MH/A begins each project with the understanding that the questions which should be asked are more important than knowing the presumed final answers. The solutions will come at the end of a true design process, but only if the correct questions are developed at the start.

MH/A's integration of design aesthetics into the functional solution of the program at hand is of utmost importance. In the end, this direction becomes the primary goal of a process the firm is centered around of engaging in the construction of architecture. To aspire to something different would be to resign the process- to the idea that construction alone would suffice and that the need to engage an architect on the project would not be required.

As is evident in the portfolio of both built and proposed work, design is primary to the office. MH/A truly believes that lives can be positively-affected by design, and that the task of architecture is to have this affect upon people.

Because MH/A remains an "emerging" design firm, the projects which are proposed to the office, and are most often undertaken, tend to be projects of unusual scope and constrained budgets. Working within these restrictions becomes a normal task for the office as well as a set of tools used to generate design. MH/A's ability to navigate the intangible world of design simultaneous with the real-world condition of budget has become a trait many past clients would attest to. As is often repeated in the process of projects of this type, the assumption on the part of MH/A is that the world is not an "either-or" universe, but rather a "both-and", and that one of the tasks of the architect is to discover the point in space where disparate arcs of issues actually coincide.

Founded in 1987, Mark Horton / Architecture is a design firm based in San Francisco, California. With a primary focus on architectural design, projects have also been undertaken which deal with planning, interiors, and design aspects related to the architectural process.

Mark Horton / Architecture is a licensed architectural firm in the States of California and New York.