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Life of an Architect contributor Scott Taylor wrote an article, It’s all about me introducing himself and explaining a bit about who he is and what makes him tick. He accomplished this by preparing a list of things that he felt defined his design sensibilities. In that post, Scott called me out to prepare a similar list (as if I could be so easily defined…)
I have prepared these sorts of lists before and I absolutely HATE doing them. Sadly, I don’t have many things that stay my favorite for very long. Does that mean I’m fickle? Does it mean I can’t commit? Maybe … but I think it means I become enthused rather quickly and easily which leaves little time for things to remain in the top spot for very long.
That having been said, here is a list I put together playing off the same sort of things that Scott culled together. It was painful putting this together be here goes:
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Favorite piece of furniture: Eames molded plastic chair with eiffel base
The Eameses adapted molding techniques developed during World War II to produce these shells. They also perfected another technique with which they had been experimenting—creating a bent, welded wire base. The result was the process that allowed the manufacture of the first mass-produced one-piece plastic chairs. I don’t own any of these but I have been coveting them for a long time.
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Favorite Pen: Sharpie Ultra Fine point
I am hardly an artist but I do think I can communicate well enough when drawing. I love my Sharpies and I am quite sure that between my office, my house, and my car, there are several hundred laying out. I always wanted to be able to use a fountain pen but since I am left handed, I would inevitably draw my hand through wet ink and smear whatever I just drew. These Sharpie pens lay down a nice dark line with little effort and the nib has enough give that I can get a little pen weight when I draw.
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Favorite Deserted Island Food: Egg Rolls
Maybe it’s just me, but I used to play this game where I would pick the things I could have in unlimited supply should I ever find myself stranded on a deserted island. The premise is that you could select one single food item – that you could eat as much as you wanted, whenever you wanted – but you could never change. If I had to eat the same thing day after day, it would be egg rolls.
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Favorite Car: 1969 Jaguar XKE II
What’s there to say about this selection? The only reason not to choose this as your dream car is that you didn’t know it existed. Beautiful lines and proportions … it was, without a doubt, the easiest item to choose for this list. I didn’t even have to think about it.
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Favorite Poster: 1934 Guinness ”Good for you”
I am going to say right now … who has a favorite poster?!? I have to admit that I do like the poster Scott chose but to have a favorite means that there are others up for consideration. Any of the Guinness posters from the 1930′s I think are pretty strong graphically and 7 glasses, 7 days of the week and 7 beneficial reasons to drink it (for strength, nerves, digestion, exhaustion, sleeplessness, its tonic effects and the blood).
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Favorite Architect: Impossible for me to select
There are so many that I respect and that shape my interests but does one stand out head and shoulders above another? I wish … I wracked my brain on this one for the last 7 days knowing that I was going to write this post at Scott’s request. Sorry I let you down on this one so to make it up to you, I am going to provide a bonus topic and answer, you know – try and end on a high note.
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Favorite Movie: Raising Arizona
This was probably the second easiest item for me to select. This movie was really popular when I was in architecture school and I’m sure I must have watched this movie 10x more than the No. 2 movie (Blues Brothers). To really drive this selection home, somebody in school copied the audio track to cassette tapes and we used to listen to this movie while in studio. This is the only movie that I could recite the lines to -
Parole Board chairman: They’ve got a name for people like you H.I. That name is called “recidivist.”
Parole Board member: Repeat offender!
Parole Board chairman: Not a pretty name, is it H.I.?
H.I.: No, sir. That’s one bonehead name, but that ain’t me any more.
Parole Board chairman: You’re not just telling us what we want to hear?
H.I.: No, sir, no way.
Parole Board member: ‘Cause we just want to hear the truth.
H.I.: Well, then I guess I am telling you what you want to hear.
Parole Board chairman: Boy, didn’t we just tell you not to do that?
H.I.: Yes, sir.
Parole Board chairman: Okay, then.
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So there you have it – a peek into the madness or the brilliance. While I sweated the details on this post, with very small exceptions, this post would look significantly different in 6 months.
Except for the part about the egg rolls.
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Architect: the “Best Job in the World” … for me.
What did you think I would say? Okay … if I am being honest
Lottery Winner: the “Best Job in the World.”
that’s not really a job but it’s definitely a title I would be happy to claim
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I woke up this morning and didn’t want to come to work. In fact, I was dreading it. There were going to be a lot of mundane tasks, none of which would be particularly fun or interesting. But things have to get done and since I work in a small office, many times I am the one who has to do them … but that’s not actually a bad thing, it keeps things from getting stale, stagnant and repetitive. No, the main reason I wasn’t looking forward to work today was because my to-do list didn’t include anything social. That’s really why I like my job – I like talking with people and making them happy that they are working with me on their project.
A while back, I wrote about choosing the right size firm – big or small. Depending on your personality type, your interests, and particular skill set, the right size office can make all the difference in the world. For me, small was way better because I like to do a bit of everything – but I am particularly fond of chatting with people. As I was sorting through the never-ending stream of emails I receive from sad architects and panicked architecture students, I thought I would take a minute and answer the question:
Why do I like being an architect and think it’s the best job in the world?
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Let’s get it started with -
1. Personal relationships with my clients
I generally work on residential projects and this allows for a personal connection that simply doesn’t exist on commercial or civic projects. The distinction might be based purely on the fact that residential projects are not developed for profit. When I work with a developer, the bottom line is really the client because that’s what driving the decision making process. Residential work is motivated by the individual who is paying for the work – it’s their money and the level of emotional/ personal involvement is proportional to that end. in other words, my clients care about the final product disproportionately with their hearts compared to their wallets.
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2. Opportunity to Teach (and that means “communicate”)
This can mean several things; for some, it’s a balance between their professional working lives and teaching at a institution of higher learning. For others like me, I have the ability to work with younger architectural interns at my office and help guide them along their process of becoming an architect with quality skills (at least I hope). Since residential practices often require each individual to wear several hats, interns in my office are given responsibility early and are frequently asked to demonstrate proficiency at a faster rate than what might be required at a larger office. This puts me in a position to try and help the interns who work with me understand what they are being asked to do, rather than simply sketching it out and telling them to put it into cad. I enjoy this aspect of my job probably as much as any other and I have found out that I’m pretty good at it. The opportunity to teach people has helped me stay on my toes knowing that anyone could walk into my office and ask me “why?” and I’d better have an answer.
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3. Good for my Ego
I feel constant gratification from my clients for the work I do and for the time I spend on their projects. These people are paying me for my time but they know that I am just as invested in the success of the project as they are – and as a result, I feel appreciated. I speak with far too many people who either don’t like what they do or work their job for a paycheck to take this appreciation for granted. When I have visitors come in from out of town, I generally arrange for them to take a tour of some of my projects and the homeowners are always excited to show people their house. This goes on for years after the project has been completed. The homeowners always go on about how great their house is, how much everyone likes it, how important I was to the process … it’s a great feeling and seems to be fairly unique to our profession and more specifically to residential architects. I am friends with everyone one of my clients. Eventually, they aren’t my clients anymore, they are simply my friends.
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4. Job is constantly evolving
Architects are not artists (for those of you who disagree, please send comments directly to trashbin@whatever.com) but with a little bit of luck, we can get to be very artistic. Architects have to address new building technologies. building codes and ordinances, and there are constantly evolving materials and construction methods out there. We are also required as a profession to address the demands of the public at large when it comes to building performance, energy consumption, incorporating recycled materials, etc. On a good day, Architects can create new design concepts that push how modern day construction is executed – and as a result, architecture is one of the few professions that is never static.
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5. Experimentation is expected
Despite architecture having to contain building sciences and technology, the final esoteric product does not have a definitively right or wrong answer. Because no two architects will ever come up with the exact same solution given an identical set of parameters, there is a liberating sense that you were hired for the purpose of imparting your own personality on the project. We are expected to try new things, explore different materials, and incorporate emerging technologies into every project.
Despite having days when I really don’t feel like coming to work, I consider myself extremely lucky to do what I do for a living. Being an architect is rewarding in ways that I don’t think could be easily replicated in a different field of work. My heart goes out to anyone who is miserable in their job – if they are lucky enough to have one these days. If I find myself out of work, I’m not sure what I would do (other than staking out which bridge I am going to live under). It’s not my intention to tell people that being an architect doesn’t have it’s challenges; there are widely accepted concessions you might be forced to make – hours worked and low salary generally being the top two. The real objective is doing what you makes you happy and allows you to provide for your family in some measurable capacity. However, that’s easier said than done … but for me, I’m glad I made the decision to become an architect .
Good luck.
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