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. |
| October 26, 2009 Mourning It's been a complicated year. Many things have changed at the firm since the start of 2009. Some heartrending events have occurred that reflect the singular times in which we now live. People have left the firm, most not of their own choosing, and the relaxed atmosphere that has been an important part of the culture is sometimes not very relaxed at all, as folks worry about what the future will bring. This recession has been a bad one and although the experts tell us that it has in fact ended, it certainly doesn't feel as good as it used to, and we are aware of continuing pain all across the country. The firm has, however, faced the crisis head on and did what had to be done in the short term to ensure its longer term survival. It has been difficult and emotionally exhausting for all of us irrespective of the level we occupy, and the loss we all feel places a need for mourning what has been lost. The best thing to do is to talk; examine what has changed and treat it as you would any other significant loss in your life. Then move on. |
| October 19, 2009 Neurobiology (2) Fundamental human neurobiological processes, if understood, can help us design better places. Recent research has indicated that the same forces and influences that shaped humans during their developmental era hundreds of thousands of years ago are still driving decisions we make today. Fundamental architectural and spatial organizations we have historically found to be successful may very well be founded in our history as a species. During the development of Homo sapiens, we found survival was easier when we located ourselves in a place where we could be safely ensconced within a protective space, yet have a view to the space from where danger might come. Thus the idea that there was a 'refuge' in which to hide, a 'prospect' to watch for danger, and an 'edge' to inhabit became a strong spatial model for survival. Humans who preferred or understood these types of spaces survived at a higher rate than those who did not, thus selecting us for this trait. To this day, humans still like this "womb with a view" (1), a safe space to hide, an intervening space to dwell, and a view to oncoming threats, be they saber-tooth tigers or supervisors.
(1) Susan Painter, Ph.D., and Grant Hildebrand |
| October 12, 2009 Magazines As many as 15 different magazines arrive on my desk each month. I find it impossible to look through all of them, much less read them. Some of the more well-known ones appear slimmer than they used to be as advertising has slowed during the recession; I wonder if they will all survive. Changing topical issues have spawned new magazines, most of which have the word green or environmental in their titles; they all seem to be hitching themselves to the wagon and it is difficult to remember which ones have existed for years without the new words and which are actually new. There is something, however, that attracts me to magazines. They always seem to have some very important information to give you, and the covers almost make you feel guilty you have not allotted time to review them in their entirety. Surely you will fail in some major way if you don't know what critical piece of information they have just sent you. It is the same with the web: Information is just thrown at you constantly and informational fatigue becomes almost like sleep deprivation, which in some way it actually is; few of us seem to relax seriously anymore. I don't think we can all go on like this; other than living in total ignorance, there seems little escape. The computer can be turned off occasionally, but the magazines just keep coming, along with the guilt. |
| October 5, 2009 Necks A tortoise progresses when its neck is out. That simple observation can teach us something about risk and the progress we make when we are unable or afraid to stick out our necks. Design in the 21st century runs the gamut of stylistic and technological approaches, drawing as it does a normal distribution curve. This bell shape has on one end the radical designers who, for good or otherwise, continually push the envelope stylistically or technologically; at the other end are the traditional stylist and Luddite. But the bell curve continues to move sideways with time, watching one end being pushed out further, dragging the other along in a continuum as old as architecture. On every project we design we must assess where we are on the curve: Are we pushing it ahead, innovating and exploring uncharted territory, or are we being dragged along, kicking and complaining? It seems, in retrospect, that we are usually somewhere in the middle. It also seems we will be better architects and contribute more to our profession if we occasionally run to the front of the curve and attempt to pull others along with us. And it'll be much more fun. |
