CONTROL ISSUES
Are you even an architect if you don’t have some sort of control issue?
As I’ve
worked in this profession over the past 4-6 years, interning on and off, I’ve
learned that (some) architects do have major control issues. I mean, if you are
going to put your name on something, don’t you want it to be as close to
perfect as it can be? Well, I think that a lot of the controlling features of
people come from who they look up to, I mean if you look up to the three
architects mentioned in the ‘distribution of design responsibility’ portion of
the reading, Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright,
you are going to be a little more controlling in the way that things are done
because of the sense that one needs to be designing spaces down to the furniture
that is put into it. Sometimes, it is necessary to design all the way down to
the furniture, but I think that it is important for the client and the project
that the project does get looked at through different eyes to make sure that
the best is being designed.
Not all architects are like this
though, I’ve worked under architects that want me to add to the design and they
give me the design freedom to do what I think is best for the overall design
and then I’ve worked under architects that draw out exactly what they want and
just want me to produce the drawings. I think that people learn differently,
design differently, work differently, envision things differently, and the
reality of it is, other designers are going to have to adapt to the way that
the project is being produced. I believe that there is a difference in being
controlling in a way that makes sure that the project stays on track to be the
best that it can be, and then there is controlling in a way that you believe
that your ideas are the best and nobody else can add to that and make it
better. Don’t be that person.
I’ve always found that the architects
that allow their people to have freedom in the design, but also control it in a
way to keep the progress moving forward are always the people that clients want
to hire, and people want to work for. Having the right control issues are good
for the project, but even senior architects must realize that they are not
always going to have the best ideas on the design project.
“The issue here is not design ability,
but design control. For everyday environment to be alive and healthy, such
control must be dispersed, allowing different parties taking care of things on
different levels in the environmental hierarchy.” John Habraken
"Don't be that person" I like the reminder, and it's something that I have to remind myself about at times. I do agree that some of the best projects have shared-ownership in a way that allows for diversity of thought and control.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I wasn't sure I agreed with Habraken. We've all invested a lot of time, hard work, and money into our qualifications as emerging design professionals, and the idea of surrendering some of our control is a little scary. The more I marinate on it, I am drawn to a process that's more user-centric, and our abilities and expertise are delivered in a way that elevates form and space while providing safety and compliance.
ReplyDeleteI think that relinquishing control really just means recognizing that we can't possible know everything. If we try to take control over every aspect of a project we will inevitable fall short of what the project could have been if we had just allowed other people to share their own insight and knowledge. I think people often associate a lessening of control as weakness, when, in reality, trust in other people yields better buildings.
ReplyDeleteAuthorship is easily forgotten when the firm name is just that of the originator/s or the starchitect, but the reality all along has been that the whole makes the machine work.
ReplyDelete