Thoughts on Difficult Clients

I haven't met any architect lucky enough yet to avoid Those Clients. You know the ones. The husband and wife that disagree on everything and put the team in the middle. The owner who meddles with the construction on site. The committee that can't make a decision. The client with an outrageously aggressive schedule.

Archdaily posted a cute graphic about some of the typical problem clients an architect (or really any design-based field) may run into. (Originally posted here on Digital Synopsis.)

A Field Guide to the Wonderful World of Clients, part I

Women in the Built World Symposium: The Men's Perspective

The third annual Women in the Built World Symposium was held this past February in Chicago, and was better than ever. Among the panels were lectures on terra cotta restoration, roofing best practices, the renovations in the Old Post Office, and panels on advocacy and women in construction. One of the more encouraging panels was The Men's Perspective, a panel discussion among principals and presidents of an architecture firm, an engineering firm, and two construction firms. "But wait," you ask, "I thought this event was Women in the Built World - why do we need to hear from more men?"

What the ...: An Ongoing Series

That feeling when you draw a perfectly buildable detail that gets rejected in May, and then after much sound and fury pursuing the alternate detail, is revisited as the new idea in the following January.

I just ... it is so frustrating to deal with these changes and on top of the changes the bad attitude and nasty remarks from the client, and then END UP RIGHT WHERE WE STARTED NINE MONTHS AGO.

YOU CAN MAKE A NEW HUMAN BEING IN THAT AMOUNT OF TIME.

What the ...: An Ongoing Series

Importing our consultant's BIM into our model:

8 MILES

Shutting that Sh*t Down: In Action!

The sad truth is, there is no shortage of opportunities to shut bigoted and derogatory language down. Today's example: a phone call with a contractor, which he thought was with just one person but was in fact on speakerphone.

Blake (not his name), who thought he was only talking to my boss instead of the full internal project team, told a story about a past friend-turned-client who asked the same question at every single meeting. The question was fairly innocuous - is there a problem with pouring concrete foundations in winter? Blake was getting increasingly frustrated by this repetition, since he was giving the same answer - yes, as long as it's above 10 degrees; we do this work all the time - every time the question was asked. Finally, he told the client, "Please stop asking this question. I've answered it the same way every time." And then went on to say that the client's "pussy husband" spoke to Blake after the meeting and was upset at how he dressed her down. And further added, "I'm sorry, but I have to put it this way, her husband was wearing women's underwear --"

I interjected at this point with a sharp "Woah woah woah!" and as soon as I had, the contractor exclaimed "I didn't know I was speaking to the whole office!" and my boss switched the phone off of speaker, and made some remark about "Blake's man-talk."

Here's the litmus test, fellas: Are you upset to learn that your female / black / gay / trans / disabled / immigrant / etc. colleagues heard something you thought you were saying to "just one of the guys?" Next time, SHUT UP.

Your silence is tacit approval

I just had a little teaching moment with a younger male colleague about shutting down an inappropriate "joke" that came on a call he had with a general contractor about a female design team member.

His position (and I think many men go this route when they aren't taught to do otherwise) was to remain silent. As he put it, "do not engage." What he didn't realize, and I know he's not alone in this, is that his silence is tacit approval of this kind of "joke."

The burden of objecting to sexist or racist or ableist or other derogatory "jokes" often falls to the people in the oppressed group, while the people who can leverage their social privilege remain quiet. I will object all the live-long day when someone makes "jokes" like this in my presence, but I know it has more power when that objection comes from someone who has more privilege to leverage. I might get written off as "oh, she's just PMSing" or "she's hormonal" or "it must be that time of the month" or some other sexist nonsense if I speak up, but my white straight cis male colleague will be taken more seriously.

Men out there: gender equity in the workplace is not the burden of women and non-binary people alone. You need to speak up.

White people out there: racial equity in the workplace is not the burden of black and brown people alone. You need to speak up.

Straight people out there: sexual identity equity in the workplace is not the burden of LGBTQ+ people alone. You need to speak up.

Able-bodied people out there:  ableist equity in the workplace is not the burden of disabled people alone. You need to speak up.

Time to rock that boat. (And while you're at it, rock the vote!) 

Please won't you be my neighbor.

The mass murder at Tree of Life Synagogue this past Saturday is tragic, and infuriating, and crushingly close to home for me - I'm from Pittsburgh, grew up in Squirrel Hill, was active in the Jewish community. Although my family only belonged to that congregation for a short while, my sister's Bat-Mitzvah was at Tree of Life and we have friends and neighbors who attend services there.

As a Pittsburgher I'd like to point out something that may not be common knowledge.

Fred Rogers' house is just down the street from Tree of Life. This mass shooting, this hate-filled act of anti-semitism that took the lives of 11 people and irrevocably changed the lives of countless more, literally took place in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood.

Election Day is almost upon us. Please, please, please vote. Please.