CG&S Design-Build

Some people photograph a room. Ryan Davis studies how it wants to be seen.

Ryan has been part of CG&S for 20 years, bringing his eye to the company in many forms. Today, that includes photographing finished projects, job sites, events, portraits, and the in-between moments that help tell the story of the work.

He is also an artist and painter, and that is not separate from the work he does here. It is part of it.

At CG&S, the work has always depended on people bringing their full talents to the table. Design, building, photography, drawing, problem solving, making things by hand. One kind of artistry strengthens another.

For Ryan, painting, photography, typography, color, and composition all feed one another, shaping the way he documents built work and understands the relationship between art and architecture.

“Studying the relationship between photography and painting helps both,” he says. “Color and composition are mutually supportive.”

That shows up in how he enters a space. Before he starts photographing, Ryan describes moving through the room first, learning its orientation, and building a map of it in his mind.

“As the map is filled in, the inspiration begins.”

In a finished project, the room has to carry the image. The light, materials, furniture, and forms all become part of the story. A photograph has to show what it was like to be there, but it also has to hold some of what went into making the space possible.

“The document is a love letter to everything and everyone that made the project happen,” Ryan says, “and for the client to have a keepsake of the project before time inevitably changes everything.”

That feels like the heart of it: an artist’s eye brought to the work of documenting spaces, and to the many hands, decisions, and talents behind them.

Read the full interview on the CG&S website. Link in bio.

Ryan Davis
An Artist’s Eye at CG&S

Bespoke design does not have to mean adding more. Sometimes it means making every square foot matter.

For this returning CG&S client, the backyard needed to do a lot within a small footprint. The goal was to create space for the things they actually enjoy: cooking outside, entertaining friends, sitting by the fire, working on a puzzle, reading with a glass of wine, and making room for a putting green just beyond the main outdoor living area.

The design had to work around a heritage oak, a five-foot setback, existing structural elements, gas lines for the grill and fire pit, and a neighboring deck that looked directly into the yard. Every choice had a job to do, from the steel trellis that adds privacy and clean architectural rhythm, to the low-maintenance materials selected for year-round use.

That is the difference between a beautiful backyard and a bespoke one.

Not more space. Better use of it.