Every Monday morning, team members in the Philadelphia and Princeton offices gather together via video-conference to discuss firm news and upcoming events and projects. Since 2003, founding partner Allan Kehrt, FAIA, has delivered his Monday Morning Musings, weekly slices of personal insight into the design profession, to the firm. To comment on any of his posts, send an email to us. We look forward to hearing from you. |
| June 25, 2007 Explanation We recently found ourselves constructing detailed three dimensional drawings to explain a design to a client who needed a precise visual representation to understand the proposed building. It took a great deal of time to develop these drawings and the time was taken out of a productive ongoing process. We should realize is that over the course of many projects we will encounter individuals with diverse talents, but no guarantee that any of these talents will include strong visualization skills. Yet a clear representation of a proposed project is something to which they should be entitled. As the profession's ability to construct digital images has grown the visual bar to which a client can hold us in providing these tools has been continually raised. It used to be that many visuals were produced during the design process as a simple by-product and they were of a level that with some polishing could serve as presentation drawings. Now we find clients expecting digital images of a quality whose production conflicts with an efficient design process and it has the potential to become even more common. We need to find a way to integrate this disruption into our process so that we all benefit. |
| June 18, 2007 AIA All the professions have organizations to represent their interests in front of governmental organizations and afford a forum for communication among their members. The American Bar Association and The American Medical Association for example, are extraordinarily effective organizations that represent their members and are continually advocating on their behalf. They are successful because they are well organized, well funded and because their members support them, and understand their necessity and their importance. The architectural profession has as their representative the American Institute of Architects, which in its one hundred and fifty years of existence has been an effective organization for us. But it is only as good as the support and involvement of its members. Like all organizations, it can be anything that the members wish. If you get involved, you can help define exactly what that is, and you can be a critical part of the future of the profession. |
| June 11, 2007 Crits The firm has developed a method over the years in which design reviews take place. They have generally been of a formal nature where we pin a project up, and gather a group together to review it. The review generally takes a look at not only the design, but technical issues that may be involved, code issues, and financial issues dealing with not only project construction estimates, but with the project's overall performance within the firm. These types of reviews are very helpful as it puts many eyes on the project and encourages a lot of discussion, and it generally uncovers and solves at least some problems. The trouble inherent in these reviews is generally one of availability of the people who should be there. Because of busy and conflicting schedules the plans for these reviews often go astray, and they are late or never happen. We to encourage less formal reviews on a more continuing basis, with a feedback system that encourages the type of dialogue that normally accompanies the more formal version. |
| June 4, 2007 Trees Monday Morning Musings have been arriving for over four years during which time they have probably killed a number of trees. Starting today they will reflect a more sustainable attitude toward natural capital. As explained in a recent MMM reference to Paul Hawken's books, natural capital is that forth type of capital generally unrecognized as a cost of production. But it is a responsibility of all of us to consider the use of natural resources in all we do, whether it is in the design of a major project or something as simple as this missive. One of the most rewarding things about the transition is that the suggestion to do so came from one of you. Thanks. |
