Principle 1: Be Beauty Bound

The Bay Lights

Commit to manifesting beautiful expressions, from surface to core.

The world is full of ideas.
Art takes many forms.
All of it has its place.

But for us, we always return to one essential question:
Is it beautiful?

We know that beauty is subjective—what moves one person might miss another. But we also believe that true beauty doesn’t begin on the surface. It starts within—in the integrity, the intention, and the purpose that drives a vision into the light.

That’s why Be Beauty Bound is our first and foremost guiding principle.

Because when we create something at monumental scale—when we shape the shared spaces of our city—we carry a responsibility. It’s not enough to be clever or provocative. In the City of Awe, our work must be beautiful to belong.

Beauty, when it’s real, has a unique power.
It lifts us.
It unites us.
It moves us past our divisions and into a shared space of pure humanity.

That doesn’t mean our work is bland or safe.
Quite the opposite.
It means we create with heart and with courage, knowing that beauty can hold complexity, contradiction, and truth—and still leave people changed for the better.

Because beauty, at its best, isn’t just decoration.
It’s invitation.
It’s revelation.
And in public space, it becomes a civic gift.

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