Beginning with the foundation of the publication Tabula Casa (2001) and the Grant (2002) the proto-BAM had developed a documentation and financial mechanism to pay for a string of events and installations including Pumpkin Day (2001), Fallen Oak (2003), Martha Schwartz Lecture (2004), Milk Day, Engagement Ring (2002). In this early phase BAM founders learned the monumental effort involved in attempting design ideas, and also the varying shades of responses public interventions elicit. The installations divided the faculty with some calls for BAM’s expulsion following the Ariadne Painting (2004) and String Theory(2005) Installations.

From this early trajectory BAM charted a path into the professional design world which did not follow conventional architecture, landscape, or art studio models but at the same time applies rigorous processes to every project type. As BAM continues to evolve our focus on design topics and problems has become sharper but has always maintained the focus from our beginnings on issues of public realm and urban landscapes.

Design is not a commodity. Good designers should not be limited to a predictable pigeon hole, we should be able to tackle a wide bandwith, from a Luxury Resort to a Highway to a Water Treatment Plant. At the same time we systematically develop silos of knowlege and silo leaders to help desigers through creative and technical completion. Powerful internal resource guides including Landscape Vision (2016), Ballistic Details (2018), and Ballistic Concept (2022) are repositories of internal knowledge and required reading guides for designers as they build their career.

The BAM community is larger than our designers, extending to the families of our employees. We build our studios to allow every designer to establish a work/life balance that works for them individually and rewards them for great work. Creativity cannot be compressed to bankers’ hours, and thus we structure our studio spaces and dedicated independent times with flexibility for all employees. Support for employees comes from the whole team allowing for open maternity and paternity leaves to be decided by the designers themselves. Our teams are given a profitability incentive that allows for educational field trips for the whole office where we spend a week to investigate in depth topics pre-researched by the team. Past trips include the Kyoto Gardens, the Japan Art Fields and Setee Island Sea Triennalle, and the Foshan Nanhai Art Field.

Beginning with the foundation of the publication Tabula Casa (2001) and the Grant (2002) the proto-BAM had developed a documentation and financial mechanism to pay for a string of events and installations including Pumpkin Day (2001), Fallen Oak (2003), Martha Schwartz Lecture (2004), Milk Day, Engagement Ring (2002). In this early phase BAM founders learned the monumental effort involved in attempting design ideas, and also the varying shades of responses public interventions elicit. The installations divided the faculty with some calls for BAM’s expulsion following the Ariadne Painting (2004) and String Theory(2005) Installations.

From this early trajectory BAM charted a path into the professional design world which did not follow conventional architecture, landscape, or art studio models but at the same time applies rigorous processes to every project type. As BAM continues to evolve our focus on design topics and problems has become sharper but has always maintained the focus from our beginnings on issues of public realm and urban landscapes.

Design is not a commodity. Good designers should not be limited to a predictable pigeon hole, we should be able to tackle a wide bandwith, from a Luxury Resort to a Highway to a Water Treatment Plant. At the same time we systematically develop silos of knowlege and silo leaders to help desigers through creative and technical completion. Powerful internal resource guides including Landscape Vision (2016), Ballistic Details (2018), and Ballistic Concept (2022) are repositories of internal knowledge and required reading guides for designers as they build their career.

The BAM community is larger than our designers, extending to the families of our employees. We build our studios to allow every designer to establish a work/life balance that works for them individually and rewards them for great work. Creativity cannot be compressed to bankers’ hours, and thus we structure our studio spaces and dedicated independent times with flexibility for all employees. Support for employees comes from the whole team allowing for open maternity and paternity leaves to be decided by the designers themselves. Our teams are given a profitability incentive that allows for educational field trips for the whole office where we spend a week to investigate in depth topics pre-researched by the team. Past trips include the Kyoto Gardens, the Japan Art Fields and Setee Island Sea Triennalle, and the Foshan Nanhai Art Field.