Thursday afternoon, I met with Carson Carroll, the representative of REDUX contemporary art center to discuss a design option to solve their problem for art easel storage. I am teaming up with REDUX this semester through David Pastre’s Community 1:1 course to assist and learn from them. REDUX is a non-profit organization that encourages and educates the community through contemporary art. Our meeting on Thursday was full of fruitful conversation and design discussion that has led to a clear design path ahead. The design will feature a new wall to be constructed that will have a rack for the easels to hang from. One cool aspect of the design is that the wall will have to be built a few inches off of the existing wall to allow for a barn door to pass behind unimpeded.
In preparation for Thursday’s book club, we all completed reading the second portion of the assigned book, between Raising the Bar, by Gary Erickson, and Let My People Go Surfing, by Yvon Chouinard. I have enjoyed the reading and discussion behind these two books much more than our previous book, The Speed of Trust. In these two books, the stories told are more exciting and relatable. They provide evidence to their claims that build credibility to the success of their company. Ironically, the claims made within The Speed of Trust were hard to trust due to poor wording by the author/editor. In Thursday’s discussion, our small group focused on discussion around Yvon Chouinard’s Let My People Go Surfing. The selected chapters were full of business philosophy and breaks down how Patagonia’s mission statement and vision for the company drives their daily tasks and how to approach difficult situations. A few key discussion points linked Chouinard’s philosophy back to architecture as a practice. The idea of “Client is Key” is a recurring motif between businesses. If the client is not satisfied, then no matter how well the agreed contract is executed, the project could have been more successful. Another point that can relate back to our field is the idea of diversifying expertise. Chouinard mentions how the company has survived recessions because they have gone global, so market dips in one region can be balanced out through market highs in opposing regions. This can be related back to architecture through gaining experience and expertise in multiple fields of architecture. Firms should consider handling some combination of different projects that extend into the fields of commercial, residential, healthcare, etc. to ensure that plenty of projects come through the office. After our large group discussion relating both books to each other, class was dismissed for the afternoon. As a team bonding exercise, the majority of the class met at Colonial Lake Park to play pickleball together and enjoy the afternoon before picking back up with classwork that evening.
