Architect as Leader?

A funny thing happened on the way to my desk...

Well, not really, but I figured out what to do about this question in that time...

A presentation was made Monday morning regarding elevating our sustainable presence as architects in our community. We already incorporate sustainable practices in nearly all of our projects, but it has become so ingrained in what we do that we forget to promote it like we should.

It reminded me that as designers of people's environments/communities we need to lead by example and lead through our designs. A crap building that does not better the lives of the end users is better left alone.

As designers we have more power than most realize. We create environments, we shape the lives of those who encounter the space, for better or for worse. That's a huge responsibility! And for you architect haters out there...that is why we take our jobs so seriously and are always trying for the things that seem impossible.

I am reminded of Filippo Brunelleschi. He told the city of Florence that he could build an impossible dome on Santa Maria del Fiore even though he did not have a plan for it or even an inkling of a way to construct it. 600 years later it is there, standing tall as a marker of enormous pride for the Florentines.

Brunelleschi led the town, along with several other architects of the time, to great heights (literally and figuratively). These architects created an environment that the people could be proud of and are still proud of today. If you're as big of a nerd for Florentine Renaissance architecture as I am, right now you're saying "that's awesome and unbelievable and I can't believe how true that is!"

If you don't have the same enthusiasm as I you're hopefully saying "I see your point, architects DO have a lot of power over our environment."

To me, architects have the opportunity to leave their mark on a community through their thoughtful design (hopefully they aren't remembered for how terrible their building was...though I know some are...). They LEAD people through a space with careful planning and sometimes a bit of innovation. They LEAD by actively participating in their community and sharing their knowledge to help build a better life for those around them. Architects LEAD a client and user to help them find the best possible solution for their environment.

It is a selfless profession, when I really think about it, full of leaders. Even if some think they are just following along by doing mark-ups, they are leaders by taking the time to simply place the door in the Revit model that opens to a space someone might never have gone if it hadn't been there. We lead in so many ways. Powerful stuff. Powerful People.

"Written for Entertainment Purposes"

The Gazette, 18 April 2013

There is something to be said about horoscopes...I am not an avid horoscope reader nor do I believe in their accuracy. I think I did one day when I was in Junior High and was likely searching for reasons why a boy didn't like me, but also on that day I recall seeing in small writing "written for entertainment purposes" at the conclusion of a daily horoscope installment. It ended right then and there. Since then I have operated on making my own "horoscope" and taking things in strides.

Yesterday was the first time I looked at my horoscope in probably 20 years while I was waiting for the coffee in the gold handled pot to finish brewing...

In case you were not reading the Sagittarius horoscope in an Eastern Iowa newspaper it said" Go where you can use your talents. You need to be put in a position that speaks to your strengths. Otherwise, you will be in a constant state of resistance and dreading the next step".

I didn't think twice about it, but it made me think about the other Sagittariuses out there. I would be money that some are struggling with their positions and might read this as truth and perhaps even take it as a sign and act on it.

Because I always try and get the posts to relate to architecture here is my attempt...well, it's more of a story and why I didn't take this horoscope to heart:

Many architects have the story of "I've always wanted to be an architect. Since I was a little boy or girl playing with an erector set and Lego's, I knew it." For me it wasn't that simple. I didn't know I wanted to be an architect until I had an anthropology degree and most of a Masters in Architectural Studies completed. It was a fateful day sitting in my professors 1426 palazzo on the Arno River in Florence when I put the book down and said "No! I want to design the buildings, not read about them!"

And I never looked back.

This was my ah-ha moment, much like I'm sure a few Eastern Iowan Sagittariuses had yesterday reading their horoscope. If it was meant to be, I wonder if they acted on it. I'm not sure I would be as happy as I am had I not changed my life around in that instant.

I do, I must confess, always read my fortune cookie...I've had too many come out to be true than not. I had one once that said I would receive a very important letter and two days later I got a letter in the mail from Shive-Hattery saying that they wanted to interview me. And another time I had one that said "your mate will bring you a pleasant surprise"...within a week he proposed! Nutty.

"Alan Dreams of Surgery"

The other day I asked Alan, an architect, "If you could design within one type of architecture for the rest of your career, what would it be?"

He thought for a few seconds and said: "health care, primarily surgery units".

Curious answer. Well, "Why?" of course.

He is passionate about the patient experience from the moment they arrive to the time the leave and everything in between. There's so much to it and it' pretty intriguing. If you want the best understanding, Alan is your guy.

It got me thinking about what I would choose. Only a year and a half into my career I can only say "I don't know". But I thought about things I want to try. Since I began I have largely worked on health care projects, from clinics to labor and delivery to patient support spaces. So far my favorite has been the support spaces. I get so connected to the users throughout the design process and want to create the best space where they will be most productive and happy. I haven't seen anything completed yet, but it's already rewarding.

Types of design I want to experience are large public spaces because they cater to every walk of life. The designer has to think of literally everyone; so challenging!
Specifically I am interested in sports complexes/venues, museums, civic spaces, theaters, just to name a few, but at this point I'll try anything at least to find out if I don't like it.

Hearing from a few people in my office on what really drives them I wonder about everyone else.

If you could design one type of architecture for the rest of your career what would it be and why? Your answer may inspire the aspiring architects out there.


You might be wondering where the title of this post came from...a documentary called "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". Check it out.

Up All Night?

 

To many architects it is a rite pf passage to pull an all-nighter at some point. This usually happens in architecture school and I've even seen it in the professional world. I am here to tell you poor souls that it is possible to never pull an all-nighter. In my 3 years in graduate school the closest I ever came to an all-nighter was 11pm and that was in my first semester when I had no idea what was going on. I figured it out, after that long evening, how to never come close again.

Many of you will say, oh I don't have time because of work and all my other classes, so I have to do it overnight...to you people I have words to say, but I will refrain.

In architecture graduate school here is the list of activities I participated in one particular semester that turned out to be my very best academically:

Took 5 graduate classes with loads of nightly reading and writing, including comprehensive studio (we all know that the real work happens after this 5 hour-a-day class period)
Taught 2 Friday recitations and attended 2 lecture sessions, including preparing the lessons and grading assignments every week and meeting with students outside class time
Planned my wedding
Worked at Starbucks 20 hours per week beginning at 5:30am
Chaired the Career Fair
Participated in the Graduated Student Senate
Applied for jobs
Kept a decent social life
..the list goes on...
And I never pulled an all-nighter and I maintained over a 3.5 GPA. Not too shabby, huh? I am not trying to brag, but I just want to tell you that it is possible.

Perhaps the key is to have so many things going on you have no choice but to plan and keep a tight schedule?? Maybe.

In school I was fortunate to work with a woman on a number of projects that had 3 children and I figured if she could do it there is no reason I couldn't. I learned a lot about time management and my work habits. Like how I am completely unproductive after about 9pm; my work goes to crap so I might as well go home. In school I could do school work over the weekend and even enjoyed it, but professionally I find it difficult and only do it if I absolutely have to. It's really important to find balance in your life or you might end up hating all of it.

There is something to be said about staying in studio all night long...you can have a good time in your coffee induced, delirious state, but those were the people I saw sleeping during reviews...in case you don't know, that looks really bad!

To those of you who also never pulled an all-nighter: what was your secret? What advice do you have?

Along the Mediterranean

A few weeks ago our Architectural Team met just to talk about design. An interesting thing came up that, for some reason, took me by surprise. Keith, a seasoned architect, suggested that we all share what buildings inspire us now and in the past. It was such a brilliant idea that seemed to really get the gears turning in the room and I feel even the mere suggestion of it left everyone walking out in deep thought and fond remembrance of what inspires them.

Keith later offered an in depth list of the buildings that have inspired him since before he even knew he wanted to be an architect. It featured The Iowa State Capitol, The Gateway Arch, Ronchamp, Thorncrown Chapel and the Roman Coliseum in Arles, France, to name a few. I find it so interesting to put our own timeline in this perspective and see how our personal tastes have changed and have shaped us as designers. This really can be done for any creative and non-creative field and I strongly encourage everyone to take time to think about where your mind has been, you never know where it can lead.

As I sift through my own list of inspiring places and spaces I come up with a lot of the greats that I found in Keith's list along with many many many painted, drawn and sculpted artworks. The list even included artists and architects where I have enjoyed pretty much their entire body of work. What I found is that the people, pieces, places and spaces that have inspired me the most are those that have captured their surroundings so perfectly that it could not be repeated anywhere else in the world.

My number one for as long as I can remember is Antonio Gaudi. It might, at first, sound cliche to like him, but I can't say I have ever met anyone with the same appreciation for him that I have (well, perhaps my husband). What I enjoy about Gaudi is that he somehow captured Barcelona perfectly in every building he ever designed. When you stand in front of any of his works you feel the sun, you hear the sea, you smell the fish and you embrace the colors that only Barcelona can produce. It's simply magical...

and being in Barcelona never hurts...

I have never incorporated anything Gaudi-esque in my designs, but the idea of understanding a place so well that it is ever-present is something that I will always carry with me forever. Other dreamers, artists and architects that inspire me are: Artemisia Gentileschi, Tintoretto, Francis Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Batista Alberti, Brunelleschi, the Saarinen's, Vermeer, Matisse (probably my favorite right now), Manet (not Monet), Renoir, Degas. Interesting that my list is mostly artists rather than architects...and mostly Italian Renaissance or Southern French Impressionists...hmmm...well, we find architectural inspiration in the strangest of places, I suppose, but the point is that we have it.

What/who inspires you?

Architecturally "Tuned In"

As I was working on a wall section today I found myself lost in song. No, I wasn't singing, but I couldn't stop myself from moving to the music. (In case you're wondering the song was "Holly" by STRFKR).

I look around now and notice that I am probably just one of two or three people "tuned in" out of the 15 architects in my office, and looking like a dancing fool. I usually see more...headphones not fools.
It got me thinking about those of us who pretty much have headphones attached to our ears all day long and why we do it.

In architecture school I would listen to Radiohead all the time, I mean hour after hour, day after day, year after year, rarely straying. It released so much creativity from within for some reason.

I didn't listen to music when I first started my job, but I put my ear buds in one day to drown out the sound of people chewing their food (nothing grosses me out more) and I haven't removed them since. Music has been a source of concentration and a contributing factor to an upbeat (pun intended) attitude; and I fear that if I take it away I won't get anything done.

I am reminded of all the articles going around, after the CEO of Yahoo said come to the office or quit, regarding the workplace environment and if employers are being too harsh. Well, my employer is not when it comes to allowing each of us to be individual and work in an environment that brings out our best work. So I should say thank you!

These days I frequent Sleigh Bells Pandora station and always go back to Radiohead when I need a boost.

Do you "tune in" while you work? Does it give you inspiration? What do you listen to?

What’s in a Red Line?

One of my first pages of red
(and blue and orange) lines.

What’s in a red line? That which we call a change
By any other line would be as bright?

Red lines. The infamous fate of an Intern Architect. Though not always red, an intern enters the world of architecture by highlighting lines day after day until the page becomes so colorful it looks like it should be hanging in a modern art museum. They are a rite of passage. Some even have an old page of red lines displayed proudly in their cubicle to remind them of the good old days.
I began my time at Shive-Hattery doing red lines; it was expected and I eventually learned to embrace it and find a lot of knowledge in the act. I learned about proper noting and how to put together a set of construction documents. I also learned that not just interns do them. I saw very experienced architects participating when the going got tough.

I haven’t done red lines in quite some time, but yesterday I found myself in a stack of them. At first all I could think about what the work I needed to do on other projects and how I wasn’t mentally prepared to think about this project. Then, just before noon, I felt so much comfort in highlighting those pages until the red was no longer visible. I felt almost rested by the end of the day. Most of the decisions were made for me and all I needed to go was look for items missed and learn about the project I was working on.

Another beauty of the red line is that it is something you can check off your list. When you’re working on your own project and calling the shots, the decisions never stop. When you are doing red lines there is an end point; it is when you hand them back to the project architect complete and let them continue with the decision-making. If you’re a list-maker like me you will find so much gratification in that act.

Take pride in those red lines and use the time to learn about what you do. There is a lot of value in that simple line.