When to collaborate
Throughout school, we have had opportunities to speak to practitioners and leaders of allied disciplines. The question that seems to always come up is about the appropriate time to involve collaborators on the project. Every time, the answer has been 'as soon as possible.'
We have discussed the architect's role and, overwhelmingly, our class' reaction was that the architect should be critically regional, in a sense, and should leave behind this idea of the elite architect. Abalos refers to a "chorus of experts" that joins the "former solo voice of the architect." I think this is incredibly important as we tackle the problems of tomorrow. Social, political, and environmental sustainability are all so multi-faceted that we must learn to work together to begin to tackle some of these larger problems effectively.
So, what does the design team of tomorrow look like? Should we be learning to communicate with our friends in law, psychology, theology, education, etc.? How can we use our design thinking skills to engage the rest of the population in the common goal of improving the world in which we live?
We have discussed the architect's role and, overwhelmingly, our class' reaction was that the architect should be critically regional, in a sense, and should leave behind this idea of the elite architect. Abalos refers to a "chorus of experts" that joins the "former solo voice of the architect." I think this is incredibly important as we tackle the problems of tomorrow. Social, political, and environmental sustainability are all so multi-faceted that we must learn to work together to begin to tackle some of these larger problems effectively.
So, what does the design team of tomorrow look like? Should we be learning to communicate with our friends in law, psychology, theology, education, etc.? How can we use our design thinking skills to engage the rest of the population in the common goal of improving the world in which we live?
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The key to all of this is communication, which architects seem to be learning is valuable to embrace with clients and engineers throughout the design process. Imagine the depth of knowledge that could grow from working with medical professionals and biologists to understand the physical well being of people in their environment. Or from working with educators to teach these concepts in schools, particular spatial and community existence. We could change the whole perception of what it means to be architects, but also how people live in communities. Crazy stuff right there.
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