How to ask the right questions? Get a non-architect to do so!

“We’re all victims of the architect. Architecture is the only art that you can’t help but feel. You can avoid paintings, you can avoid music, and you can even avoid history. But good luck getting away from architecture.”

- Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton, 14 October 2014

Alright, alright, I understand that you need a professional to address the serious questions when it comes to designing architecture - we need to know whether the building can hold itself up well, whether it is structurally sound, and whether it is capable of evacuating people safely in case of a fire…

Last Thursday, my friend and I attended Open House Melbourne: Design City: Built Melbourne! lecture at the beautifully refurbished Capitol Theatre (I spent half of the lecture staring at the ceiling because it brought me so much joy to see the crisp plaster). The event itself, was a series of small presentations given by architects and a restaurateur. Each presentation of Melbourne’s architecture varied in detail and scale - but it was an insightful presentation to understand and feel the design process from each firm. Different scales and different narratives that have allowed experimentation and manifestations of different dialogues and audiences. 

What made the night though, was listening to Con Christopoulos’s presentation of his album of restaurants - which majority of them have been designed without the expertise of the architect. His presentation was peppered with hints of dry humour as he took the audience through a timeline of restaurants which he styled with what he deemed interesting and trendy during the period of it being built, thus giving unique and quirky characteristics to the restaurants (and somehow successfully dodged through certain design regulations *coughs). His presentation, while left the corners of my mouth upturned majority of the night, made me become highly aware of how significant Open House event is to the community. Especially since the event opened with spotlighting the public’s passion about architecture. 

During my third year of architecture - our studio tutor gave us an interesting speed-dating event: we had to present our projects to people who weren’t architects but had a huge passion for architecture. It forced us to become aware of our language and the level of detail we had to present to our imaginary clients. In many ways, the activity has left me with weary of explaining what studying architecture is - especially when a non-architect would prompt me to explain what architecture school really is about, and how to steer their assumptions that is beyond the skyscraper and the inevitable “maybe I should have you design my house!” comment. Looking about Christopoulos’s presentation and how he was able to maintain the engagement with the audience reflects on the type of attention to detail we, as architects would need to consider when communicating with the client, especially when their invested interest in architecture generally will not remain in the safety of the architecture, but rather the aesthetic and perhaps the timelessness of the next five years. 

On the other hand, it can be argued that to listen to a non-architect’s point of view and their relationship with architecture itself is also another way for us as designers to understand other methods to foster a relationship with the public. From Clive Grinyer’s TED presentation on the democratising of design - it is important to be aware that with the power of technology and instant communication (as well as the extreme ease for comments to blow topics out of proportion), perhaps our role as architects is to be able to utilise our clients’ interest and slowly melding it with our design priorities. Then perhaps it is safe to say it will ensure a good collaboration.

Understandably, there will be times where it is difficult to understand the meaning behind certain questions from non-architects. Being a volunteer for architecture related events, I sometimes find myself feeling uncomfortable with questions from architecture enthusiasts asking the most obscure (albeit very interesting and a lot of food for thought) questions. Perhaps my lack of confidence has led me to feel very intimated by architecture lovers, at the same time, I marvel at their thought process, what has drawn them into the world of architecture. Perhaps it has spawn from the world of colourful narratives, movies, legos and the human need for chasing aesthetics that gave them a portal to ask these questions. 

I’m still waiting for that day where my brain starts opening doors to quirky questions, and put other designers on the spot (as it has happened to me countless times in my own presentations). In the mean time, I’d love to see a group of non-architects, who are architecture enthusiasts to present their understanding of buildings, understand their language and how they perform with their architecture of choice. 

Links:

• Design City: Built Melbourne!