With, Together, For: The Co-Design DNA Behind DCA

From the beginning, DCA’s work has been grounded in a simple belief: transformational design doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens with people, together in partnership, and for communities and futures that extend far beyond the life of a project.

---

In the early years, this showed up informally, long conversations with clients, open workshops with users, and a willingness to adjust designs based on community feedback rather than defending a pre-determined solution. Over time, this intuitive, relational way of working became a repeatable pattern.

As the practice has grown and taken on increasingly complex civic, cultural, education, and community projects, DCA has recognised that this approach is not incidental, it is the core of what makes their work different.

Naming it With, Together, For simply gives language to something the practice has been living since 1996.