Peter Buffington

  • Peter BUffington SmithGroup San Francisco
  • SmithGroup San Francisco

Peter views each design project as “the confluence of client desire, program, schedule and budget, which creates the potential for great work.” His signature approach is to develop his own processes, he says, a way of “transforming the abstract or concrete into the unexpected.” Perhaps related to his Southern California roots—and L.A. art school education—Peter sees similarities between architecture and cinema. “Films that capture spatial experience seem to attract me the most,” he remarks. “Examples include North by Northwest, because of Hitchcock’s ability to anchor events to spatial moments, and Amadeus, because of the period and light quality.”