Guna Collaborative was established in 2023 in Portland, Oregon.

It was formed by John Holmes, former founding partner and design director at Holst Architecture (1992-2017).

Architecture as the Play of Three Forces

The word guna comes from Sanskrit, meaning “strand” or “quality.” In ancient philosophy, it refers to the three fundamental forces that weave together all of existence.

To make architecture is to engage these same eternal forces:

• Creation (Rajas) — the surge of imagination, the restless energy that brings new form into being.

• Destruction (Tamas) — the discipline to dismantle, to cut away what is unnecessary, to clear space for clarity.

• Maintenance (Sattva) — the harmonizing principle, holding vision and matter in balance so that what is made can endure and nourish life.

Architecture lives in their interplay. It is not only the shaping of space, but the continual cycle of bringing forth, paring back, and sustaining — a creative act aligned with the rhythms of existence itself.