an architectural direction I wanted to go, I would add them to the website, and take downs the one which were not the best examples of what I was slowly developing to be “my architecture”. This strategy has worked extremely well over the past 30 years.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Private architectural practice is very much dependent on the economy. Building your own custom home is a luxury, and those are the first things to sacrifice when things are not good. Because of this my practice has been up and down many times, During the downtimes (not many projects, or smaller projects) I would have to get creative in turning things into projects, or even just to fill my time until the economy gets better with things like designing demountable shelters that could be shipped to disasters, or designing a line of simply built post and beam tiny houses, things like that.

One of these times was the crash of 2008. I had three major projects in design and/or construction drawings, two of them with jurisdictional approvals for building permits. When the crash happened, the clients pulled the plug on them. I would have done the same thing in their shoes, those were strange times ’08, ’09, & ’10. Two of those projects came back in a different form. Both were originally to be new construction projects where the existing old homes were to be demolished/recycled to make way for the new. I convinced the owners/clients into reducing the scope of the projects (and therefore budget) by remodeling the existing homes instead. Both clients are still living in their (then) newly remodeled homes today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://markasilva.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markitect_shenanigans/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markitectsilva/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkSilva

Image Credits
All images by Brady Architectural Photography

Except;
ChelseaLoren-ImperialCounty,California-49.jpg is by Chelsea Loren Photography

IMG_4034.jpg is by The Architect, Mark A Silva