Unchain the Brain

In week eight of the Shattering the Meme novena, we examine the meme of self-limitation.  No matter how much we may say we want change in our lives, we tend to cling white-knuckled to the comfort of the familiar, never realizing how much that is keeping us stuck.

Unconsciously, we believe that we are only allowed a certain measure of success and that anything else is presumptuous.  In our careers, this manifests as a holding back, no matter how unhappy or unfulfilled we might be.  After all, what would your boss think if you said you wanted to own the company one day?  How would a client react if you said at the start of the project that you wanted to have it published?  It is certainly a conditioned response, this self-limitation meme, but did you ever stop to think about what would happen if there were no big thinkers?  We might all still be living hunter-gatherer existences.  It is not presumptuous to think big, it is wasteful to limit yourself.

In our lives we have a total of four resources; time, energy, relationships and money.  Everything we need is acquired by spending one or more of them.  The money thing is pretty self-evident as we live in a cash based economy.  But what about the others?  Well, much as having money wouldn’t do you any good at all if you buried it in the ground and didn’t spend it, you have to spend your other resources in order to enjoy what they can bring into your life as well.  Notice that I said spend not squander and also realize that these four resources are interdependent.  To live at your highest potential you have to understand that these resources (in effect all that you have) must be leveraged by actively investing in the life and career you want to have.

Well, that didn’t work
Failure.  That would mean that we had squandered our big four resources, right?  Wrong.  We operate in such fear of failure that it is easy to forget that it is the only means to success.  Our brain shuts down around the idea of risk-taking, or we dream big, but only at a really fuzzy global level and don’t see how their are opportunities for action all around us that would set us on the path the realizing those dreams.  Part of unchaining your brain from that rock is to cultivate resilience.  Failure of a task or venture is not failure of you as a person.  It simply means that that particular thing did not work out.  You may even be on the right tack and just need to allow for a different variable.  Find out why what you tried didn’t work, make the necessary adjustments and try again.  Even something as big as losing a job or a client does not make you a failure, it simply means that something wasn’t a good fit.  Resist the urge to extrapolate that event to your whole life and let pessimism and “I told you so” limited thinking kick in.  Instead, realize that you always have choices and resources.  Commit to moving forward and take control of the situation instead of being a passive victim.

Kick the “but”
When I work with clients and make suggestions that take them outside of their comfort zone, it is not uncommon to hear the “yes, but...” response.  What they are really saying is that their fear of the unfamiliar is stronger than their desire to succeed.  When you put it like that, all those excuses sound downright silly.  But we don’t very often put our “yes, but...” statements in that context, do we?  Instead, we buy into all of them, we turn our fears into pseudo-facts and talk ourselves right off that ledge.  Did you ever notice the relief you feel in those moments when you can convince yourself NOT to make a bold move?  However, what do you really get by staying stagnant in your life or career?  It’s easy to think that you are conserving your resources of time, energy, relationships and money by playing it safe, but the exact opposite is true.  No matter how much it may cost you to take a risk, think about what it costs you to stay stuck.  Is your energy sapped?  Are you upset all the time?  Do you harbor resentments?  Are you really enjoying and savoring life? 

Stay Curious
Instead of fearing change because you are focussing on what you may lose, think instead about change being the gateway to endless possibilities.  In nature, change is the means of generation.  Do you feel depressed that it is autumn and the leaves are going to fall, or do you enjoy the splendor of the trees cloaked in shades of yellow, red and orange?  You, too are part of the universe and the events in your life are meant to constantly evolve and change. There are cycles of growth. Even when you are in a “winter” it is only in preparation to regenerate again in a “spring.”  Recognizing when your fallow period is related to being stuck or that you are just between leaps evolves cultivating a curiosity and sense of wonderment.  In short, an appreciation of change.  Instead of shutting down your potential with “yes, but...”  reframe that response to say “what if...” and see what happens.  Stay open to all of the possibilities instead of focussing on the problems.

Shatter the Meme:
As human beings, we would be nowhere if we didn’t have a sense of wonderment and the desire to experiment.  It is your birthight to embrace the possibilities that come from a world where change is the only constant.  There is no virtue in limiting yourself and not working to achieve your fullest potential.  Instead, you are wasting your resources and cheating the world out of the opportunity to benefit from what you uniquely have to offer. Let your creativity soar- removing all the obstacles to your time and energy you place in your own way.

Shattering the Meme

For the third annual novena at the Patron Saint of Architecture, I want to help you to see all of the unlimited potential you have and start putting it to work for you.  Novenas are an annual chance to look in-depth at issues that affect how we operate in the world.  In past novenas we looked at how we can truly make a difference in the world, and how to overcome the things that drain our creativity.  This year, we will center around all of the things that we may not even know are holding us back, so that you can shatter those memes and become all that you were meant to be.

Memes, those ideas or beliefs that pervade our culture, are hard to avoid.  Like frogs in the pot, we don’t even know that they’re affecting us, they just seem to be the way it is.  As creative people we are especially susceptible to memes because there’s a certain voodoo around the act of creation.  When your work involves acts for which there is no right answer, you can only respond by evoking memes. The memes of a culture and its expectations, the memes of professional conduct, the memes of what a relationship with a client is supposed to look like.  But what if the meme is wrong? 

We can see the short-term effects of memes in viral internet content.  People get caught up in the topic, idiomatic speech may even be affected.  Then it passes.  Observing these micormemes allows us to see how something can be incredibly relevant due to factors taking place at the moment then pass away like a fad. I want to try to look at metamemes in much the same way.  That’s a lot harder to do.  Even if you can see that there may be something beyond, you might not see why it’s even in your interests to pursue it. 

Live outside the fishbowl
It’s important to realize that memes can operate on two different levels.  The horizontal level is what we absorb from our peers and other surroundings. Those memes can be, but aren’t always, easier to identify.  The more insidious memes are the ones that operate on a vertical level through cultural inheritance.  It’s what you learned about the culture of your profession from your professors and mentors, what your employers and co-workers have enforced, even what your parents thought.  If memes are all around us and have helped to form our beliefs about who we are and what’s possible in our lives and careers, that means we are not necessarily aware of them.  In this nine week series, we are going to bust through some common memes and shatter all of the limitations they hold.  I warn you, this will be both challenging and scary.  Your first reaction will be to disagree, but I ask you to sit with it and really think about why you might be unwilling to question a given issue.  We may not arrive at the same idea for shattering it, but just the realization that there could be a different approach is powerful.

Change the Equation
Believe it or not, most of us live our lives as if everything we encounter were a basic algebra problem.  We use the formulas we know to solve for x (ex. 6 + x = 10).  Unfortunately, solving for x means you have used a meme to eliminate the other variables, in our example that would be the number six or even the outcome, the number 10.  This very straightforward approach to problem solving often causes us to have tunnel vision about achieving outcomes.  If you have ever become frustrated about why you could be doing “all the right things” and still not get the desired outcome, you know what I am talking about.  I want to challenge you to think of things in a different way:  what do you really want the outcome to be?  Not the outcome you think you should achieve, but the one you really want.  Then, work backwards to see how you could achieve it.  Allow there to be more variables and less givens about the situation.  Use a little calculus, or even some differential equations.

Enter the World of Innovative Transformation
Innovative transformation is about challenging yourself to have a game-changing response to the opportunities in your life, instead of your automatic one.  How often do you start a new project the same way you start every other project?  I’m willing to bet you have all kinds of reasons why this is the best or only way to approach things.  You might be open to tweaking your process, but probably feel resistant to throwing it out wholesale.  But what if you did?  Silence all those limiting beliefs and just think about that.  What could happen?  Now think about all of the little things, the small and large decisions you make every single day.  Instead of making them on auto-pilot, start being conscious of them, and start asking yourself what assumptions are tied up in your typical actions.  Change your thinking and change your life.

For the next eight posts, I’m going to present common metamemes that we all deal with and give you strategies for looking at them in a whole different way.  I hope you’ll share your thoughts and experiences as you work to shatter each one.  The Patron community supports you and I know that you are unlimited.

Feast Day 2013: You are Unlimited

Today the Patron Saint of Architecture celebrates three years of helping bring inspiration and creativity to the forefront of what we do as architects.  What started as a personal need to affirm that architecture could and should be so much more than the professional opportunities that I was experiencing has now become a worldwide network of people who share that same purpose.  Each year, I build on the original intent and expand the content offerings; going from this blog to a facebook page, Pinterest account and, in this past year, a book.  As I challenge myself to experiment with new media and outreach efforts, I hope to not only build a community of creatives, but to encourage all of us to stretch outside of our comfort zone. 

I’ve come to realize that the comfort zone is a pretty deceptive place.  It’s what we know.  So we operate within a set of self-imposed constraints that limit our thinking about what’s possible.  Many of these constraints come from our education and professional experiences, and have permeated our understanding about what it means to practice architecture.  That’s why this year’s novena will be Shattering the Meme.  We’ll spend nine weeks exploring things about the profession of architecture that we just assume “have” to be that way and work to stop accepting the limiting premise of each one. 

In conjunction with this novena, I am launching my first ever series of teleclasses.  Based on my book, Career Crisis, which launched in April, the teleclasses begin next week with a free introductory session.  I am excited to bring the theme of applying your passion and purpose meaningfully to your career alive in an interactive way.  It’s one thing to read something, but nothing compares to actually being able to work through issues in a more direct way.  As architects, we often feel that we can and should be able to do it all, from graphic design to marketing to management, so it is natural for us to  think we can be our own coaches as well.  But coaching by its very nature is not a DIY endeavor. A coach can help you to understand your unique situation in a whole different way.  You need someone to encourage you to think beyond what you think is possible and challenge you achieve things that you really want (because that's the scary stuff you won't ever push yourself to do).  Someone who will tell you when you are allowing yourself to get distracted by being “too busy”  or when you are losing focus. 

You can begin to experience what it's like to work with a coach in the teleclasses, where we will spend an hour on each career theme and also do some individual “laser coaching,” where I will take questions from participants and provide targeted advice live on the call. 

If you want more, you can always work with me one on one in my career coaching program, which is a three week long intensive process.  I’m also pleased to announce a new coaching offering this year:  I Need a Quickie is specifically tailored to architects who really want to seek out coaching, but are still afraid to invest in themselves in this way.  While nowhere near as intensive as a coaching program, this new offering will let you buy an hour of one on one time with me to talk about career issues important to you.  I’m hoping that by offering this bridge to coaching, many of you will see how valuable it really is to work with me or another coach to up your game.  Wherever you are in your career, however much or little you have accomplished, you can always set your sights higher and achieve even more. 

We kicked off last year with the Change the World Novena, where I profiled architects who have taken it upon themselves to make the world a better place through the built environment.  Many of you viewed those architects as people who were somehow different from you.  You thought, “What they’re doing is great, but I can’t do that.  Who am I to think I can change the world?”  This year I’m not accepting that excuse- you are a gifted, creative, person, or you wouldn’t be an architect.  Who are you not to use that talent?  Get unstuck and shatter all those memes that are convincing you otherwise!

Avoiding the Architecture of Fear

Wow.  My post on the limiting beliefs of architects grew legs, stood, up and ran out the door. It was being chased.  While I never expect that readers of my blog will agree with me wholesale, reactions to this post fell very strongly into two camps.  The camp that agreed with me and said "Right on,  we need to overcome these limiting beliefs," made me feel that I had written about a meaningful and timely topic.  The camp that threw cold water on the very premise of the post confirmed it.  I noticed a very specific pattern that emerged among the naysayers.  It was fear.  Fear of being irrelevant,  seen as extravagant or uncooperative by clients.  It is this very fear that is being manifested as a reality in our profession.  Therefore, I have taken these comments, condensed them into some major themes around fear and share them with you today.  Since most of the discussion was generated on the American Institute of Architects Linked In Group, you can visit this page if you want to see the comments and discussion chain firsthand.

Fear: I will play into their worst stereotype
This one is tricky because no one wants to be typecast as the black clad ideologue with funky glasses who is using their client as a vehicle for their own artistic license.  Many comments I received were concerned that architects are our own worst enemy and that by pursuing a higher level of design, we were alienating our clients, showing them that we weren't listening to them and running up the costs.  It wouldn't be a stereotype if there were not some grains of truth here, mostly born out by Starchitects and their wannabes.  However,  being an advocate for solving the right problem and innovative solutions instead of being a waitress is not the same as being out of touch.  If anything, it shows you are more in touch and are providing the service they hired you to perform, instead of being a rubber  stamp.

Good design is too expensive, or too risky
Maybe it's because the design magazines are filled with examples of exotic materials and systems.  Maybe it's  because we don't really believe that you can be creative on a budget.  I was astounded at the number of people who lashed out at the very idea of bringing a higher level of design to their projects.  It truly saddened me to see architects with the mindset of a low level developer, believing that they were  providing value to their clients by delivering the staus quo.  Rather than meeting client expectations for adequacy, meet their expectations for a truly amazing space that meets needs they were heretofore afraid to state. Good design is carefully considered and responsive, and can absolutely be done with basic materials and on a budget with only the premium of creativity on your part.  A better thing to consider is how much you are paying to play it safe and add to the already bulging inventory of unremarkable buildings.

The profession can't afford this
Talk about fear-based thinking.  These commenters thought they were taking the high road by adopting a lofty, philosophical position about risk management and responsible architecture.  No wonder our profession is struggling.  What a limiting mindset to meekly take a backseat,  hoping to just be of some usefulness.  This only buys into a developer driven mentality and frankly, shows you already believe that architects are obsolete.  What the profession cannot afford is a bunch of synchophants who are afraid to be creative.  I had to chuckle that the most controversial comment in my post was a quote, "If you know it will work, it isn't creative,"from Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.  This quote to me captures the very essence of creativity: being unafraid to take on a new challenge, to think outside of the box, to stop recycling ideas from past projects.  Isn't this what our profession needs most?  Yet, many took that comment to mean that taking a risk meant abandoning functionality.  True, form should follow function, but how to best house that function is what the act of creating architecture is all about.  It's called a practice because it is an experiment.  Otherwise, we are just drafters.

To me, these fears underline the reason so many of us feel we are in a career crisis.  We have accepted the premise that we are lucky to have work and therefore we had better not rock the boat.  We are playing it so safe that it becomes doubtful that we are actually producing architecture at all.  I can empathize with my post-dissenters because I have worked for firms that propagated these fears and the limiting beliefs that spawn them.  I felt completely demoralized in my work during those years because I felt like I was not making anybody better as a result of the projects being produced in these conditions.

There is a better way and I have made it my mission to help other architects find it.  You can choose to follow along with my blog posts and facebook community, but if you are looking to get on the path to career transformation, you need to look at a more immersive experience.  I invite you to consider one on one career coaching, or to take part in my new telesminar series.  Based on my book, Career Crisis, the teleseminars will explore themes of finding your passion, understanding where you are in the creative cycles of your life,  and how to best position yourself to work in the way that is most fulfilling to you.  It is time to stop practicing an architecture of fear and move forward into producing meaningful, enriching spaces that allow us to work at our highest creative potential.

The Limiting Beliefs of Architects

As a profession dedicated to making our clients’ vision a reality, we do a lousy job of realizing our

vision for our own careers. Maybe that’s because so few architects have taken the time to have a career vision. They think they do, because they have embraced the thinking of their teachers, mentors, co-workers and friends. It’s a surprisingly pessimistic and monolithic point of view for a profession that prides itself on its creativity. As I was working on my book, and thinking about my career coaching sessions over the last few years, I realized time and again how much of the problem we have in getting fulfillment from our careers comes from limiting beliefs. These beliefs are so deeply a part of our “architect culture” that we don’t even recognize them. I teach people how to realize their passion, and the biggest challenge I encounter when working with them are these experiential lessons which are reinforced throughout our careers unless we break the pattern:

Competition is the path to success
We are primed from our days in the studio during college to compete with one another. To believe that there is a winner, and by default, losers. The RFP and interview process underscore this idea, leading firms to undercut one another in a race to the bottom. This commoditizes our work, which causes the design process and resulting building to have less value to both the client and society as a whole. It is a mindset of lack, believing that there is only so much pie to go around, and we better do whatever it takes to get our piece. It leads us to settle for less than we deserve in terms of compensation and design effort, to focus on bringing service instead of true innovation.
Danger of this belief: you feel your time has no value.
Overcome it by thinking differently about what you do and why. Don’t accept the premise of winners and losers, instead focus on the unexpressed needs you see in the situation and how you are uniquely qualified to meet them.

It’s fame or shame
I recently read an article by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, where he makes the incredibly profound statement, “If you know it will work it isn’t creative.” How many firms actually embrace a culture of experimentation? Even the ones that do have a pretty low threshold for failure. No one thinks that a scientist working in the lab on experiment after experiment, each result building on the knowledge to improve the next experiment is a loser because it may take years, even decades to discover something. But in our “creative” profession, we grovel with our tail between our legs whenever the client or contractor finds fault with us. Paradoxically, we are always looking for the project and opportunity that will be our “big break,” while secretly stewing over the successes of our competition.
Danger of this belief: you are afraid to take risks.
Overcome it by taking a step back from the everyday steps in the process and start to look at the big picture. Ask why not more often and don’t be afraid to have, then fully vet, big ideas.

Being provocative means you are smart
No, it likely means you’re an out of touch pompous ass, who’s had a few brilliant ideas. Our “upbringing” as architects tends to reward those who are unconventional just for the sake of being unconventional. Maybe because we buy into that fame or shame mentality so much. The provocateur is usually trying to overcome the conditioned risk adversity by putting so much out there that people will start to feel that they are unenlightened clods trapped in conventional thinking if they shut down the ideas. Unfortunately, this approach only reinforces a negative stereotype and is rooted less in a willingness to help people think differently about their needs than it is about the provocateur’s desire to get attention.
Danger of this belief: solving the problem is not as important to you as making a statement.
Overcome it by investing more insight into your effort. I believe that big ideas are not only important but necessary. However, the idea needs to have relevance to the situation at hand and be tied to solving a problem. Even more important the big idea needs to feel inclusive and allow others on the design or user group team to build upon it.

You can’t get rich and be an architect
Oh, look how hard you’re working, you poor burned out thing. Procrastinating out of exhaustion until the rush of adrenaline at the eleventh hour gives you that flash of brilliance you need to triumphantly complete the task. This reinforces a competitive culture, where burning the candle at both ends is a badge of honor. There is a kind of nobility in being the misunderstood artiste engaged in a valiant fight against the system. The truth: All nighters were a bad idea back in school and they are an even worse idea once you enter the working world. Vision and clarity don’t visit the exhausted. What’s more, if you are working long, crazy hours, you likely are going off on your own instead of collaborating.
Danger of this belief: you believe that individual effort matters more than collaboration
Overcome it by working smarter. Engage your team both in and out of house. If someone else can do a task even 80% as well as you can, it’s worth delegating it to them. Be a mentor and seek out mentors of your own. You don’t have to do this alone, and the end result will be better than if you burn yourself out trying.

Our profession desperately needs to become a lot more introspective. We need to reposition ourselves for the future like we mean it if we want the relevance we so desperately claim to seek. So as you look over these limiting beliefs (and we are all guilty of all of them to some degree), ask yourself, “what’s holding you back?”
For a more in depth look at how you are limiting yourself and strategies to fearlessly pursue the career you really want, check out Career Crisis.  Let me know what you think and how it helps you unbind your creativity.

What’s your Mountain?

How is being an architect like scaling Mount Everest?  I always read accounts of climbers with a sort of sick fascination, part of me wondering what would ever possess anyone to take on this task.  You can’t even see very far from that high up, and your body is so ravaged by the lack of oxygen and extreme cold that you can’t hang out up there and enjoy it.  As someone who is not athletic and is proud of myself that I attend yoga class three times a week, I don’t have a refined appreciation for the physical.  Especially an extreme sport like mountain climbing. I didn’t see the appeal of putting your life on hold for nearly a year to train, then scale this mountain.  Why, why, I thought would anyone risk their life like this?  Why would they make themselves so uncomfortable, put their bodies through such a grueling experience?  I recently read Mark Inglis’s story of how he scaled Mt. Everest as a double amputee. Mark’s account helped me to see that it was about more than just the ego. 

It’s easy to take the concept of scaling Everest as a totally literal pursuit.  The man vs. nature plot at its finest.  But that would be getting it wrong.  You don’t climb the mountain to conquer the mountain.  You climb to conquer yourself. It’s about setting a challenge and devoting yourself single-mindedly to meeting that challenge with every resource of your physical, mental and spiritual being.  If you are going to climb Everest, you cannot let anything stand in your way, especially not yourself.  You clear out your life to train and then make the climb.  And then you let go, you work with, not against the mountain.  You respect its seasons, weather patterns and above all the advice of your guides.  Depending on the year, you may not make it up and the fact that by waiting, you live to make the attempt another time has to be enough.

So back to life as an architect.  What’s your Everest?  What big goal do you have that you would devote yourself to achieve?  What matters so much to who you are that you will make the time and the space to realize it?  If you don’t know, or came up with some wimpy goal like “get a promotion,” you are not alone.  Maybe just thinking along these lines made you feel slightly depressed because your career is so NOT going the way you hoped it would.  You may even be rolling your eyes right now and thinking that having a goal as big as yourself is as ridiculous as it is unattainable.

I’m here to tell you that it’s not.  You can have a career that is life-affirming because it reinforces your sense of purpose in this world.  But first, you have to be deeply in touch with what that purpose is.  You have to have a personal mission statement and a plan that includes steps you can do today that align you with that purpose.  You have to clear away all the fears and all of the rationalizations that are holding you back.  Like the mountain climber, you have to eliminate all the waster activities in your professional life that are not directly moving you towards your goals. 
As a reader of this blog, you aren’t content to have just an average career.  You want to make a difference.  You want to operate as an inspiration to the world.  And I want to help you get there.  In addition to my blog posts, I offer career coaching services that allow you to work with me one on one on your individual career quest.  I’m also so excited to announce that I will very shortly be publishing my first book, Career Crisis.  This book contains many of the strategies I use with my coaching clients, but it let’s you use my techniques and act as your own coach.  It’s not very long on purpose because it’s not meant to dictate, but to guide you.  You have to do the work, but if you do, I promise you’ll be amazed at the transformation you see in your career and in your life.

Find your career mountain and know that you can get to the top.  Get ready to challenge yourself to your greatest potential, to concentrate your efforts to a single purpose, to push through hardships, and finally, to stand up on that summit and say, “Yes, yes, I did it!”

Phoenix Rising

In week nine of our novena, we explore Phoenix, AZ, which is in the process of transforming itself from suburbia on steroids to a more urban model, without losing its historyor quirky character in the process.

Our last stop on this year’s novena is my former home town of Phoenix, AZ.  As a city that experienced its boom after the widespread availability of the automobile, Phoenix is synonymous with sprawl.  Inner city neighborhoods arrange themselves in a ring of concentric circles, representing the insatiable desire to annex land.  In some ways this paid off for the city- they didn’t lose their tax base to “urban flight” as older cities in the east, but all this growth of questionable sustainability was built upon a central city that was slowly rotting from within.  During my time in Phoenix, I saw serious efforts to de-suburbanize the thinking of citizens and promote density;  a successful campaign for a light rail transit system, more progressive measures for mixed used and transit-oriented development and for creating neighborhood overlay districts to promote the character of existing neighborhoods looking to revitalize. 

Distinctive sun shades and public art mark each Metro stop

Transit in a large sprawling city is challenging at best, so instead of supporting density, this project had to be used to drive density.  While I was involved with the new General Plan  which included transit oriented development, I relocated to Cleveland before getting to see its implementation.  Phoenix City Councilman Tom Simplot and architect Luis Peris catch us up on Phoenix’s quest to combat sprawl with density and strategically revitalize core neighborhoods. They represent two distinctively different points of view- Tom comes from a real estate background and is a long-time active resident (we served together on the Housing and Neighborhoods Commission with back in the late ’90’s), while Luis is an architect, artist and engineer who relocated to Phoenix in recent years, and proceeded to become a highly engaged community member.

Both feel that  the opening of METRO light rail has been the single biggest physical change in Phoenix in the last five years. “First and foremost, it has changed the overall look of central Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa,” says the Councilman.  “The signature shade sails and public art at each station bring a unique identity to the line. The light rail provides reliable and accessible transportation for commuters and leisure riders alike, and ridership has surpassed all projections. It has also spurred economic development in the central core, leading to more jobs, accessible housing and a wider tax base that sustains essential city services. Light rail will continue to positively impact Phoenix and the Valley as extensions are built and the system connects even more communities. We can lessen any negative impacts by involving the community in the planning process, and by keeping light rail trains clean, safe and secure.”  Luis concurs, adding that “The full impact to the community is yet to be realized as unfortunately it began service right at the onset of the recession.  Many of the businesses displaced or even stressed by the construction did not survive and it is only recently that enough new development along the light rail corridor is starting to take place; to great success and eagerness from the neighborhoods.  Continued expansion of the light rail system would be needed in order to have true city-wide impact from a public transportation and neighborhood redevelopment point of view.”

Of course, transit has come with its challenges. “[Phoenix’s] ridiculously large geographical expanse renders any significant urban density difficult to attain, observes Luis. “I wouldn't call it the ‘worst quality,’ but a real opportunity for growth in Phoenix is [to move away from] the overall reliance on vehicles, adds the Councilman. “In the central core, the light rail and increased bike lanes have helped to lessen the car-centric culture, but there is still more to be done. The community has demonstrated a strong desire for pedestrian improvements and bike lanes. As a matter of fact, on any given Saturday, you will see couples and families riding bicycles around their central Phoenix neighborhoods, grabbing a cup of coffee or just enjoying the scenery. I am working with my colleagues to incorporate more bike lanes in the central core to increase our pedestrian friendliness and lessen our dependence on cars.”

So what can other cities learn from the Phoenix experience with cultivating urbanism via transit?

Engaging the community is critical
“Truly, the best quality of Phoenix is community,” says the Councilman. “Phoenicians are very engaged, not just in City dealings but in their neighborhoods, schools and individual interests, as well. Phoenicians are receptive to positive change, and just as importantly, they want to be involved in the process of making that change. The City of Phoenix has numerous boards and commissions - they are all filled with residents and business-owners who believe in, and care about, our community. It is very uplifting to see this dedication, which is a real driver for the improvements made in our City. We are lucky to have a very active and engaged public. Having said that, I believe there are always ways to reach out to more residents. As an elected official, part of my responsibility is to continuously invite community members to participate in the government that represents them. Social media has been a huge driver in engaging new folks because it provides a direct, personal connection in a format that people are comfortable with.” 

Luis adds, “Grassroots developments always carry more staying power.  No artificially regulated rezoning/redevelopment can ever take place with the inhabitants of that area becoming fully involved and vested.”

Keep it real by leveraging existing neighborhoods and districts
Both Luis and the Councilman cited revitalization of Phoenix's inner city neighborhoods (and the corresponding increase in density) as examples of recent urban victories.  “The most successful neighborhood transformation in District 4 over the last 9 years has been the revitalization of the Melrose District,” notes the Councilman. The area on 7th Avenue, from Indian School to Camelback Rd, was marred by vacant buildings, crime and transients. With the tremendous work of SAMA (Seventh Avenue Merchant's Association), City support and overall collaboration among all interested parties, we can clearly see a vibrant stretch of thriving independent businesses, a flourishing LGBT community and unique, urban character....not to mention an annual street fair that brings out 20,000+ people!”

Luis mentions the Roosevelt Row Arts District neighborhood redevelopment program as one of the neighborhood redevelopment success stories.  “Although it is still young and it’s growth has been slow, again partly due to the current economic conditions in the city.  Interestingly enough, the ASU Downtown Campus is also growing, in a less organic, more structured/institutional way, to the point that both districts are closing the gap between them slowly.  That is truly exciting, as neither could encompass enough momentum by itself, so it is one of those 'unite and conquer' moments in the city with quite strange bedfellows.”

“Not only has ASU brought thousands of students downtown,” observes the Councilman, “New City projects like Civic Space Park and the CityScape development are encouraging these students to stay downtown after classes. New dorms are bringing hundreds of residents to the central city to live, study and play. On any given day, you can see young people walking from the Taylor Place dorms to study at the restored A.E. England building or play sports in the grass under the 'Her Secret is Patience' sculpture. The most exciting part about this plan is that it only has begun. Soon we will see the post office across from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism building transformed into a student union and new construction all around Downtown Phoenix to build up ASU's campus. This collaboration has taken dedication, teamwork and shared vision between ASU and the City of Phoenix, and the results have been amazing.”

Forge community partnerships to get things done
“Strong partnerships between the community and the government are essential to achieving win-win outcomes,” the Councilman stressed. “The City of Phoenix has a number of boards and commissions that advise the City Council on issues like parks, land use and public safety. Even the city budget is heavily influenced by public input. Residents and business owners intimately know the issues that affect them on a day to day basis, and policymakers can undoubtedly benefit from their input. I strongly believe it is important to include community members in decision making, and I will continue to work with grass roots groups to reach consensus.”  Luis mentions another, less “official” undertaking that demonstrates the willingness of average citizens to make a difference in their community, “One of the best examples in Phoenix is the Valley of the Sunflowers project, that has proven successful at utilizing empty lots downtown for crops despite of city and private developer delays.  It is very much a community driven effort that relies on the resilient quality of grassroots leaders to navigate the bureaucratic quagmire.”  He goes on to add, “[the residents of Phoenix] not only have a voice but a presence; physical as it needs to be.  Great beliefs are much more compelling and their energy more contagious than any regulatory measures.  We need the regulatory support to ensure proper legal execution, but the compelling concepts are the driving force.”  The Councilman agrees. “Absolutely, I know for a fact they do. Along with Mayor Greg Stanton and my colleagues on the City Council, I value the insight and suggestions of the residents of Phoenix.”

To continue the trajectory of transformational change, both men point again to the light rail system.  “A crazy increase in the reach of the light rail,” Luis states. “Even to the cities that snubbed it like Scottsdale, so that Greater Phoenix can be a city for all its citizens, not just the privileged few.”  The Councilman has a similar, if not more pragmatic approach. “The next transformational change in Phoenix will stem from economic development along the Camelback corridor. METRO light rail has positively impacted downtown Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa, but the Camelback corridor been slow to follow the trend. I fully believe this area is ripe for growth, and I am confident that this growth will compliment the unique neighborhoods in the area. I am currently collaborating with community members, business owners and city officials to focus attention and resources in this area. The goal is to revitalize an important stretch of Camelback road and to continue the spectacular transformation that has positively impacted the rest of the light rail line.”

Like its namesake, Phoenix is rebirthing itself as it has many times in its history.  Still, as it goes for a more urban feel, it holds on to many of the qualities that have made it a place that people go to to escape big cities. “When friends and family visit from other cities, they are always impressed the cleanliness of our city,” says the councilman. “Both the government and the residents of Phoenix are dedicated to having a clean, livable city. The city of Phoenix has a zero tolerance policy on graffiti, and we even have a staff team known as "Graffiti Busters" who paint it out on streets, freeways and buildings. This level of commitment by an active and engaged population makes Phoenix an ideal--and clean--place to live!”  Yet, as I found in my years spent living there, the real Phoenix lies beneath the surface, in the wonderful collection of places you discover over time. 

Luis muses, “I have yet to find out what is memorable about Phoenix from a wordly point of view.  It cannot be the crazy out-of-control urban sprawl.  Nor its (lack of) unified cultural life.  Actually, what makes Phoenix unique is the widespread downtown, or distributed downtown, concept. So it is very much a city a la carte, a dim sum of city life spread through many miles of desert.  It is my understanding that twenty years ago Phoenix was quite a different city.  The last financial boom, which preceded this most recent recession, brought significant wealth that combined with cheap abundant real estate created a proliferation of development expanding outward.”  This time that expansion is centered right on the heart of the city, a concept that leads Luis to conclude, “On a good day I feel Phoenix, the fifth largest in the nation, is a city of unified fragments.  However, on a bad day I feel like it is more of a fragmented unity…”

Tom Simplot was first elected to the Phoenix City Council in 2003 In January 2009, he was unanimously voted by his fellow council members to serve as Vice Mayor.  Simplot’s primary goals for representing District 4 are fighting crime, protecting small businesses and preserving the character of neighborhoods.  He also believes residents can reclaim their neighborhoods with the help of city services, and encourages the development of the arts and culture community within the city’s central core. He has worked with community groups to bring more attention to the city’s west side and to capitalize on the arts and business potential of downtown. As a longtime resident of Phoenix, Councilman Simplot has been active in the community for years. He served as the president of the Maricopa County Board of Health and the Maricopa County Industrial Development Authority. He also served as chair of the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission, vice-chair of the Phoenix Encanto Village Planning Committee and a member of the Phoenix Housing Commission, among other boards and commissions. Currently, Simplot serves as chairman of the METRO Board of Directors and on the board of a community-based social service agency, Valle del Sol.  He also serves as a member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee.  Simplot currently serves on the following three City Council subcommittees:  Transportation & Infrastructure; Housing & Neighborhoods; and Seniors, Families & Youth. He also hosts Metro Matters, on Phoenix 11 TV. In addition to his post on the Phoenix City Council, Simplot is the president of the Arizona Multi-housing Association and is an attorney and licensed realtor.

Luis Peris, AIA, PE, LEED AP is an advocate for making neighborhoods more livable one building at a time, one park at a time, his work focusses on establishing new models of performance and critically reprogramming spaces to enhance the human experience. He is the owner of LuPe Design, where he promotes architecture and design with an urban flair. As an architect, engineer and artist, he pursues seamless multidisciplinary integration of projects. This has allowed him to serve a variety of roles throughout his career, from wind-tunnel controls design engineer for NASA Glenn Research Center, to project architect for a downtown San Francisco large mixed-use development, to preservation architect for the Cleveland Museum of Art.  Luis is an instructor in Daylighting Strategies for the Sonoran Sustainable Building Advisor Program, past Board Member of AIA Central Phoenix, and Chairman of the Committee on the Environment (COTE) for AIA Central Arizona.  He is also a member of the Education Committee for the Central Arizona Society for Healthcare Engineers (CASHE).  His art spans from photography to metalworking, sometimes involving the creation of custom sculptures and architectural pieces for clients.

Like They Used To: Craftsmanship, Sustainability and Design

In week eight of the Change the World novena, the spotlight shines on the art of making, asking what appreciation of craft and quality can do for creating unique memorable, and lasting neighborhoods.

When you analyze what’s great about the great cities of the world, it often comes down to a collection of neighborhoods or districts that provide a set of experiences that we want to seek out again and again.  That’s what the average person knows.  What they can never quite put their finger on is what specific ingredients went into the strange brew that is their favorite place.  Architects, designers, planners and developers have a little more insight.  We know that it’s all about placemaking, from the scale of the buildings, to the style of architecture, to the quality and texture of the public space, often “branded” by public art or unique street furniture.  But in the end, aren’t we just creating an elaborate stage set?  Sometimes with backgrounds and props so contrived and phony, so generically designed to appeal (think you average lifestyle center or planned community) that we end up with the opposite of someplace- we get anyplace.

It’s once thing to rail against self-contained development bubbles, quite another when

Details from the building to be
adaptively reused for industrial arts

that approach is applied to a historic neighborhood.  "It's important to engage the historic context," observes Brad Cooper, one of my colleagues at GBBN Architecture. A lifelong resident of Cincinnati, OH, it took his two years spent away at graduate school for him to realize how much his hometown was evolving.  "Architecture school pushes you to think about the built environment in a different way," he observed.  The most positive change he found was that more people were moving back to the inner city.  This larger population made once dangerous neighborhoods safer, which further encouraged the development of live, work and play opportunities.  "People's comfort with being in these neighborhoods made the city itself sustainable, however, getting investment is still a challenge.  The investment that does occur can be of poor quality, with a focus on new being better.  There is still a perception of Cincinnati's core as being an old city.  Getting more people interested [in historic neighborhoods] will provide more stakeholders and more 'peer pressure' for greater revitalization."   But it has to be the right kind.  Brad's urban design philosophy has been inspired by Matthew B. Crawford's Shop Class as Soulcraft book, in which the author makes the point that over the years, people value craft less because they don't know how things are made.  Especially when dealing with historic districts, "You realize that the infill projects can't begin to match the quality or integrity of the historic buildings," he says.  In order to heighten architectural appreciation, Brad feels that it is critical to build awareness of the value of the old buildings contained in Cincinnati's historic downtown neighborhoods such as Over the Rhine, which is one of the largest intact urban historic districts in the United States.   What has earned Brad a place in this Change the World series is the steps he took next.

Fresh out of graduate school, he started work on a business plan. Brad realized that, while in school, students have access to wood and metal fabrication shops, but that that resource is cut off upon graduation.  There is also a dearth of skilled craftspeople.  He decided that providing the resource of rentable shop space could be combined with urban revitalization of abandoned industrial space. He focused on Over the Rhine (OTR) for it's historic character as well as the art of its craft of is celebrated industries.  "One of Cincinnati's strong suits is its diversity of neighborhoods, in part due to the hilly topography.  I thought that engaging OTR could be fantastic and help make this neighborhood part of the city's modern identity." What emerged was the LIVE•MAKE project, an industrial arts center and business incubator that will provide housing and workshops, maker-in-resident studios (aka master craftspeople), light manufacturing studios and retail storefronts.  When you  are an intern architect without millions in the bank account, this might seem like a dream destined for the back burner.  But Brad tapped into the resources available to him in the community.  He contacted the Hamilton County Development Company and talked with them about their business incubator model.  He researched other apprenticeship, leasable workshop and redevelopment through the arts programs like TechShop, Maker Works, and Ponyride.  He met with the OTR Community Council to pitch the project and learn about site availability.  Then, he partnered with AIA Cincinnati and the Over the Rhine Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation to launch a design competition for the project that will include adaptive reuse of a historic industrial building.  Currently in the jury phase, the entries are being reviewed by international design leaders as well as leaders in Cincinnati politics.  In January of 2013, a series of community choice events will allow neighborhood residents, developers and other interested parties to vote on their favorite project.

If you live in the Cincinnati area, put January 11th, 2013 6-9 pm @ A359 Partners in Architecture16 East 12th St.  Cincinnati, OH 45202 or January 25th, 2013 6-9pm @ Losantiville Design Collective1311 Main Street  Cincinnati, OH 45202 on your calendar.  

Finally, winners will be exhibited in a gallery show that will coincide with the Cincinnati Maker Faire in the spring of 2013.  Brad hopes that by generating awareness and excitement for this type of project that he can then work to assemble funding.

"The idea of leaving the world a better place than I found it has always been a guiding principle for me," he says.  "Architects need to be more involved in civic projects.  OTR has a lot of residential buildings and promoting homeownership is important to its revitalization.  The LIVE•MAKE space will become a resource for home improvement projects as well as a source for some of the artisans that people will need to hire to restore their spaces."  He's hoping that the party-like atmosphere that will exist at the community choice events will draw crowds and encourage everyone to voice an opinion.  "If you want to engage people in architecture, you have to make it fun." The first step of community engagement took place during archiNATI, Cincinnati's annual architecture week celebration.  Brad worked to get a grant from the  The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation to tour the empty old brewery buildings.  "There is so much abandoned manufacturing space.  I'm interested in finding adaptive re-use for these high quality structures," Brad notes.  "There is such a difference in the attention to detail in the way things were built and manufactured then vs. now."  Looking ahead five years or so, where does he hope to see his LIVE•MAKE dream?  "I want people to say that there has been a building constructed that matches or exceeds the quality of design and construction of its historic context."

Bradley Cooper is currently a junior designer at GBBN Architects in Cincinnati. He attained his undergraduate degree from the the University of Cincinnati (B.S. in Architecture) and his Masters of Architecture from Taubman College at the University of Michigan. His thesis work, Accuulate, Curate, is featured in Dimensions 25. Bradley is on the Steering Committee for ArchiNATI and is an avid homebrewer.

Superheroes of the Built World

Last week, I took trapeze lessons.  A group of co-workers have taken on a challenge to do extreme sports activities over the course of the year and sent an email inviting others to join.  I could not hit reply fast enough- what an adventure!  When I got up on that platform, my inner daredevil took over and it was beyond thrilling.  I only regret that I do not have the body of an acrobat, and thus could not do things like a catch and release (but I tried, I tried).  After I develop more core strength, I will go back again in the hopes of successfully completing this stunt.  My four year old self is begging for the opportunity. You see, this was a childhood fantasy come true; I loved going to the circus and, next to the clowns, the acrobats were my favorite. I wanted to be one when I grew up, causing my mother some bit of consternation. While I did pursue gymnastics lessons though high school, I never competed and by the time I was eight or so, I had abandoned my dream career in the circus for being an astrophysicist, then a teacher, then an artist, only finding my way to architecture late in high school. My time on the trapeze got me thinking about what our childhood fantasy careers are really trying to tell us about who we are.

One thing they don’t tell us is to play it safe

Children crave the action oriented, things that serve an obvious purpose with a touch of adventure thrown in. They don’t dream of hours spent in mind-numbing meetings, being heckled by a bullying boss or playing office politics.  They don’t fantasize about the drudgery of overtime because of over-promised deadlines.  They most certainly do not aspire to being awarded some silly title that will pigeon-hole them into a constrained set of roles.  In fact, if you were to present any of these dismal (but all too real) scenarios to a child, they would respond by proposing some bold brash action to put the perpetrator of such misery in his or her place.

This visceral response, commonly echoed in comics, and even some movies, allows the hero to stand up for him or herself, indulging in the supreme satisfaction of defeating evil, telling off an annoying person, double crossing a backstabber  or ceremoniously walking away from oppressive expectations like a toxic job or relationship.  Many times this is coupled with  a physical act- literally vanquishing life’s villain.  We can’t legally do many of these things in real life, so we bury our frustrations and resign ourselves to our fate.  Kapow!  That’s the sound of me smacking you upside the head (virtually of course).  When you feel the urge to be resigned is when you should resign - literally - from whatever is oppressing your ability to be great.  Reconnect with your childhood self and your innermost passions- in other words, look beyond the ordinary career path.

What would Wonder Woman do?
As a child, you truly believed you could change the world.  What you may not realize is that you still can.  You don’t have to accept less than your expectations.  In career paths laden with compromise and nuance, our purpose gets lost.  This is a creativity buzzkill to say the least.  Choose to embark on a more adventurous route:

Lead a double life
No, you don’t need to have a secret identity (unless you want to), but you do need to have more than one dimension.  You can deal with the sometimes mundane aspects involved in being Diana Prince when you know that as Wonder Woman, you are saving the world.  Many times when I talk to someone who is frustrated in their career, they usually work at their job and that’s about it.  They have become flattened, so the consequences of the day to day effort involved in a project or interpersonal business relationships become all consuming.  If you have lost perspective in this way, you need to look for opportunities to live your passion outside of your job.  Volunteer in the community, apply to be a member of a board or commission- do something else that matters to you to expand your network.  It might seem counter-intuitive, but when you expose yourself to fun and inspiring activities (like trapezing), you actually become better at solving workplace problems and making career choices.

Be a hero
You are an architect, so why isn’t your city better?  People on the street may not cry out for help like they do in comic books, but it’s not very heroic of you to keep ignoring obvious need.  Heroes don’t let a purse snatcher get away because they’d rather wait for their archenemy to launch some diabolical plot.  They help wherever they are needed.  So should you. Take initiative and work to make a change. 

Confront your nemesis
What’s holding you back?  What are you too afraid to even attempt?  If you take the time to really think about it, these root fears of inadequacy or failure are the excuse you use not to pursue things that really matter  to you.  They make you risk adverse and keep you stuck in that rut you always complain about being stuck in.  Challenge yourself and remember, those elaborate plots to eliminate the hero were always foiled in the end (mostly because they were way too elaborate).  Your nemesis is really just you over-thinking everything.

Over the next few weeks, I am launching my second Patron Saint of Architecture novena (click on the tab at the top of the page to read last year's Breaking Points and Turning Points novena).  Change the World (an experiment), will profile cities as seen through the lens of the real-life superheroes who weren’t afraid to step outside their comfort zone and champion a cause in the built environment.  What they did made a difference, and you will get to hear their stories so that you, too can be inspired to use your powers as an architect for the greater good.   Before you shut down this idea by automatically thinking that you can’t possibly pull off a stunt like this, I want to share the most profound thing I discovered at my trapeze lesson: falling is truly no big deal.  It’s how you get down when you are done with your act.

Be your next restoration/preservation project

“Creativity is as much about restoration as challenging yourself,” I thought one Sunday morning while feeling utterly weighed down by a bunch of stuff I had to do.  The creative mind is just not built to slog, yet as creative individuals we often get ourselves dug in so deep with our big ideas or constant ideation that slog we do.  I posted my thought on the Patron facebook page  and twitter the following day and was a bit surprised by how much that statement resonated.  In an interesting bit of synchronicity, I also happened to read posts on three other blogs that I follow with a similar theme.  Apparently it’s been a long spring.  I know it has for me.  Since February, I have been so busy between work, blogging for both this site and Urban Times, getting feng shui certified, and general life management (taxes anyone) that I feel as though I can barely come up for air.  So in the interests of opening the collective windows of our minds to let a little sunshine in, I have listed my top six personal restoration projects:

Recognize the difference between struggle and effort
As architects, we're no stranger to long hours.  But there is a difference between the creative effort that flows from us and the stuff that feels way to much like work.  Working in "the zone" can be incredibly energizing.  Feeling oppressed by your to-do list is a depleting struggle.  When we are in struggle mode, we feel that we have to burn the candle at both ends just to keep on top of things. If you are struggling, you are working hard, not smart and you should stop that right now. 

Fun is inspirational
Sometimes your best idea for a project may come from observing a food vendor at a carnival.  Not only does having fun provide us with restoration, it also gets our brains channeled in a different way- which is the very essence of creativity.  Here's how it works:  When you are noodling a design problem, you never really stop thinking about it, it lives in the back of your mind.  When your thoughts stop flowing (struggle mode) and you try to force them, the brain gets locked into a nonproductive static loop.  When you go do something else, your mind is free to play and suddenly you find yourself seeing parallels between the problem you are trying to solve and all kinds of (seemingly) incongruous things.

Put yourself on the schedule
Haven't had a haircut in months, got a knot of tension in your neck that you've been downing Advils like candy to work around?  You are ignoring self care.  Just as a building needs to be maintained, so does your body, mind and spirit.  When we put ourselves last, we operate from a mindset of depletion.  This restricts access to our creative flow, impacting the way we relate to our clients coworkers, even friends and family.  Grumpy, energy-sapped you is not necessarily even going to want to attend that industry lunch, let alone be a networking superstar who walks away with a pocketful of business cards.  Some of your best contacts can be those casual ones, like the woman you see each week at yoga, the manager of your salon, your dentist, the mother of your kid's play date.  Seek out and frequent restorative care and activities of all stripes and take the time to invest in your relationships there.

Abolish prerequisites
Perhaps it was the experience of taking college courses that got us here.  We so often feel that we have to choose between the things we would like to do and all the required activities of life. Chores (both at work and at home) are NOT a prerequisite to any other activity.  When it comes to work/life balance it's not "either/or", but "both /and." I personally struggle a lot with this one.  I find that it helps to plan to reward myself with at least one thing a day in order to keep my energy levels up and to try and take a break and switch gears whenever I catch myself getting stuck in the struggle.    

Ditch the victim within
When you feel diminished and small, that telegraphs in your actions and interactions.  Being expansive allows you to have a positive outlook, and channel your creativity.  It also draws others to you like a magnet.  That interaction with others in turn leads to more creativity.  Walk away from Victimville, home of oppressive depleting tasks and unrecognized effort and choose to empower your efforts.  Get the help you need to slog through the tasks that deplete or depress you, be selective in your commitments, seek out and ask for what contributes to your life and career goals.  Are you doing the work of your draftsman?  Ask yourself why you feel you need to do this: lack of trust in their work (fire or train them better), perfectionism on your part (done is better than perfect), or a way to avoid your own fears or hesitations on taking on creative challenges (take the leap).  If you truly find yourself drawn to chores when faced with a big project or challenge, think about why you are subconsciously choosing to be a victim of busy work instead of giving yourself permission to shine.  Then go do something fun instead of scheduling those fixtures. 

Be outcome focused
In a perfect world, we'd all live with such clarity of purpose that every action we took would be advancing that purpose.  In real life, we get distracted.  It's a lot easier to put effort into an activity when we understand how completing it will contribute to achieving a long or short term goal. Staying result-focused helps us get through the tedious work, because we can see where it ends.  It also helps us to trim the unnecessary activities we often take on because we assume we have to, but haven't fully thought through why. When you are outcome focused, you honor your own effort and the efforts of others.

Just like a building, our figurative paint can peel, our mental light bulbs need to be changed and our air needs to be circulated to keep from breeding mold spores.  We can also find that upon closer inspection, we need a little remodel of our lives to keep on track with our higher purpose.  Take on your life as your next project without fear of bold moves- making space is what you do.

You Can’t Get What You Don’t Know You Want

The art of being fully present is perhaps the hardest to master for architects, who are always referencing the past and planning the future (usually under some level of duress).  We get so caught up in achievement that we lose sight of why we’re paddling so hard toward that waterfall.  There are danger signs and people shouting to get our attention, and we don’t even notice them because we are so hell-bent on accomplishing- what?  As you ponder this and take a deep breath, consider this quote from legendary conductor Ben Zander on what it takes to deliver a transformational performance, "This is the moment- this is the most important moment right now.  Which is: we are about contribution.  That's what our job is.  It's not about impressing people.  It's not about getting the next job.  It's about contributing something."

When you get right down to it, that is the essence of who we are as architects.  It’s the essence of who all people are and we function in our highest and best states when our work has meaning and makes a positive difference in the world.  Cool-eh?  Easy, not so much.  That’s because to be fully present requires trusting that the outcome will be OK even if we don’t worry about it.  To be fully present means that you have clarity about yourself and your purpose in the world and everything you do is about realizing that purpose.  It’s kind of like applying the principles of Lean design to your life.  If you never pause to plan, to ask yourself what you really want, your life’s purpose will get lost.  Here’s how to set the right goals for yourself so you can get on with living your truth:

Restore balance
If you’re experiencing dissatisfaction in your career, but can’t figure out how to jumpstart change, it’s most likely because you have lost sight of your goals, or maybe never really had any in the first place.  I’m not talking about the expectations others have for you or the things you feel you “should” be doing.  Aspirations are not true goals.  Take some time to get to know yourself better and identify what moves you as an architect:

1. Read something inspirational about the built world each day.  You get to decide what that is, whether it’s a favorite blog (ahem), news item, or article.  The only rule is that it has to be uplifting, not anything that will upset or irritate you. Hint: It does not need to be “official architecture press.”  After a while, notice the patterns in your choices.
2. Try to spend one hour of each day in silence, uninterrupted.  Getting off of the treadmill of what you do all day with all of its disruption and conflict allows your thoughts to settle and you to become more conscious of them.
3. Begin each workday by sitting in stillness and set an intention for the day.  I know, I know, you’re busy, but jumping right into the fray deprives you of being able to see how the tasks before you can be used to nourish you and help you realize your goals.  Otherwise, they will create stress, which will deplete you. When you have clarity, you will express it in every action you take, which will reinforce and feed your creative identity.

Start asking
It’s hard to ask. It feels funny.  You could get turned down.  But I think the hardest part about asking is that you would have to know what you want or need and be able to clearly express that need.  We’d much rather stew about what we don’t have than figure out how to get it.  Most of us live in a haze of half-realized thoughts and our brain ping-pongs through them as we form judgments and assumptions about life.  We don’t even clearly realize our intentions much less put them out there. Do you expect others to know you well enough to just lay opportunities at your feet?  Worse, do you expect some fairy-godmother type mentor to tell you what you should do at every turn?  That passivity will at best get you what others feel is convenient for you to have, according to their purposes.  There’s a difference between saying “I want to be recognized, be a partner, win awards, get published,” and “I want to design spaces that make people better.”  One way will actually get you there.

Focus on who you are and what you bring, living in the moment taking time to know yourself and your identity as an architect and you really will change the world.

Are you an Architectural Luddite?

Do you cling to the comfort of the way things are “supposed to be” as you compulsively align the objects on your desk?  Are you made uncomfortable when new practice paradigms are introduced, choosing first to disregard, then criticize them, only grudgingly adopting them when your clients say you have to?  On the innovation curve spectrum  you would rank as a laggard.  But you probably don’t see yourself that way.  You think that you are being smart by not jumping ahead as an early adopter of the latest trends.  You grouse about how the market is changing and everything is so much more competitive.  You really have no clue how to survive in this changing market, so you double down on the old way of doing things, you stay in your comfort zone and maybe feel really clever that you are making the same old presentations and decisions, but using digital technology.  Like the Luddites  resisting mechanization during the Industrial Revolution, you are futilely fighting change.  Is the new the predator of the old, or simply its evolution?  

The emperor has no clothes

Skills are transferable, habits and routines are not.  A creative mind set free knows no limits.  So ask yourself, are new paradigms that challenge your comfort zone really bad, or are they threatening to expose your own fears that you aren’t creative enough to handle the change?

A small reward is better than none

Sure in a red-ocean, highly competitive environment, there are still winners and losers.  In fact that’s the point- to eliminate competition at all costs.  But that also diminishes you because it undercuts the overall value not just of an old paradigm, but of who you are and why a client should work with you at all.  The next time you feel the urge to smugly declare “winning,” just think of Charlie Sheen.

It’s the new normal

This mindset, now pervading our culture, is just pathetic.  To think that you have to settle for living up to less than your full potential (and by transference your work and the effect it has on others) shortchanges society as a whole.  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of a future that doesn’t have to happen.  If you find yourself just settling, it’s time to start asking why you are holding on to processes and paradigms that are clearly not serving you.  No one can be innovative if they aren’t passionate and accepting a bleak fade into the abyss is hardly inspirational.

A great piece by Thomas Fridstein for Design Intelligence, “Adapting for Success in the New Practice Environment” exhorts us to embrace the opportunity that comes with change.  His tips for blowing up the old way we practice involve evaluating everything we do with fresh eyes:

1.      Look at the context of practice much as we would analyze the context of a project site

2.      Adapt for success by being, creative, client-focused, competent (and yes even with new technologies or design methods, Fridstein specifically mentions sustainability and BIM), cost-effective, collaborative and global.

3.      Design the design firm by looking at ways you can serve clients better while inspiring and nurturing your employees more.  Last century’s model with its pretext that you are lucky just to be working doesn’t cut it anymore (yes, he does bandy about the term “the new normal” to express the fact that change is here to stay.  I am choosing to forgive him for that because otherwise it’s an insightful piece).

As my friend, life coach Jane Scott Ashley once told me, “Life isn’t what’s happening while you cling for dear life to the trapeze you’re on.  It’s what happens when you let go so you can reach the next one.”

The Art in Craft

I wanted to be an artist for almost as long as I could remember- way before it ever occurred to me to be an architect.  And, while I found the process of building models to be rather hateful (not to mention somewhat perilous), I made my peace with it during those hours spent in studio, learning the zen of making several light, carefully precise scores instead of trying to rip through a material in one slice.  My love of art made preparing presentation drawings for a crit as much fun as design, and I experimented with a different style and even different media for each project.

However, we no longer practice architecture as a craft, but as a concept. From my very first internship, I was drawing on a computer, except for those rare moments when I could do a hand rendering for a presentation.  I found myself expressing my creative side more digitally too, migrating from drawing and painting to photography and quickly on to digital images that I could manipulate on the computer.  I still valued the handmade, though, and would export these images to craft items large and small, but now for more utilitarian instead of purely artistic purposes.  It was kind of fun to be able to meld the 3-D world with the added capabilities of digital. Then I had kids and sick parents and barely had time to keep up with life.  Handmade cards morphed into store-bought ones and if I couldn’t find it off the shelf, I didn’t bother with it.

This year, I have decided to make a commitment to art and craft as a means of reclaiming my own identity.  I made a painting for the first time in more years than I care to think about with my husband as part of a fun exercise (he needs to get back in touch with his inner artist too).  Then I decided to design and make our Christmas cards this year.  While I love to dabble in graphic design, what makes these cards special is the fact that the artwork is a painting I commissioned from myself.  High art, it’s not.  Craft and artistic expression it is.  Best of all, I had a lot of fun making it.  It is a digital painting, but created using painterly techniques one stroke at a time. Once the cards were designed and printed 3 up on a page, it was time to cut them out.  I used an X-acto blade for the first time in way too long and found it surprisingly satisfying.  This tool, one the bane of my existence, then a secret weapon for all kinds of crafty undertakings, had lain at the bottom of my art bin for years.  Scissors, while nowhere near as precise, had become the lazy substitute.  I took an odd pleasure out of having to get out my cutting mat, precisely line up an edge with a steel ruler, and once again make the series of scores that result in a precise cut.  It was mindless yet mindful all at the same time and I realized how much I missed this kind of work. 

Challenge yourself to a greater expression of your creativity and to bring out your inner artisan in the coming year.  Not just for your life as an architect but for your whole creative person.  The art of craft is something not to be lost, even if we move seamlessly between digital and 3-D life to invent new processes. We are not virtual beings, but physical ones who do our best work when we don’t forget how to translate the ephemeral and conceptual back to the tactile. 

I wish all of you a happy and wonderful Christmas and a 2012 filled with possibilities.  Please leave a comment to share your aspirations for cultivating more creativity in your life in the upcoming year.

Telling a Story: the Art of Presentation

The idea is complex, but the explanation must be clear, simple and concise.  It's all your clients will listen to.  The art of storytelling is something that most architects never learn.  Instead, during our education, we model pompous intellectualism, poetically making nonsensical archispeak statements while wearing black turtlenecks.  Of course in studio, there often is no client and no real story, only our personal filter for solving the assigned problem.  In practice, our client becomes our audience and whether we are auditioning for the part, or holding a design meeting, we can never forget to perform for them. 

We all love a good story and clients are eager to pull up a chair and hear your take on them and their project; they want an introduction and a plot line that builds suspense and, of course, a good ending.  They are looking to be drawn in, yet are prepared to tune out, doodling, checking their mobile device or just staring off in the distance.  You have to be compelling and your points have to be memorable in order for you to lead clients deeper into the understanding of the solution or even the design process that you are proposing.  There is no project or idea that can't be distilled down to a very simple explanation of just a few sentences that convey its core premise and purpose.  The few minutes you spend presenting an idea can form the basis of working relationships and the direction of a project for months or years to come.  Tips to get it right the next time you tell a story:

Set the table

Getting right down to business in a presentation is jarring.  Your audience of busy people not only have their own agendas for this project, but they also have heads swimming with all kinds of other information related to that last email they got, how to prepare for this afternoon's meeting, who will pick their kid up for soccer practice tonight.  If you launch right into things, the emotional uneveness of your audience will affect their ability to absorb and respond to you.  On the other hand, if you warm them up with an introduction and build to the purpose of today's meeting first, you will have a calmer more centered group of people reacting to consistent data regarding the project (not their individual agendas).

Don't overqualify
I have seen people so concerned about being misinterpreted that they break the continuity of every third sentence to explain their exact choice of words.  This is beyond irritating to the person who just wants to hear your thoughts already and reserve judgement for later.  If you find yourself doing this, you probably haven't set up what you need to say properly in the first place.  Either that or you are using words that are so inflammatory or ambiguous that they require a parenthetical explanation.

Play the emotional card

The most jaded skeptic still can be touched by building an emotional connection to an idea.  The passion you bring to a presentation extends to the rationale used for every idea you are trying to convey.  Lists of ideas are boring, connecting ideas to deeper more basic and universal human needs is interesting.  Nobody cares that you juxtaposed orthagonal elements or aligned with the city grid.  They do care that the entry to the space creates a ritual that helps tie the cardinal directions to the process of beginning and ending an experience cycle in their building.  It might be really cool that your lobby functions as a sundial, but have the sunlight illuminate things related to the use of the space and you have a design element that is a keeper even during value engineering.

The best piece of presentation advice is to be yourself and speak as if you were telling a story.  Stories create a personal connection, allow you to relax, be more informal and most importantly, allow even the grumpiest critic in your audience to relate to you.