In the second installment of AIA Peconic’s Architectural Sessions at the Parrish, host Maziar Behrooz is joined by Thomas Phifer, principal of Thomas Phifer and Partners, and Gabriel Smith, partner, for a conversation about the firm’s singular approach to architecture.

"We're into very quiet architecture," says Thomas Phifer. With forms that aim for permanence and simplicity, their buildings articulate an intense precision in both craft and concept. A singular vision is examined and expressed with clarity and deliberateness throughout their buildings, elevating every view, every space to an essential and timeless condition. In the firm’s current project, the expansion of the Glenstone Museum (anticipated to open in 2016), the changing patterns of nature play against the quiet permanence of forms.

This Session will examine how a practice like Phifer’s can maintain such focus and clarity of vision from a project’s conception to completion. What systems are in place to ensure that the in-house team can express a singular idea over time to the many parties and stakeholders involved in the creation of a building, and ultimately to the public at large?