Bust a Move: Dance with Clients to Make Better Design Decisions
Remember prom? Even if you didn’t go, you’re familiar with its public aspirations and private angst—pinning the corsage, the excitement of a limo ride, the first dance…all the curiosity of what’s next. Likewise, the first dance between an architect and a new client hovers in the uncertainty of unknown expectations. How do designers discover a client’s brand so they can use space to define, or redefine, it? Just like prom-goers, architects and clients also need to do the proverbial box step before jamming out to classics by Prince.
Let’s Rethink Architecture
The most difficult part of a project is the beginning. It’s when we receive the information that sets the basis for our entire effort. We need to ask very astute questions to shape a decision-making process, listen, and then interpret. It’s a dance that builds trust, which therein builds design, and you don’t want to go stepping on toes.
To illustrate, we’re currently designing the interior of a new corporate office floor, which will serve as the company’s public face (something they don’t have at the moment). It will be where new and existing customers make the transition from their public perception of the company’s brand to a one-on-one relationship with a staff member. It’s also a place where the company will impart its values on employees, encouraging retention and enticing new recruits.
To begin the design process, many questions need to be answered. For example: What sort of experience should guests initially encounter when they come to this floor? The options hold different implications for the company’s brand. So, for instance, when the elevator doors open, would guests and employees see:
A. A person behind a desk?
B. A wall of branding graphics?
C. A view of its downtown location?
D. An amalgam of one of more of these?
Let the Dance Begin
Let’s say the client states a preference for option “A,” a person behind a desk. The scene would be more traditional, setting up the interaction one would expect when coming off an elevator. You approach reception, someone greets you and takes your name, you wait. Is the client after that conventional repartee? Is their preference based on some additional meaning or connotation in this choice?
If “B” is preferred, this would suggest that the company is more high-tech and can provide information on many different platforms. Is this true? What other meaning does that selection hold? Is the client trying to attract a more youthful customer or employee with this choice? That could result, whether intended or not.
And, if “C” is preferred, it may signify that the company is attuned to more traditional expressions of status, or that it’s interested in providing something everyone can appreciate—a great view. The view is a convention of spatial presentation and instantly provides an ice breaker.
Then there’s also “D,” a mixture of all of the above. Example: A branding wall could act as a segue to a reception desk. If the wall is transparent, perhaps made of glass with elements projected upon it, it could serve as a scrim to a fabulous view of downtown behind it.
These decisions are but one example of choices and their meaning. It takes time and perspective to tease out decisions, the implications behind them, and to understand that decisions are not linear. Ultimately, budgets dictate client decisions. In the meantime, trust must be built to discover the secrets behind the decisions a client makes. Then, when budgets dance with desire, the best decisions can be made.
Eric Cugnart (Eric.Cugnart@MulvannyG2.com) is a principal at MulvannyG2 with more than 30 years of design experience. Cugnart has created some of the firm’s most high-profile buildings, including the designs for Portland’s SM-Art Tower and Portland City Storage, as well as work for the LEED-Gold Bellevue Towers, Bellevue, Wash. His work for previous firms includes design for the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, and the campus for Adidas’ Headquarters. (Article originally appeared in the MulvannyG2 Architecture June 2011 newsletter. Published with permission from MulvannyG2 Architecture. www.mulvannyg2.com)