Aidlin Darling is a multidisciplinary architecture and interior design studio headquartered in San Francisco, USA. It was founded in 1998 by Joshua Aidlin and David Darling and is committed to providing the highest level of project management, service and design. The studio has a wide range of business areas, including institutional, commercial and residential architecture, as well as furniture, landscape and interior design.

In this master class, Joshua Aidlin, co-founder of Aidlin Darling, shared with us the firm’s design philosophy and process, and demonstrated a complete creative approach by analyzing specific projects. For Aidlin Darling, clients and the landscape are the two elements that they are most concerned about. They also have a habit of observing the proportion and effect of buildings by making physical models in their creations. By understanding clients’ needs and deeply integrating them with different parts of materials and space, they create designs that are not only functional and aesthetic, but also organically connected to the occupants themselves.

Yinjispace：In your projects of your design, with large areas of glass, how do you deal with the insulation of the building?

Aidlin Darling：We balance the use of glass in our designs, and the use of insulated glass is very important. We also use highly rated insulation materials on walls and ceilings. While some buildings use curtains, we typically use vertical roll-down shades embedded in the ceiling. This allows us to block the heat of the sun by dropping blackout shades on both the interior and exterior.

Yinjispace：In your first few projects, we didn't see air conditioners and curtains, how did you deal with light and room temperature?

Aidlin Darling：California is a state with a relatively mild climate and belongs to the Mediterranean climate, so air conditioning is often not needed. However, this may vary in hotter climates. We often use radiant floor systems as a cooling system.

Yinjispace：How is the rammed wall constructed?

Aidlin Darling：First, you need to pour a concrete foundation, and then create a hollow mold, just like using concrete in normal practice, pour the mixture of soil, cement, and rock into it. Once this process is done, pour the mixture into the hollow mold and compress it. In addition, considering that we live in an earthquake-prone area, a steel bar will be passed through the center of the mold, and then surrounded by another steel bar. After a week, you can remove the mold, which is like building a cement wall.

Yinjispace：Has the interior design industry in the United States changed after the epidemic? What are the more interesting and obvious characteristics of the customer's lifestyle?

Aidlin Darling：In San Francisco, there is an interesting phenomenon where people are spending more time working from home, which has led to an increase in investment in home improvement. As a result, the residential industry experienced a boom during the pandemic as people wanted to create the perfect home with a perfect home office. How can a family work and live under the same roof? This is an interesting question. We had a couple as clients who wanted to redesign their home, which had great views. When asked, “Where do you spend 90% of your time and where do you spend less time?” they insisted on having larger garden views from both study rooms as they spent most of their time there during the day, which was a different design requirement compared to several years ago when a garden view from just one study room would suffice. This is a very interesting phenomenon indeed.

Yinjispace：Where are the unseen beams and equipment hidden in the space?

Aidlin Darling：All the beams will be covered with materials available at hand, such as wood, steel, or stone. This is because sometimes clients want to see the structure exposed, while others prefer a clean and sleek look.