As a featured Architect Profile in ACE Update William Duff made the cover of their June issue. In conversation with Vikas Bhadra, William touched on everything from inspiration to challenges, and execution.

This is a summary of an interview by Vikas Bhadra of ACE Update – an international trade magazine based in India, covering all things architecture, construction and engineering related.

‘Is architecture much beyond form and function alone?

“Architecture, if done well, can transcend form and function and become art. Great architecture is very moving and can evoke the same emotional reaction as one would have to a work by a master painter or a sculptor. The difference between architecture and art, though, is you get to go inside, touch it, feel it, move through it, move around it. As you experience it, the form accentuates the function, and the function enhances the form. Together they become art.”

How do you adopt a design strategy while addressing your clients need?

“I always approach design through our clients. We begin by listening, understanding our clients’ goals and needs and I develop design strategies based on them. I don’t have a preconceived notion of what the design should look like, instead I develop the look, the feel, the materiality, the use of light, out of our clients’ goals and needs. They channel my creativity and focus my design so I don’t see them as something that forces compromise, but instead as something that inspires and directs the design.”’

Read more here.