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7/2006 |
The Speed of Life | ![]() |
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by Grant A. Simpson, FAIA and James B. Atkins, FAIA We're holdin' on tight (holdin' on tight)
By the mid-1900s, architecture, in terms of managing design delivery, had changed very little for more than a century. The modern firm of the 1970s, struggling to recover from the devastating recession of the early 1970s that almost decimated many old-line firms, attempted to adapt to new ideas designed to speed up the metabolism of architecture practice. This included learning to incorporate new technologies in a rapidly changing world of architecture. The need to study productivity and various methods for producing work faster and more efficiently became a priority.
Newer technologies took the pencil from our hands and replaced it with a keyboard. Electronic innovations allowed us to work faster and accomplish more, but the spaces of time between routine business activities began to compress, and the time for leisurely interaction in our work became harder to find. Work time as we know it today no longer offers us time to smell the roses. This article will examine the significant change that has developed in architecture over the past generation and its impact on our personal lives. We will look at the facets of our business that have put us in overdrive, increasing the speed of life and robbing us of much of our time once allocated for observing, pondering, discussing and, yes, listening. As soon as possible
When facsimile machines and overnight deliveries entered the picture, the speed of life began to gain a faster pace. Just the fax
These spaces of time between tasks, imposed by technical limitations, gave us more time for contemplation and creativity. We were able to give more time to our work, and obligated deadlines were more forgiving. As technical advances began to encroach upon our sacred spaces, the speed of life began to erode the luxurious time between tasks, robbing us of this once-respected commodity.
The development of faster communications and deliveries had a systemic effect on our phases of service. With overnight deliveries came overnight responses. This caused us to push on the competitive edge by promising accelerated services. The roses, waiting to be smelled, became red blurs along the way. Personal communications The telephone was a necessary fixture in business commerce almost from the day it was invented. There is no one living today who did not grow up with this remarkable device. Nonetheless, its early use had significant limitations compared to today’s technology. Once upon a time, a phone could not be answered while it was in use, and the six to eight messages received while you were out of the office were handwritten on pink memo pads by your secretary. You returned the calls and talked to your clients and business associates about the tasks and questions at hand. It could take a day or two to get in touch with each other, and when you did, you conversed in detail, exchanging as much information as possible, knowing that future communications would be just as cumbersome.
E-mail, although it existed long before it achieved its current market penetration, served to speed up life dramatically, but it also significantly reduced the culture of personal communications. Replacing to a great extent the role of the telephone in business, it is now common to receive 50 or 60 e-mails a day, compared with 8 or 10 telephone calls of 20 years ago. The use of e-mail as a substitute for personal communications is now so pervasive that it is common to send an e-mail to a person sitting 20 feet away rather than walk over to his or her desk and have a conversation. The preference for and reliance upon e-mail as a substitute for personal communications is more poignant when observing an office when their e-mail server is down . . . employees become restless and angry and vent their helpless feelings brought about by those “idiots” in IT. As a result of voice mail and e-mail, we have all become accustomed to communicating without personal contact. Human interaction is now a second priority. In fact, many people prefer this approach. Many find it tempting to put off returning a phone call until lunchtime or after work, leaving a message rather than actually talking to a person. Some prefer leaving a message to voice mail rather than talking to the person. This has become all the easier since the development of caller ID. The culture of people speaking real time to other people has greatly diminished. Now that e-mail has been coupled with PDF technology, fax machines and overnight deliveries have been pushed aside by the ability to e-mail large documents around the world in a matter of seconds. Not just an enemy of personal communications, e-mail is now serving to reduce even more the space between tasks, and the roses are almost rendered unseen. The path of artistry
The Building Information Model anticipates more interaction among all industry players. Design teams are already obtaining 3D data from manufacturers and vendors. Rather than draft medical casework from scratch, the supplier can e-mail you their equipment already drawn. A laboratory interior can be completed in minutes. This practice offers the supplier a leg up on the competition because of proprietary nuances, and it is being adapted by all building-component manufacturers. It is possible that the entire building exterior could become an accumulation of components supplied, already drafted in 3D, for the architect to drag into place. Could this spell the end of learning how walls weep and flashing channels water? What about the artistry? Will artistry be forced to compete with what manufacturers have available? While these practices may improve quality control overall, they could possibly dumb us down even more. The spaces of time required for researching products and understanding how they perform may be deemed unnecessary. When was the last time you flipped through a volume of Sweets® just to study the details and learn about products? Or the last time you did it was it done on the Web with a search of unemotional but surgical precision? Balancing the thick book and marking all those pages was once a part of the process. It took more time, which allowed more thought and deliberation. As we flipped the pages we tended to learn unexpected things along the way. Yet BIM is in all likelihood the next great catalyst of change for the profession of architecture. It is a catalyst that offers the promise of moving us closer to a practice integrated with all of the participants in the design and construction process. It may also be a tool that allows great advances in the way architects view and accomplish design. That is, if we do not allow it to compress and eliminate further our precious spaces of time. The speed of life—conclusion
We seem no longer to think of the possibility that a significant measure of the craft and artistry that has been so much a part of architecture has in many ways taken a back seat to technology and speed. Is the message that the introspection quotient has turned upside down? Or is the message that the speed of life is leaving the artistry of architecture behind? We believe these important messages should be considered as one approaches daily tasks and ponders the future. As you zip through all those e-mails, deleting some before reading and pecking out your response in terse, abbreviated replies, take a moment to think about what that framed diploma or license hanging on your wall really means to you. If you have been around awhile, think back and ask: Has your speed of life evolved as you hoped? Is it giving you the time you really want and need? You can adjust the speed, you know. Or, if you are just starting out, think about what you want your speed of life to be and be conscious of trying to make it so. It is never too late to become what you might have been.—George Elliot
Do we have an answer for how the speed of life is impacting our love for architecture? We can answer only for ourselves. How we deal with the speed of life is ultimately up to us as individuals. But we can offer that it is an awe-inspiring thing, smelling the roses. And, lest we forget, as you ponder your plans and contemplate your speed of life . . . try to be careful out there. Copyright 2006 The American Institute of Architects.
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Jim and Grant will return to splashing in the shark tank next month in AIArchitect when the subject will be “Absolute, or Absolution.” If you would like to ask Jim and Grant a risk or project management question, or request them to address a particular topic, contact them through AIArchitect. James B. Atkins, FAIA, is a principal with HKS Architects. He serves on the AIA Documents Committee and he is the 2006 Chair of the AIA Risk Management Committee. Grant A. Simpson, FAIA, manages project delivery for RTKL Associates. He is the 2006 Chair of the AIA Practice Management Advisory Group. |
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