Designing for the Everyday, Not so Bad?

    I asked myself would I want to design for the everyday individual instead of building for the mega high roller or the luxurious high rise housing projects? Like designing a gas station or a chained super market. Initially, I chose to design for the first option because that sounded like the most interesting choice. I already know the rebuttal, that architecture can be great even from the “overlooked” everyday architecture that we are submersed in. That wasn’t enough to sway me. What came to mind was the Papa Johns in downtown Clemson. They re-did the outside with the classic standout that calls to Clemson- brick veneer. To me this is where I initially thought the end of the line with the design of everyday architecture came to. Because my thought process was, isn’t there a set of design standards that you would have to follow being that majority of these everyday places are chained and have their own set of established design rules and procedures? It didn’t hit me until I thought about my Charleston semester when I passed by a BP gas station and everyone in the vehicle couldn’t help but call out the appearance of the architecture of that gas station. It was remarkable and appeared as a timber structure with a butterfly roof and attached moment arms that looked well thought out. Everyone couldn’t help but say, why can’t all gas stations look like that? 

    My journey of thinking  then led me to my earlier days of interning in firms and I remember the firm showed us a presentation of a Starbucks coffee shop and they all were so excited to show it off and I couldn’t help but to wonder why they were so excited about this everyday coffee shop? This firm notably is about designing mega resorts around the globe and this is the one that everyone is thrilled about. It was a really interesting design that pushed the limits of what a Starbucks could be. Ultimately I have now arrived at the reason why they were so thrilled. It’s the fact that the everyday can be challenged slightly in terms of what the architecture can be. The game is in the challenge of how much you can push the limits. That is where the thrill ultimately lies. Maybe designing for the everyday after all is just that and most of us overlook it until we find something that makes us do a quick double take. It’s for those moments that makes it worth it.