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. |
| May 25, 2009 Inside (plus) In our efforts to design wonderful places we should not neglect the most basic physical requirements of the building itself. We (humans) originally built to protect ourselves from the elements, and it was a long time before buildings became more than simply shelter. Today, when buildings can symbolize anything from the hopes and dreams of the architect or client to serious political and social statements, attention to the details that ensure a sound shelter sometimes gets less attention than they should. Remember that the basic purpose of a building, no matter how embellished or redefined, is still protection from the elements, and we have an obligation to address that as a given before we do anything else. Now as we deal with the serious environmental issues that define much of our work, we need to be particularly attentive to those simple reasons we first built:
Take care of the sun.
Take care of the wind.
Take care of the rain. |
| May 18, 2009 Landscape We expend enormous effort to ensure that an architectural resolution meets with our vision, and in the process we work with all manner of consultants. We work with structural and audiovisual and MEP consultants and with scores of others who add their small piece to the growing composition. While we must work to make certain that the building is structurally and technologically sound, we always tend to pay particular attention to those contributions that will have an effect on the visual success of the final product. It seems, however, the one consultant that gets less of our attention than it deserves is the landscape architect. Landscape is one discipline that directly affects the context in which we will reside, and if we can more directly control that context we will find our design influence broadening in scope. Perhaps it is a general insecurity concerning this discipline, a lack of familiarity with plant material and its appropriate use, or simply our deference to another professional. But this is an area of critical importance in architectural design and its success, or failure, in a project is of vital importance. All of us who deal with landscape design need to continue to educate ourselves so we can communicate more professionally and knowledgably in this area of design. |
| May 11, 2009 Intersections A number of books attempt to explain the process of innovation--what causes it and how it can be predictably and successfully encouraged. One of the more interesting and understandable is The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson. His basic thesis is that creativity can be greatly increased and innovation expected by creating conditions that he terms intersections. An intersection is the coming together of a variety of skill sets among experts from diverse fields. This sets up a situation where each can learn and cross-connect across disciplines. Johansson cites many examples of successful innovation and defines criteria for those that take part, based on his observations, over many years. The education level of participants has little to do with success, but they must be intimately familiar with the intricacies of their field; they must approach things with an open mind and they must be individuals who love to learn. It sounds simple. We in the design professions believe we innovate all the time as we design, but there is something this book can teach us about collaboration and listening to other team members who have expertise we don't. |
| May 4, 2009 Beneficial The current interest in caring for our world is here to stay. The environmental movement that started in the '60s has been growing incrementally and has evolved into a sophisticated, science based, organized enterprise with the support of governments worldwide. There is a general understanding that we have a responsibility to care for the only place we can live. (Your mother was right: You need to keep your room clean.) The people who make the built environment have a particular responsibility in this regard, and as a profession we have started to do the right things. We are beginning to be consistent in building in a sustainable way, and many of the green strategies we are employing are becoming the accepted norm. What now are exceptional efforts to build responsibly will soon be required of every building. The primary question that will be asked of every future building will be, "What is its carbon footprint?" That is a significant question now, but there are those who are looking beyond this to the next logical sustainable requirement: that each building be required to be environmental beneficial. Those at the forefront of this growing movement believe that we must go far beyond the dictum of "Do no harm" and make every building help heal the damage we have collectively done. We will then build buildings that generate more electricity than they use, provide cleaner water into the environment than that with which they started, provide storm water management systems that extend beyond their own sites, filter pollutants from the air, and make their own environment cleaner. |
