After months of work, our new website is now live. We are really excited about this new site and plan to use this blog space to document our work and present some of our ongoing research projects.
The new site allows many ways to filter our work, by person, office, and type. This will start to give you a sense of how we work – often alone but more and more together. With new projects across India we are starting to take advantage of our collaborative framework in big ways.
I’ve spent a lot of hours in bookstores (and way too much money) over the years. It’s the thing I look for in a new city when traveling and the place I return to regularly where I live. I buy less than I used – thankfully – but the act of browsing is a habit I don’t think I’ll lose anytime soon. Over a year ago we heard that a local bookstore was planning to open a new outlet. We tried to contact the owner to get a meeting, but nothing came of it. Then a few weeks ago, we got a call. The owner found us. So we have a new project… a bookstore. I’ve been looking through some great projects, seeing what can be done with this very well worn typology and I thought I’d share a few here.
Livraria da Vila | Brazil | Issey Weinfeld Architects
Times Bookstore | Singapore | The Asylum
Selexyz Dominicanen | Netherlands | Merkx + Girod
V&A Bookshop | London | Vitsoe
This are a few of my current favorites, but I’ll try to update with more when I find them. What will ours look like? No idea yet, but we have a very tight schedule, so we’ll find out soon.
Today I read in the paper that a firm in Hyderabad is designing a replica of the Eiffel Tower here in India. I’m sure these guys are very nice and one can hardly fault them for carrying out this job, as it appears to be a high profile and big budget project with a considerable fee – I assume. But I can’t help noticing that this is a huge missed opportunity for the country. Instead of creating a monument to India, they’re copying a 19th century French icon. What does this say about India? The subtext is disturbing to say the least. Let’s hope this new decade gives clients the brains to find great designers and the courage to trust them.
Last week the Harvard Design Magazine (of which I have issues going back 10 years) published (online only) an article written by Nalina Moses about Architects currently working in India. Nalina and I spoke last fall and I tried to explain the unique nature of working here and did the best I could to point out interesting projects happening here.
I like to think she saved the best for last, as mention of us was left to the end of the article, but looking at the list of architects, I can’t digest that pill. We were excited to be mentioned at all and felt that her words (and our quotes) described who we are – or at least who we want to be.
I’m pretty sure that this article will have little affect on our ability to get new projects – not to take anything away from Nalina, but Indians don’t really read the Harvard Design Magazine’s online site as much as they used to… I do hope that it’s a step. Maybe another journalist will see this and call us up? Maybe a student will run across it and think we’d be interesting to work for.
I guess I’m saying I agree… there’s no such thing as bad press.
Though the music industry has been slow to shift in the digital landscape, actual musicians have been making amazing strides. Beck – one of my personal heroes – has been relentless in his reinvention of himself. Album to Album, the tone or style is rarely duplicated, but there is hardly a point when you are not keenly aware that this is Beck. His voice, his textures, his personality – all seem to give him away very easily.
He has recently revamped his website in a way to reach out to his fans and explore new ideas. The Record Label section being an experiment in production and displaying his unique ability to take an existing song and wrap it up in “cool.” He seems to be using the internet (and these new technologies) to stay connected and to experiment – honing his craft along the way.
With this experimentation in mind we have launched into Twitter and now Vimeo. Trying to figure out how these different mediums can inform our process and make our work more relevant to the modern condition. I’ve often wondered what Architectural Analogies that could be made between the great buildings and the great albums. Could an architecture firm create a building and “tour” on that for a year? Maybe that’s what Rem does in a way – spawning lectures, books, and merchandise along the way.
What if an Architect could develop a concept – or set of details (the songs?) – and “toured” on these ideas for a year, applying them to new projects whatever and where-ever they may be. This somewhat flies in the face of the notion of extreme specificity that seems so important to our current trends – where the architecture is supposed to be rooted in the specifics of site and program, but I think about it anyway and wonder.
We recently returned from the US from what was initially a working trip, with meetings and certain things that needed to get done. However, beautiful weather, family, friends – and nice beer – conspired to transform this into a mini vacation. Some things were accomplished (connected with people, deadlines met) but other things went on hold, as we tried to take advantage of the situation on less business-like terms.
No regrets, but the trip has me thinking about that all important division between work and personal life and the need for balance. Can this balance be created by the office or does it need to come from the employees? Toying with the idea of a 4 day work week and trying to fit in more mini vacations.
UWM, where a few of us went to Grad School, has hatched a plan to build a School of Freshwater Sciences. After being named by the UN as an important site for water research, the City is looking to capitalize on this with the University. The focus is on a strip of land right on Lake Michigan – between the Art Museum and Discovery World – a science/children’s museum – currently occupied by a empty restaurant called Pieces of 8. The selection of this site – still in debate by the City and University – has been greeted with dismay by the the average Milwaukeean. Not only do we closely guard our lakefront, a largely public space, but we also fear the worst. What if this building is ugly?
Putting aside the debate of whether this is an appropriate site for the project, the Arts & Architecture writer for the Journal Sentinal – Mary Louise Schumacher – has challenged local architects & designers to submit their ideas. Lost somewhere between free work and an ideas competition (with no winner…) the proposal hopes to spark debate and push any selected architect in the future to rise to the occasion.
For us, participating is our only way of being a part of this conversation. The small / young firms usually get shut out of consideration such projects – not only in Milwaukee, but in the US at large. This is an opportunity to be heard (seen) and for our name spread a bit.
This is not a School. This is a Marketing Campaign.
I try to spend time every day looking for new projects. Searching the web and paging through tenders for projects that we might go after. It’s changed the way I interact with the world around me.
I don’t read the paper the same way – I read articles in search of projects. I don’t talk to people in the same way – I speak to strangers in search of work. I guess this is what is referred to as “Networking” in most cases. I’ll tell person “A” about us and what we do, not so much for their benefit, but so that person “B” who knows “A” will be able to describe who we are and what we do, at least enough so that “B” will call us and we’ll get a meeting.
Meetings have become a necessary evil these days. If someone gives us a meeting, we go. We don’t consider if we have the time or what might be the outcome. We go, we meet, we talk, and see what happens.
You hope (dream) about a day when someone calls for a meeting and you’re able to predict (know) if it’s one worth taking. Hopefully that will come with experience.
For now, we go and try.
Fees are a tricky concept. The client wants to pay as little as possible to get the work done, the designer wants to get paid as much as possible for the specific project. In most instances the client is undervaluing the designer’s role and worth, while the designer is probably thinking a little too much of themselves. Seemingly it would be nice to have some sort of formula – getting reasonable rates and not having to worry about being underbid by another firm that has no intention of investing any time or thought into the work. We’ve actually lost projects where the person bidding against us submitted a proposal that was half our fee. I’ll be out of business quick if I charge those other fees without reducing my services.
So what’s a reasonable fee? Who decides? It all comes down to trust. Do I – the client – trust you to propose a fee that is in proportion to your worth? Do I – the designer – trust you to pay me a fee that honors my role in the project? In India it seems you must earn the trust over time and experience with a certain client. Often leading to that “first project” where you charge less to “build a relationship.” This usually comes with the dangling of a future project (or projects) where you’ll make more money…
Eden Gardens is one of the largest and oldest cricket stadiums in the world and lies just 7 km from our office here in Kolkata. It is one of those stadiums that players grow up wanting to play in. I’ve been to 3 matches at the Eden and each one was an amazing experience, unfortunately the condition of the stadium does little to generate excitement. It’s rundown, poorly maintained, and the patchwork of construction over the years has left the stadium looking like Architectural Meatloaf.
So it was with great pleasure that we read about a renovation project last year. We tried to get a meeting to discuss ideas we had and see what the opportunities might be for our office. No replies came, no phone calls were returned. Months passed and from time to time, we’d try again. Still nothing. Then I we read in the paper that two firms had presented: the team of VMS & Burt Hill was up against HOK Singapore. We assumed the case was shut and that the project was finally out of reach. Then late on Thursday night, our phone rang. It was the Cricket Association of Bengal. They wanted us to present. In 4 days.
So we got to work putting together a team that had the experience and talent to pull this off and we began piecing together a short presentation on the project and how we might approach it. As Monday evening rolled around we had finalized our team:
REX – New York City
OVE ARUP – Hong Kong Office
TOM LEADER STUDIO – Berkeley, California
SSID Consultants – Hyderabad
CSL International – Minneapolis, Minnesota
We presented to 30 or 40 people that evening and it seemed to be well received. They’ve asked for a complete proposal, which is now in the works from our end, and we expect sometime in early June the project will be awarded. They asked for a complete proposal – including cost/schedule for the components we’re assuming they want to renvoate. We submitted this with a design concept and are now waiting. have learned that Burt Hill has been selected to do the project. Good luck to them, and I hope Kolkata gets a great project.
The School of Planning & Architecture in New Delhi recently held a competition to design their new campus, located on a 20 acre site southwest of the city. We entered and, like the others, are anxiously awaiting the judging – scheduled for next week. It was so easy to envision the emense potential of the project and to empathize with the excitement they must feel now – opening all of these entries, hoping to find “the one.” Of course, I hope we win or at least place, but in the end, I can only appreciate and hope for more “blind” competitions like this. Our name, isn’t out there yet in most corners of India, so to be unknown is to be disregarded in many respects. Whether it’s not trusting our design judgement or wanting that judgement at a substantially reduced fee, not being a 60 year old man or a large corporation has its liabilities.
So we wait. We hope. And start searching for the next opportunity.
Update: Dada Partners wins the SPA competition.
Designers in Kuwait have banded together to set forth a manifesto in hopes of creating a new trajectory of innovation and modernism for a country (Emirate?) that seems to be at an exciting turning point. Whether this becomes a set of ideas to push up against or a strict prescription for how to work, remains to be seen, but the earnestness and passion (frustration?) is evident.
Cynically I think to myself that – sure, it’s Kuwait, it’s easy to get a small population to agree on a few ideas. Try this in India with over 300 times the population! But that’s lazy thinking. Maybe defining a Kolkata School is all that is needed to kick start a movement.
So what would be part of the Kolkata Manifesto?
In January I purchased an iPhone and have spent the last 2 months trying out different apps (mostly free ones) to see how it can assist me in my business. There are relatively few “architecture” specific apps and searching for “architecture, iphone, apps” will get you no where. There are the obvious apps that assist me on a daily basis – Mail, iCal, Contacts, and Calculator – and there are some apps that at first I thought might be useful but never use – the Level app being the most obvious. However, I have found a handful of new apps that have made a nice addition to my workflow.
Omnifocus: For those in the know about GTD and productivity apps, you’ll be aware of this one. I’ve owned the desktop app for some time and bought the iPhone version the same day as my phone. Being able to organize all my projects and “to do” lists and have them in my pocket at all times has become an essential part of my life now.
Files Lite: This is a file reading app that allows me to dump documents and PDFs to view. I put contracts, meeting minutes, drawings, etc in here and always have the ability to double check something without having to haul the drawing set or my laptop everywhere.
Units: This allows me to jump between Metric and Imperial. I was under the assumption when I moved to India that it was Metric country. That’s only half true. The Architecture we do is Metric. The Interiors are Imperial. When you’re doing both – as we often do – it’s a pain in the but. You’re either getting a funky 609.6mm or a 24 1/8”. For a guy who likes to think about these details and how everything nicely fits together… well, I get headaches now. Units helps me keep on top of this transition. The app is a little funky, and a pain to use at times, but I still keep coming back to it.
Evernote: This is a note taking app that allows me to file away precedents, interesting materials, or general research on anything I find on the internet and have it at my fingertips (pocket) on the road.
Also having access to the internet and nice phone is a bonus as well. Having a little computer in your pocket seems like an inevitability in some ways and now that I have it, I’m not letting go.
The typical Time – Cost – Quality Triangle has a new friend that tries to guide you towards personal harmony. The Love – Growth – Cash Triangle can help maximize satisfaction in your chosen career or any project you’re currently working on.