‘Deep Immersion’ is an integral part of our process that allows us to investigate the past, innovate in the present, and build for a flexible, low-carbon future. We have volunteered in soup kitchens to better understand the complex logistics of a homeless charity whose premises we helped reinvigorate; we have cooked dinners with our clients, within their existing ad-hoc set-up, helping us create a space more suited to their social patterns; we temporarily moved our office into a commercial building whilst undertaking the feasibility study for its restoration and re-use; we have also asked families to create individual video diaries so that we can appreciate the unique and shared rituals of family members, accommodating everyone within the proposals.