Friday, August 31, 2007

The Declaration at my office!


This is one of the comments

4 comments:

Herb Childress said...

This is a remarkable document! It shows the emotional healing that will have to take place within the architectural community in order to bring about the generosity that our communities deserve. This is a set of comments by someone who feels beleaguered on a daily basis, feels so hemmed in my “clients” and “parameters” and “regulatory agencies” and “payments” that she or he can’t even define “conscience” for herself/himself. There’s also a deep, underlying feeling of being disrespected -- note the comment where s/he has circled “and gratitude” and replied “you need 2 way.” Well, here’s the deal -- if you have a cycle of mutual disrespect and distrust, it can continue to build momentum as it swirls down the toilet, or someone has to be the braver person and do something to break that cycle (even while expecting that his or her actions won’t be reciprocated at first) and promote a new culture of mutual respect and trust and common purpose.

I don’t want to get all NewAge about this, but there’s some real emotional pain here that needs to be resolved before any manifest progress can begin.

David Streebin said...

Hey Gus,

Here is a case of "you don't know what to say without really knowing the person". Remember the comments in Boston, …that it was hard, prior to the Intensive, to comment on each others blogs because we didn’t know the person. It is hard to figure out what’s going on here, without knowing the person, but…. wow.

A few years ago I took over CA on a school project when the project architect moved to California. I thought it was to be closer to his family, but quickly realized it was probably because of the project. The contractor, construction manager and owner were at a point of, as Herb says, "a cycle of mutual disrespect and distrust”, the mindset of the people involved did “build momentum as it swirl(ed) down the toilet". Lawyers for the contractor and owner were coming to the weekly job site meetings.

Back to my point, even with all of this, you have to turn things around and get everyone on the same page and focus back on what you are there for... in this case, build a school for the kids.

To get the respect we want as Architects, we have to give it. Sometimes we just have to trust people, owners and yes… contractors.

Without knowing this person, I hate to say much, but I agree with Herb, it seems this person needs to get some issues resolved… The Declaration of Boston is a document that should make Architects think about how they can become better and gain respect, not become sarcastic toward the profession and the people we work with and for.

smunger said...

Part of the problem with Architecture not being taken seriously, (as Doctors and Lawyers are) is the idea of subservience to the client. The idea that we must simply bow to their idea of what is "aesthetically delightful" rather than to try and educate the client as to why certain decisions may have an unintended impact or consequence. At a point the architect must stand up and say "No, I can't do that, it's just to ugly / inappropriate for its context".

On the flip side, I don't think communicate with our clients very well, or explain why we are making decisions. I have found that if you properly educate a client, they will be quite likely to make decisions in concert with you rather than in opposition to you.

-S

Gus G.-Angulo said...

Herb, David and Steven,
I have to start with David’s initial comment, because I think part of the comments that my coworker made to the declaration, where just to “get me”, however, I think there is a big amount of him in all this!!!!
The experiment I did in the office ( I give away about 20 copies) was to see and analyze the different reactions, and actually what sands me more is not an answers like the one I shoed you, but the ones that I did not get!!!!! The real problem is that we are to selfish and we do not care…… “as long as it dose not bother me…who cares!”, and that is what we need to care abut and I think that is what the Declaration of Boston is all about: to care for other apart from me!!!
Herb I do blame you for bringing issues like this! They are to good! =)
Gus