ABOUT
TOBIN T DOUGHERTY - ARCHITECT
Tobin T. Dougherty, AIA is a registered architect in California, Idaho and Hawaii and member of the American Institute of Architects.
Growing up in a construction industry family, Tobin was fortunate to find his passion for drawing, detailing and building at a young age. He began designing his own commissioned homes at age 17 and shortly after, opened his full-time residential design practice, which, over 40 years later, continues to thrive and produce successful projects of all sizes.
The artist he is today is the result of a unique educational path for a licensed architect — forged by experiences, not a formal university education. Seeking out an elevated level of design and education through working closely with other industry professionals, including other architects, resulted in a well-rounded education through hands on experience while allowing him to fulfill the requirements of the California licensing exam process.
CORE VALUES
DESIGN EVERY INCH
Integrate design everywhere - paying particular attention to each home’s natural surroundings, views and connection to place. Designing in harmony and balance with site geology, solar orientation and ecology to build homes with a profound sense of place. Existing neighborhoods also come in a wide variety of styles; it is important to recognize that we build in a time and place that blends a contemporary way of life with a protected historical vernacular context. Your home should inspire and delight your neighbors and local community and offer a pleasing and harmonious fit.
COLLABORATE
The design process is intuitive, active, collaborative and creative, where every element of the process is interrelated. Collaboration with our Client is fundamental in the design process, they help us focus on their needs — they feed us with ideas and desires, providing the tools to achieve a quality product. Collaborating with institutions, every consultant and contractor is key to achieving a project in a reasonable time, within budget.
MAKE DREAMS CONCRETE
…Or your preferred finish material. This is the collaborative process in which an idea moves to a conversation, then becomes a drawing on paper, which becomes a tangible, real life building that you walk into and experience — all starting with your idea for a dream home or functional space. Ideas are the seed that can bear fruit for lifestyle and experiences. Tobin Dougherty Architects appreciated the opportunity to be part of that process through design and architecture.
RESPECT ENVIRONMENT
Proponents of designing in environmentally conscious ways and incorporating key principles of green construction and use of energy efficient materials. Our portfolio of passive and active solar home designs has long pioneered the use of local, natural and recycled building materials. Designing and building high quality, sustainable, long-lasting, functional and energy efficient homes – buildings that also function as an economic value proposition and incorporate proven practices – is an art unto itself.
SIMPLIFY
Finding beauty and efficiency in the simplicity of all aspects of a project. Fluidity through the spaces that connect with the exterior living space in a simple and organic way. Our designs reflect the true identity of the materials, the spaces, the site - dispensing with the superfluous, the unnecessary and the non-essential - and as a result our buildings are coherent and easy to understand and live within.
BALANCE TRADITION + INNOVATION
Our innovation prioritizes precision, ecological sustainability and durability while carefully attending to the practical and financial aspects of architecture. As residential design, construction, practices and lifestyles continue to evolve, we carefully evaluate new technologies, products, building methods and design trends to assess how best to incorporate them within each of our designs. It takes years of hands-on experience to find the right balance between emerging approaches and time-tested best practices in siting, orienting, detailing and equipping homes.