Sustainability has become one of the biggest conversations in home design, but for many homeowners it still feels confusing. Between changing technologies, conflicting advice, and rising costs, it can be difficult to know what sustainable design actually means in practice. 

A conversation with Rita Farrell, Associate Director at DO+CO 

Starting a home project often comes with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. Most of our clients are doing this for the first and probably only time, so the questions tend to be very similar. 

These are the five I’m asked most often, and how I usually answer them. 

When people see the finished photographs of our latest project in Southfields, it’s easy to assume the project arrived fully formed. Calm spaces. Carefully balanced materials. A confident presence on the street. 

In reality, the finished home is the result of a long, considered process shaped by listening, testing ideas, responding to constraints, and knowing when to simplify.  

This is how we made Southfields.