WE REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID
It all begins with an idea.
As professionals, educators, even as parents, we often wonder if those we’re speaking to are really listening, if they will ever remember the thoughts we’re trying to convey. We believe the answer is ‘yes’. This post will undoubtedly be updated from time to time, but here are some of the memorable statements that have remained in mind for us:
ON SEEING THE OTHER SIDE…
‘If I had it to do all over again, I think I would be a Landscape Architect’. (Sir) Romaldo Giurgola, FAIA, on our way out of a walk through Muir Woods, while working on Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade, SFO, ca 1988
‘If I had it to do all over again, I think I would be an Architect’. Laurie Olin, FASLA, near the conclusion of his Wyck Strickland Award Lecture, 1999
ON LIGHT…
‘Just give us a sliver of light, because a sliver is the difference between no light and light’. Howard Brandston, Inaugural Inductee, Lighting Designers Hall of Fame, during the design of San Jose Convention Center, ca 1984
‘You can’t drag someone down a dark corridor, but if there’s light around the corner they’ll be swept along on their own’. Raymond Grenald, also an Inductee of the Lighting Designers Hall of Fame, and a career-long collaborator
ON DESIGN AND OPPORTUNITY…
‘Every project, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, has that one special aspect – find it, and wring every last bit of potential out of it’. Richard Conway Meyer, FAIA, during my years in his office 1979-1984
‘What really matters is what other architects think of your work – that’s where all your commissions will (ultimately) come from’. Richard Conway Meyer, FAIA, during a ride back from a joint project interview, after I had formed my own office, ca 1998
ON ECONOMY…
‘I’m not going to tell you that less is more, but Mies - he knew when two was better than three’. Prof Mario Romanach, visionary Cuban architect, during a studio discussion, ca 1977.
‘Bank of China has half as much structural steel per SF of usable space as Shanghai Bank, and every ton of steel at BoC costs one quarter of the structural steel cost per ton at Shanghai Bank’. Lesley Robertson, structural engineer for I.M. Pei’s Bank of China, Hong Kong, during a lecture given at Temple University, ca 1995
‘We can do anything – (but) how much money do you have?’ Lesley Robertson, during a design discussion for San Jose Convention Center ca 1984
OUR WORKING PROCESS CONTINUUM
Every client with whom we have worked – individual, family, group or organization – has a past, a present, and a future, each of which informs our work.
We study the client’s history to gain an understanding of the origins for their activities, and initial or previous goals. We value comparative projects that can serve as relevant precedents for the prospective work at hand. We also follow our own curiosity, looking for the extraordinary and/or the incongruous with respect to what has been reported.
Through interviews and work sessions, review of written and graphic documents, and direct observation, we take particular care in the formulation of a program to incorporate the client’s aspirations as well as their requirements. Our subsequent process of budget and construction system evaluation takes all our findings into account. At the same time, we continually test-fit physical configurations suggested by the assembled information – our ultimate role as architects is not the collection or analysis of material, but rather its synthesis into physical form.
We both inquire about, and project, scenarios for our clients’ future needs, beyond their currently stated program, and pursue design strategies that can expand or adapt within reasonable limits to accommodate them. Louis I Kahn famously stated that ‘there is no such thing as the architecture of the future - because if you can think of it now it’s the architecture of now’. However, when it comes to construction economics and the future growth of any client entity, the consideration of adaptability is a priority for us in the design process. The ultimate beneficiary is you, our client.