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Mark McConnel, AIA
Roanoke, Virginia
Success for most design professionals is an
illusive concept; difficult to define and almost impossible to
place on a professional timeline. We read about the instant
“stars” in the architecture world, launched from
obscurity into success by winning the competition of a lifetime.
But for most of us success is a moving target defined on a daily
basis. Particularly when working with developers as clients, design
professionals need to measure very carefully the answers to real
questions as well as rhetorical questions arising from self
examination where success is involved.
Success is so hard to define in part because one of the missing
components in this architectural age has been the large issue or
pressing question that demands effort, research, advocacy, and
whose answering validates our societal usefulness. Money has rushed
in to try to fill the void but architects, seldom selecting this
career path because of the earning potential, feel the emptiness in
this measure of success. We are professionals and part of being a
professional is the need to profess something.
At last, one issue is beginning to fill the void. One issue to
which the architectural community is the rightful heir and through
which we can address the very fabric of our built environment on a
global scale. We can answer the questions that an awakening public
has the right to ask and is going to ask.
Some people began grasping the concept of livable communities
through the well-publicized advent of New Urbanism with communities
such as Seaside, Florida. I now recognize my own embracing of the
anti-sprawl message of New Urbanism as the first step in my
education concerning livable communities and sustainable design. We
all start somewhere. The important thing is to start. What followed
were a few years of quiet study and research on my own time. This
is important; because our clients do not expect to pay us to
understand what we are trying to convince them is the right thing
to do. A few dozen conversations with the wrong people at the wrong
parties and the press – hungry for a story – asked me for
some information. So, six years ago, I ended up doing an hour long
radio show on the local PBS affiliate, explaining the short and
long term effects of sprawl and demonstrating the economic and
environmental un-sustainability of typical suburban growth. Still,
I had never done a sustainable, deliberately livable, or
“green” project. I was waiting for the right client to
ask me to do the right thing.
Imagine my surprise when that “right” client never
materialized. Instead, a developer with whom I had been working for
several years called and asked if the project upon which we were
working could be LEED certified. Success! As you might imagine, he
was not willing to pay much more for the privilege of doing the
right thing (mostly because I had convinced him that being a little
more environmentally sensitive did not necessarily cost more than
his normal high quality building) but he wanted to explore the
concept. My career had taken a giant stride and I had just passed
through what I now define as one of the most successful moments in
my professional life. But that was not all. While working on
another 130,000 square foot LEED project a year later with the same
developer he turned to me and asked “What is this going to do
to the neighborhood?” Naturally, I thought he was inquiring
about where the next spin-off project would be. “No,” he
said “what will this do TO the neighborhood?’ I sat their
open-mouthed in astonishment and one word formed in my mind
“SUCCESS”. He was really asking “Is this community
going to be more or less livable as a result of this project?”
He just didn’t know the architectural euphemisms.
I don’t know if my developer/client has really become
concerned about the world in a way we would like, but I do know
this: six years after I made enough noise about livable communities
to be considered some sort of spokesperson for the concept, I
finally have a client and project that may actually make a
difference in our world. Interestingly, both are the product of a
long journey and some considerable effort. I consider both the
development of the individual and the project as two of my greatest
achievements.
Sure, there are opportunities to go to work for architectural
powerhouse with established sustainable design practices, but this
may not be a feasible option for us mid-career types. More likely
we will run across a (true) scenario like the following. Questioned
by a developer/client about why we wanted to add a particular
engineering firm to our team we explained their various strengths
and added “they are very adept at incorporating sustainable
design elements and technologies into their mechanical
systems.” To which the developer replied in all seriousness
“That is reason enough to fire them, right there.” True
to form, they have not let us add this engineer to our team for
their project. Undaunted, we go forward.
For most of the architectural community; we will create
sustainable clients and then sustainable and livable communities.
After all, architecture is not about steel and glass or straw bales
and solar panels; it is about people. You, me, and our clients
doing the right thing to bring success to all of us.
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