Budget is a design constraint. Pretending otherwise is privilege. I've heard it too many times: "If only we had a bigger budget, we could do something really special." As if budget is an obstacle to creativity instead of a driver of it. The best projects I've worked on had tight budgets. They forced us to be creative. To think differently. To find solutions we wouldn't have found if money was unlimited. Budget isn't the enemy of good design. Unlimited budget is. When you can do anything, you often do nothing interesting. When you have constraints, you have to innovate. The architects who complain about budgets are usually the ones who haven't learned to work within them. The architects who embrace budgets are the ones who create the most interesting work. Constraints create creativity. Budget is just another constraint. Use it.