June 4, 2013  by

Just Make It Better: Disruptive Design

The Leonard Kagan Design Fellowship honors the legacy of RTKL’s Leonard Kagan and the huge contributions he made to the firm in the area of design. The Kagan Fellowship was conceived to celebrate the spirit of exploration as an integral part the creative process. This year’s Kagan focuses on measurable improvement—the audacious idea that anything can be taken to the next level…if only we know how. Over the next four days, we’ll introduce you to this year’s recipients and how they plan to just make it better.

Next: Disruptive Design. The traditional architecture firm is dead. It just doesn’t know it yet. Mark’s Kagan submission will attempt to create a parallel firm – RTKL Disrupted – in which he will test five radical ideals in terms of structure, process and culture to explore how the real RTKL may adjust its own identity and actions to become more agile and performance-driven.

I spend a lot of time on the internet. It’s a dirty little habit I picked up in college. Or, maybe it’s something I picked up because I get bored at work. Regardless, I spend a lot of time there, and when I do, I inevitably end up on some design blog and I find myself looking at something “innovative”. A giant robot that eats suburbs and poops out green space? Cool. A high-rise covered in synthetic hair that generates energy in the breeze? Sweet. A pro-bono community improvement project that turns a bus stop into an after-hours nightclub and cinema? Yep. I like that. So, I download as many images as I can in hopes of copying, emailing, blogging, or tweeting about it later.

STRAWSCRAPER by Belatchew Arkitekter

STRAWSCRAPER by Belatchew Arkitekter

But then, after the initial excitement dies down, I find myself questioning what I do at work. We can do that – why aren’t we doing that? Are we doing that? If we’re not, we should be, right? It’s always been a frustrating line of questioning for me. I can fill up my free time with ideas competitions and volunteer work to get some of that creative enthusiasm out, but what I really want is for that level of innovation and gusto to be a part of what I do sitting behind my desk every day.  And I know I’m not alone.

I get it. Maybe those ideas aren’t “real” and would cost ridiculous amounts of money and take crazy special effects to pull off. Or there’s not enough time in the schedule and money in the budget to research and develop a solution better than the status quo. And maybe frankly, there are way better things for us to improve upon before we start trying to grow hair on our buildings. But there’s value in all of that. There’s value in brain exercises and pro-bono work and buildings made of meat just like there’s value in efficiently designing and delivering a real project that brings a profit through the door. The real question is can we make a business out of it?

Sure. Why not? Some of my favorite design firms seem to be making quite a successful practice out of a steadfast commitment to innovation and pushing boundaries. BIG, UNStudio, OMA, and MVDRV – to name a few we’re all familiar with – continuously pop up on my innovation radar (think spidey-sense but with design rather than catching criminals). But it’s not just boutique firms either. Some of the big “corporate” firms are starting to invest serious time and money into fostering innovation and culture as a way to set themselves apart as industry thought-leaders. So what is it that allows for these practices to be considered the best design firms in the world and to succeed all while pushing “dangerous” and “edgy” ideas?

Well, in my opinion, they don’t act like architecture firms anymore. The traditional architecture firm is dead – it just doesn’t know it yet. In the past, architecture was about making objects, and as a result, the architecture firm was set up to reflect this model – hierarchal organizations structured around formal specialists. But the world we live and build in is way more complex now. The days of slow, methodical, and partitioned design firms is over. Architecture today needs to be a discipline of systems, not objects.

Let’s be honest, RTKL doesn’t lack creativity and there is no dearth of innovative thinkers. Not by a long-shot. They’re all around us. I sit next to some of the most passionate, bright, and talented people I’ve ever met, and I bet you do too. It’s not a lack of talent and creativity that holds us back from being the best design firm in the world – we’ve just been too hesitant as an organization to change and embrace a new way of thinking to truly become thought leaders. Innovation doesn’t happen through incremental changes to existing techniques. Instead, it happens when you step back from everything you know, and challenge yourself to look at the problem in another way.

I submitted this Kagan because I believe that RTKL can – as CEO Lance Josal challenged us – be one of the best design firms in the world. But if that’s what we really want and are truly committed to, we need to radically change the way we think, how we’re structured, and allow our culture to be a driving force in the design process.

Innovative projects and project teams today are not the work of lone wolf genius’ but rather teamwork and collaborative based.

Innovative projects and project teams today are not the work of lone wolves, but require teamwork and collaboration.

Next Episode:

DISRUPTION, A HOW-TO GUIDE

How do we disrupt the status quo at RTKL and become the innovative design force we want to be? Five ideas:

1. Kill the studio

2. Give it away for free

3. Embrace friction

4. Let technology do the talking

5. Flatten the pyramid

 

Next: Pursuit of Happiness 

Image via woodentoysuk; Belatchew Arkitekter; businessreviewcanada.ca

CallisonRTKL

CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.
in Architecture / Design / You Are Here 4 comments