Frank Lloyd Wright - 1926

Yesterday, June 8th, was Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday. Well, it would have been if he was 143 years young.  Of course, I wrote an article over at Examiner.com, but over here, its a little more personal.

I am a big fan of Wright.  Yeah, sure is a great architect and all the world adores him.  By the way, if you don’t like his work, tell me why…I’d like to hear from the dissenters.  For me though, its not just the work or the style – which is undoubtedly beautiful – I love the passion…  Wright had a passion for buildings and the art of building.  Although, he did not have a reputation for being easy to work with.

I have a passion for my chosen profession as well.  I love the business and the art of building…from concept to drawings to construction.  The part I am most passionate about is craftsmanship.  The skill required to properly detail and construct a building is often taken for granted.  Any Joe can cut wood, right?  Yes, but not every Joe can cut wood right…or lay a brick, or weld steel.  I’ll admit, I’m no master carpenter or mason.  My skills are decent and maybe with some practice, I could do better.  But, I am the architect and I respect the craftsman.

The passion for the trades and the art of building is reflected in my approach to project and client management.  The underlying foundation is the desire to have a successful project.  Of course, “successful project” can mean different things to many people…is the client happy…is the architect happy…is the contractor happy?  For me, successful means all of us are in pursuit of the best solution for the project while respecting time and budget.  We all work together and if something can be done better – a detail, schedules, specified material – we all get together, talk about it, and make decisions.

Not everyone has this approach (like Wright), and it has lead to thousands of battles on job sites around the world.  It also generates a lot of stereotypes and destroys relationships.  Bottom line, no one wins.  This is not the way to do business and be satisfied at the end of the day.  Ours is a business built on relationships, not how many conflicts we’ve won.

So, on your next project…consider the guy on the other side of the table and appreciate their perspective.  Everyone will be much better for it, including the project.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Rem Koolhaas

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas was born November 17, 1944 and heads one of the world’s more notable firms, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Koolhaas won the Pritzker Prize in 2000 and the Jury stated, “His architecture is an architecture of essence; ideas given built form. He is an architect obviously comfortable with the future and in close communication with its fast pace and changing configurations. One senses in his projects the intensity of thought that forms the armature resulting in a house, a convention center, a campus plan, or a book. He has firmly established himself in the pantheon of significant architects of the last century and the dawning of this one. For just over twenty years of accomplishing his objectives – defining new types of relationships, both theoretical and practical, between architecture and the cultural situation, and for his contributions to the built environment, as well as for his ideas, he is awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.”

A recent notable structure is the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing.  The building opened in June 2008, just ahead of the Olympic Games.

China Central Television Headquarters