Broken World Design works with people who care about how places, objects, and ideas change over time. We offer documentation, interpretation, and small-scale design interventions grounded in craft, historical research, and material honesty.
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High‑Craft Site Documentation
Photographic and graphic documentation of buildings, landscapes, and objects, produced with an eye toward material condition, use over time, and future change. Particularly suited to historic sites, working waterfronts, and places facing alteration.
Custom Maps & Illustrations
Original maps, diagrams, and illustrations for authors, scholars, museums, and publishers. These are not decorative images, but visual arguments—designed to clarify complex spatial, historical, or environmental relationships.
Legacy Documentation
Quiet, careful recording of places and objects before change: family homes, institutional sites, or community landmarks. This work centers witnessing and preservation of knowledge rather than nostalgia.
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Design Briefs for Historically‑Minded Architects
Well‑researched, ready‑to‑use briefs that translate historical context, material culture, and social meaning into clear guidance for architectural and planning teams. Ideal for early project phases when understanding a site matters more than solutions.
Interpretive & Concept Development
Narrative and conceptual frameworks for exhibits, public history projects, and cultural sites. We help clarify what story is being told, to whom, and why—before design and fabrication begin.
Developmental Editing & Project Shaping
Developmental editing and conceptual support for scholars and practitioners working across history, preservation, memory studies, and public culture. This includes helping projects speak across disciplinary boundaries without flattening their complexity.
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Boutique Architectural Interventions
Selective design work focused on modest, meaningful changes to existing buildings and sites. This work prioritizes continuity, repair, and adaptation over novelty, and is suited to clients concerned with stewardship rather than transformation.
Light Design & Fabrication
Custom design and fabrication in canvas, wood, and related materials—often in support of architectural, interpretive, or maritime contexts. Projects are limited in scale and emphasize durability and use.
How We Work
Broken World Design engages at moments of uncertainty: when places are changing, stories are unclear, or future directions are contested. Projects are scoped carefully, and grounded in research and making.
We work with individual clients, architects, scholars, cultural institutions, publishers, and small organizations.