Coordination Between Design Disciplines

 “The discipline has been split between those who believe architecture is a mere social construct and those who believe that architecture’s facts are determined by the inexorable laws of physics, economics, build-ability, climatology, and ergonomics.” – Alejandro Zaera-Polo

Breaking the discipline of architecture into two categories, aesthetics and function/realty, reminds me a lot of how we are taught to design while in school. Thinking conceptually is beaten into our heads at the beginning of our studies in architecture and this conceptual thinking becomes permanent in our practices during and after school. I think this actually adds a lot of beneficial characteristics to an emerging designer’s workflow and creativity. Although the reality of constructability and economics will be a slap to the face when entering the real world of design, the years spent thinking about architecture as a social construct will serve as a great foundation for creative thinking in an office environment. 

 

I think there are a lot of benefits when it comes to design disciplines working separately on the same project. We all have different backgrounds and people are in the positions they are in because they know enough about that field. I believe each project should squeeze as many resources as it can in order to be as successful as possible. The important thing in my mind is that there is enough overlap and coordination between the interior designer, architect, landscape architect etc, to create a project that allows each discipline to express and make use of their knowledge and experience. Starchitects that design every detail of projects typically have the resources within their firm to do so. That may not always be the case, and thus coordination between companies is essential. We also discussed the narrowing in of disciplines in the not-so-distant future and how that would impact the scope of work that is seen by the architect. I like the idea of working with a façade expert or sustainability expert on projects and I think it would help to move architecture away from conceptual thinking and more towards a technical and reality-based approach.