Dreams, Creation, and Communication

It is likely that you have created something in your lifetime. There is a process to creation. When we create something it doesn't simply appear out of nothing; it must first be an idea or a concept, then the concept must be communicated in some way; finally, we physically organize the material world to create something tangible out of an originally immaterial, intangible, and sometimes abstract idea. As students of architecture, we mostly concern ourselves with creating buildings. Unfortunately, many students of architecture destroy the bridge between the ideas in their minds and what is being organized in the material world by ignoring communication-while communication is actually a central part to architecture.

Envision an architect working, most people would envision a solitary, creative-looking person sitting at a large desk drafting a building in a sketchbook or on a computer; that vision is true for only a small fraction of the time; after all, if that was all they did, would anything get built? What do architects have to do in order to have their dreams and visions realized?

Interior of the Guggenheim.

Case Study

Imagine that you recently graduated from a great architecture program, you became accredited, and got a job at a firm you've always admired. The firm that you work for has recently been granted a commission to work on a new museum for a major city. You are assigned to be on the team of architects in charge of the design of this building. You are excited because you've probably come up with several museum concepts throughout your college time and even before that, and you think that your design concepts are genius, so this is a huge chance for you to prove yourself. But then you meet with the team of architects who you’ll be working with, all of them are more senior than you, and there is a project lead who conducts the meeting and tells the team about the specifications of the project. You learn a couple of things you did not anticipate, you’re going to have to do a lot more than just throw your designs from college out there in order to prove yourself, and all of those designs you did in school don’t fit the client’s specifications.

Observe how important communication is already; you will need to know how to observe and listen, you will need to know how to properly interact with the architects in your team in order to build the confidence and trust that they have in you, and you will need to know how to most effectively present your ideas to them. The interactions that will take place among you and the other architects extend even beyond verbal communication.

After several weeks of planning and conceptualizing this project, the team you are on has decided on an overall design concept, and you are tasked with designing the bathrooms, reception area, and the museum cafe. Notice here that nothing will be accomplished without communication; you will have to sketch, create computer renderings, perhaps build models, and be able to present those sketches and renderings effectively. While you would be presenting things a lot, it would usually be presented on an intimate level. Since the team you’re working with is small, there will be a lot of small

Some Guggenheim Museum blueprints.

gatherings around someone’s computer to see some of the latest developments on their portion of the project, and other similar interactions. Every decision that you make has to be cleared by the team in the end, so you will likewise be clearing the decisions made by the other architects, otherwise this museum would be a hodge-podge of designs and ideas, not a cohesive system that works. After months of planning and communicating as a team the final blueprints and designs are drafted and work moves forward with the clients and contractors to begin the actual building process. Now you have to know how to communicate not only with fellow architects, but with engineers, general contractors, electricians, plumbers, businessmen, and every other person that has something to do with building a structure.

You will be sending a lot of emails and taking a lot of phone calls during the building phase of the project. So picking up on and communicating verbal and written cues will be important. During this phase of the project there will also be many complications that arise, material orders get messed up, or perhaps some measurements don’t end up working. Sometimes, due to complications, contractors and engineers might try to alter building plans, usually in an attempt to make their job easier. How you and the team of architects respond to such complications can have a lot of effects; any negative response could sour the relationship you and the other architects have with the other professionals involved in the project, but knowing how to get what you want while not offending those who have to work to produce what you want would be very valuable. After months, perhaps years, all of your work has paid off, and you and the other architects are able to walk through the completed museum to see the physical reality that those concepts and ideas became. You can now say that you have placed your own little stamp on the world as the architects in the past have by filling the world with their ideas and creations.

History

Any student of architecture who has taken classes on architectural theory and the history of architecture has probably developed a personal liking to certain types of architecture and periods of architectural history. Certain styles and theories elicit different feelings and responses in all of us. They communicate something. In the end, all of the work that architects put into the buildings that they helped design will communicate something through the design of the structure itself. Sometimes a client will state clearly what they want to be communicated by their building, sometimes that is left up to the architect. It will be important for you to be able to hearken back to the past in order to remember what architects have said and how they have said it through their designs, so that you can elicit similar responses through your own creations.

The best architecture communicates something to those who experience it. That is why it lasts. But in order to create the best architecture, an architect must be able to communicate so effectively and skillfully with those around him that the meaning and idea of a design is clear; it is so easy for meaning to become lost in price estimates, construction complications, and the everyday business of creating a building. Don’t allow the every day to detract from what can be extraordinary. As Bjarke Ingels said, “Architecture is about trying to make the world a little more like our dreams.”

Works Cited:

Ingels, Bjarke. Interview by archi-ninja.com staff. Interview with Bjarke Ingels. arch-ninja.com 2009.  Web. 10 November 2009


Britannica article, "Western architecture"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32952/Western- architecture/47295/Roman-and-early-Christian