Next Gen of Atelier Ten – Graphics

by Mila Robins, Environmental Designer
Read time: 8 minutes

We have heard from our technical disciplines so far, covering every service that we offer globally. However, we would be remiss not to dedicate an article in this series to our graphics team, so today we are joined by Adam Fan to give us insight into the importance and art of our visual communication.

Our graphics at Atelier Ten are famous. They have been mentioned throughout this series, emphasising that the way we communicate our work to design teams and clients is one of our strengths. This has been integral to Atelier Ten since our founding; we are trained to distil our technical analyses into impactful, and consistent graphical assets.

This may seem like a no-brainer, as branding is a part of any company. As you may have noticed, this series has been illustrated by our “environmental sections” (as we often call them, since they usually slice through a building in section to give insight on the systems and strategies both internally and externally). These showcase our design language – every single detail is captured beautifully without losing any technical content.

Our extraordinary in-house graphics teams take rough sketches of engineering and environmental strategies and turn them into pieces of art to share to the rest of the world. We have them to thank, and today we have a representative with us to learn from… so without further delay let’s hear from Adam directly.

Adam completed his undergraduate degree in Taiwan where he studied commercial design with a minor in linguistics. This gave him a foundation in graphics but also advertisement, marketing, and communication – all elements of his role with Atelier Ten today. After undergrad, he wanted to pursue design from more of digital and product-focused angle. Adam then attended Kingston University in the UK for a masters in product design and furniture. He found himself in a lot of spaces and workflows adjacent to architecture: using 3D modelling software, working on projects placing an emphasis on materiality, and physical interactions with sustainability in mind.

How would you compare your role here to your other design experiences?

Well, it’s quite different than the other work experience I have had, although there are a few overlaps. Only once I joined did I understand exactly what environmental design is. I thought it was a lot more like ESG (Environmental and Social Governance) – not as involved and tangible or physical as it is here. So, I have come to understand the cross-over between environmental design, engineering, and architecture as I have worked on projects at Atelier Ten.

I have always had diverse interests. For example, during my master’s I used 3D modelling software which has helped with handling models from architects when I create graphics or understand the scale and breadth of the systems and buildings we are working on. For my final project in my master’s, I designed and handmade a mahjong set. I put an emphasis on sustainability by looking into suppliers that made plastic out of recycled yogurt pots to minimise waste and environmental impact. Materials and circular economy are big parts of our work here at Atelier Ten, so this also overlaps.

Probably my most relevant internship was as a designer in a local council during my placement year. We were tasked with setting up workshops and program events to engage the community on local issues such as recycling initiatives or increasing pedestrian safety on streets. I helped with the overall branding and organisation, but I also got to be involved with specific strategies. This is like the work we do at Atelier Ten but on a much smaller scale.

What is it like working with our technical teams?

Oh, good question. I mentioned the learning curve when joining because I didn’t know much about the systems inside a building. The first few months was about learning to speak the engineering language and teaching others how to express and explain what they want in the graphic to me. It was like translating between two worlds but has given me a lot of confidence in understanding systems, drawings, schematics and navigating architect’s models. It’s also great when engineers and environmental designers come back to us and says ‘wow the client loved the graphic so much’ or to thank us for how much it helped in the presentation or report. Beyond all that, just working at Atelier Ten has been great – I feel there are a lot of opportunities here to get involved with a wide range of activities.

How do you explain how graphic design works at Atelier Ten to others?

Our graphic design focuses on the way the building works, not the building itself.

We use different ways to tell the story of our service designs and strategies. What we do is unpack the technical bits so any audience can understand. We help the rest of the design team as well as the client and the other stakeholders visualise our strategies and proposals. For example, it’s hard to picture the transfer of hot air. We use arrows of different sizes and colours to consistently communicate heat transfer in our graphics. This can make a big difference. We need to make the invisible architecture visible and clear!

Following up on all that, what are some of your favourite graphics from your work here so far?

I was working with Duncan, our executive director, on a competition for a museum. We had to communicate a lot about the building spaces and the different conditioning modes depending on the season. I remember including some details and sculpture pieces related to the museum. I also employed a lot of different strategies to capture the 3D components that need to translate into 2D for the section. Each colour, size, line weight, label, everything serves a purpose and had to work together in harmony.

Another one is in a completely different style – I was working on a way to visualise, in 3D, the different retention options for a luxury office space in Knightsbridge. I needed to show – like a flatpack furniture manual – how the façade and different bits of retention vs demolition and new build would fit together. The outcome was very satisfying… it’s great to have ownership of your graphics on a project all the way through from beginning to end.

You not only get to make beautiful graphics and learn about engineering and environmental strategies along the way but also collaborate with nearly everyone in the company. Given your broad overview, what is it that Atelier Ten does that separates it from competitors?

I think our baseline and standard for our graphics goes above and beyond most other competitors. We put a lot of effort in earlier stages as well and each project has one of our famous environmental sections as a minimum. These diagrams are detailed and thorough, more than just some bullet points and labels. We always deliver the best for our clients.

My final question is a bit more open-ended, related to the future of graphics. Do you see us changing strategies or developing out anything new over the next several years?

Hmm, I think no matter what brief we get, we are always looking for the best way to show the strategy. In the future I know we will continue to adapt … is it still in reports and presentations or do we expand to other mediums? I could see it being interesting to create simple interactive versions of our graphics without going over the top. Even our existing graphics take time to make, so not only thinking about what more complex assets we can create, but also how can we become more efficient in our existing workflow.

In terms of AI, since everyone is talking about it, there are still so many things it can’t do right now. You can’t just prompt engineer and get a language model to produce one of our graphics as there are so many details involved our graphics, but surely there are some tools that will save us some time for repetitive actions. I think further integrations with Rhino and Grasshopper is one area. I know we already have scripts that implement our colour coding and branding when post-processing analyses and producing graphics. These workflows will probably be further streamlined and optimised. Beyond that, let’s see!

End of article 06, and the end!

Thank you all for taking the time to read through to this final edition of the series, I hope this particular article was a useful insight to our graphics team and our design language more generally, and that this whole series has taught readers a bit more about the culture and inner workings of Atelier Ten from the perspective of our next gen / junior team members. For now, article 06 brings this series to completion. If you have any questions at all – around the series, the work, the people, the company, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on LinkedIn, and do watch this space as more content will be coming out soon.