Why I do what I do...

Somebody told me these blogs are sounding pretty negative.  I guess I write when I’m fired up.  This blog is a good outlet for trying to crystallize my thoughts.  The fact that you read it is a little bit of an afterthought, but it has led to some pretty lively discussions.

Maybe it’s a good time to explain why I do what I do.

I grew up in a pretty small town in the Midwest and while the people there are awesome, designing buildings/architecture seemed pretty exotic.  Most of the buildings in this little town were utilitarian; built for a purpose with little regard for aesthetics.  I’ve come to appreciate that way of thinking.  I learned later that there was a whole group of designers who prized a no-frills functional approach to the design of even the most high profile buildings.  But, at the time, it seemed that the few buildings in town that seemed to have a little more, a little art to them were designed by people from the city.

I admired those people.  They seemed to live in another world; a world with art and culture and big ideas. I couldn’t wait to join them. And, when I graduated from high school, I ran as far from that little town as I could get.  I’ve moved from city to city over the years and still feel like I’m catching up.  I feel like a lot of people got a head start on me.

I’ll probably never stop feeling like that, and it’s probably what propels me to keep going.  It’s probably why I think we can always do things better, and why I’m always looking forward, trying to improve things. It might not be the healthiest way to live.  Maybe I should spend more time appreciating what our firm has accomplished, what I have accomplished.  Maybe I should be happy with the clients we have.  It sure would make life easier.  Examining your flaws is tough.  Trying to improve is hard.  It’s much easier if you feel like you have it all figured out.

Now, I am one of those city people, but I suppose I’ll never shake my roots.  I don’t want to, now. There is something that came out of being raised in that small town that made me who I am and it’s the reason I do what I do... -ds

Keep it simple

I work in a pretty complicated industry. The way buildings go together is complicated. Building codes are complicated. The political process for getting projects approved is complicated. Dealing with clients is complicated. There is no end to the difficulty involved in taking a vision and making it a reality.

I learned this again recently while working on a new student housing project. Our client is a major University and the folks we are meeting with are super smart...I mean really smart. Boy can smart people make things complicated. I guess it stems from having your worth determined by your brain and having to repeatedly prove it. Us, we can point to tangible examples of buildings we've built, designs we done, and drawings we've produced. No such luck for our clients across the table. Their worth hinges on the opinions they've levied. They are all trying to do the right thing. No doubt about it.

What I've come to understand is that simplicity is the way to perfection. I would go out on a ledge and say that almost nothing gets better when it is more complicated. I don't care if you're talking about the design of a building, communications with clients, your relationship with your family, or how you cook your dinner. All are better if they are simple, easy to understand, and leave little room for confusion. As the adage goes - stand with your back to the mirror. Spin around. Whatever catches your eye first, take it off. Now you are better dressed.

It goes for the emails you send, the agendas you create, the meetings you conduct, and the relationships you have. Don't get me wrong, it takes a certain amount to get your point across and skimping will make things just as difficult, but almost no one complains about the words left unsaid.

With that, I shall end before this gets complicated. -ds

The Sales Pitch

It never clicked with me during architecture school how much of my job would be a sales job.  I thought clients would come seeking advice from an educated thoughtful professional and we’d do loads of beautiful work together. Yeah, naïve…

It’s pretty funny.  I’d never think second guessing my accountant, dentist, dermatologist, or lawyer.  There could be serious consequences.  They are seasoned professionals with years of training who live their subject matter every day.  If somehow I think I know more than these guys, I’m using the wrong guys.  Yeah, I ask them tough questions and make sure I understand what they’re telling me.  I make sure they have all of my information.  And, if I think they missed something, I’ll ask them to double check it, but I always default to their opinion.  I know they’re smarter about this stuff than I am.

Ok, maybe it’s because a lot of what we do is subjective.  It’s in the “eye of the beholder” and all that…maybe, but if I commission a piece of artwork, I don’t choose the colors for the painter, or tell the sculptor how to bend the metal.  That would be tinkering with their vision and compromising the artistic process.

I’m not sure what it is, but everybody has an opinion when you start designing a building.  From the layout of the rooms, to the construction materials, to the color of the paint and the fabric on the furniture, there are piles of opinions. Part of this discussion is understandable.  The client is paying for it, and ultimately, they have to live with it, so they should be part of the process.  I’m not saying we should sequester ourselves, Howard Roark style, and the client should be happy with what they get.  It would be nice, however, if there was a little trust – just a little bit more of a leap of faith.

I thought maybe it was just me.  Maybe my ideas just stink.  Maybe I don’t have enough gray hair.  Maybe every other designer had clients that joyously accepted all of their ideas and they were thrilled.  Not so.  I’ve spoken with plenty of designers who have similar issues.  All we want is a little respect.  We live this stuff.  We think about it night and day.  We can make our client’s lives easier if they simply have a little faith….Help me help you!

I’m spending as much time strategizing how to sell the idea as I am thinking of it in the first place.  How do we show it?  How do we talk about it?  Can we show where this has been done before, so it’s not so scary?  It is exhausting.  Sometimes I want to scream “Just get out of the way and you will have an awesome building!!”  But, alas, this is not the way our profession works.  Until I’m my own client, I’ll have to continue to refine the sales pitch…. ds