Updated: Sep 18, 2024

Fun Project I shot last year for some very great people. Architectural firm, Northworks,

Interiors by sashaadler.com, Architect of record, Chris Young, Young de la Sota Architects

https://www.northworks.com/projects/bahia-beach

https://www.northworks.com/projects/bahia-beach by Architectural photographer Gil Stose

A Collaborative Project Across Multiple Design Disciplines

This project brought together several respected names in architecture and interior design: Northworks as the architectural firm, Sasha Adler handling interiors, and Chris Young of Young de la Sota Architects serving as architect of record. Projects with this many collaborators require careful coordination to photograph well, since the final images need to do justice to each contributor's specific area of expertise, the architectural bones, the interior styling, and the technical execution of the build itself.

Photographing a Multi-Disciplinary Team's Combined Vision

When an architect, an interior designer, and an architect of record all contribute to a single project, the finished space represents a genuinely collaborative vision rather than any single discipline's work alone. Capturing that combined vision well means understanding which elements belong to which discipline and ensuring the photography gives appropriate visual weight to the architectural structure, the interior finishes, and the overall spatial experience the whole team worked together to create.

Why This Kind of Project Makes for Strong Portfolio Work

Projects involving multiple respected firms tend to attract more attention when eventually published or shared, since each contributing firm brings its own network of followers, clients, and industry peers who take notice when the finished work is shared. Photography strong enough to satisfy every collaborator's standards significantly increases the odds that all parties will want to feature the project prominently in their own respective portfolios and marketing materials.

Lessons From Working With Multiple Design Firms on One Project

Coordinating a shoot involving several different firms requires clear upfront communication about priorities, which spaces or details each collaborator considers most important to capture well. Taking the time to have that conversation before the shoot day, rather than assuming everyone's priorities align automatically, consistently produces a final image set that satisfies every stakeholder rather than favoring one contributor's vision at the expense of the others.

The Value of Documenting Firm Collaborations

Architecture and interior design firms increasingly collaborate across projects rather than working in isolation, and photography that documents these partnerships well serves an important business development function for everyone involved. A strong set of images from a multi-firm collaboration can be referenced by each participating firm in future proposals, demonstrating not just individual capability but the ability to work effectively within a larger design team, a skill that matters significantly for larger, more complex future commissions.

What Makes Northworks and Young de la Sota's Work Distinctive

Firms like Northworks and Young de la Sota Architects have each developed recognizable design sensibilities over the course of their respective careers, and photography for their joint projects needs to honor both firms' distinct approaches simultaneously. This requires a photographer comfortable adapting their technique within a single project to properly showcase different architectural and design philosophies working in concert rather than applying one uniform visual treatment across the entire space.

Interior Design's Role in the Final Photography

Sasha Adler's interior design work adds a layer of finish and personality to the architectural structure that photography needs to capture with equal care. Furnishings, textiles, and styling details often carry as much visual weight in a finished photograph as the architecture itself, and a photographer who treats interior design as a secondary consideration risks under-representing a significant part of what makes a collaborative project like this one special.

Building Relationships Across the Design Industry

Projects that bring together multiple respected firms often lead to future opportunities with each individual collaborator, since a positive experience working together on one project tends to generate referrals and repeat engagements down the line. Building genuine, lasting relationships across an entire design ecosystem, architects, interior designers, and architects of record alike, is one of the most effective long-term strategies for sustaining a healthy architectural photography practice.

Reflecting on a Project Worth Revisiting

Looking back at a fun project like this one, shot in collaboration with such a strong team of design professionals, is a good reminder of why this work remains so rewarding. Every collaborative project brings its own combination of personalities, priorities, and design philosophies, and finding a way to represent all of them well in a single cohesive set of photographs is a genuinely satisfying creative challenge every time.

Projects like this one are exactly the kind of work worth highlighting when talking with prospective clients about what a multi-firm collaboration can look like when it's photographed thoughtfully, with real attention paid to every contributor's piece of the final result.

Thanks again to Northworks, Sasha Adler, and Chris Young for a project worth remembering, and worth revisiting a year later.

What Prospective Clients Can Take From This Example

Clients considering assembling their own team of architects, interior designers, and builders for a future project can look to collaborations like this one as a model for what's possible when the right people work together thoughtfully. The strongest results rarely come from any single discipline working in isolation, they come from a genuine partnership where each contributor's expertise is respected and given room to shine in the finished space, and in the photography that documents it.

That collaborative spirit continues to inform how new projects, involving one firm or several, get approached today.

More projects like this one are always welcome, and always a pleasure to photograph.

Thanks for taking a look, and reach out to discuss a similar collaborative project.

Happy to talk through the details whenever you're ready.

Great teams make great work possible, and this project is proof of that.

Here's to the next one.

Thank you for reading this far.

More projects like this to come.

Excited for what comes next in this collaboration.

Onward to new projects.

Closing Thoughts

Every collaborative project leaves behind more than just a set of finished photographs, it leaves behind relationships, lessons, and a shared sense of pride in work well done. This project with Northworks, Sasha Adler, and Chris Young of Young de la Sota Architects remains a strong example of what's possible when talented people from different disciplines come together with a shared commitment to quality.