October 27, 2016 by CallisonRTKL

Pressure Under Fire

The 2016 CallisonRTKL Design Conference took place September 19-22 in New York City. “Excelsior”—New York’s state motto, which means “ever upwards”—was the theme of this year’s event, which brought together 18 up-and-coming designers from each of the firm’s global offices for two days of professional development, team-building and design inspiration. This post is the third in a series of reflections from some of this year’s attendees on their experiences.

Architects and designers are no strangers to the last-minute hustle. We’ve all encountered unexpected changes and completed a project just before the daunting deadline. Our CallisonRTKL Design Conference leaders recreated this familiar experience for us, but this time, they threw in polka-dot aprons and extremely sharp knives and challenged us to a cook-off.

“Pressure Under Fire,” as the event organizers called it, promised to be a great time…right after you signed a waiver for any lost fingers. We began by suiting up in the proper personal protective equipment, or PPE: in this case, aprons—ridiculous aprons. The polka dot, super hero and rooster prints modeled by the group at least helped to break the ice.

Fact: I am not a good cook. However, I wasn’t the only member of the group to learn that I’d been chopping an onion the wrong way my ENTIRE life. If you don’t immediately cut the ends off (as I’ve always done) but instead slice the onion in half, you can chop the onion like two flowers, leaving the unchopped layers in place.

Each of the two groups had one hour to create a gourmet meal. The head chef, who looked like he’d just stepped out of a French film, had warned us that there would be a twist—or two, or three—in the plot. Lo and behold, just moments after we’d collectively developed some semblance of a cohesive recipe—SURPRISE! We were commanded to add paprika or lemon or some other ingredient that made absolutely no sense. As we do day after day in our line of work, we found a way to accommodate the unexpected and at times nonsensical requests and make it into something awesome.

The Design Conference attendees had only known each other for twenty-four hours, and suddenly we were learning so much about our new teammates. Katlyn is a brilliant creator of recipes. Sunny can peel potatoes faster than anyone I’ve ever met. Jon is a master of pancake-tossing-type kitchen tricks. While the kitchen and the design studio may not appear to have anything in common at first glance, over the course of this exercise we found teachers, listeners, motivators and multi-taskers among us. We learned who was patient and who was energized, curious or observant. It was clear all of our personalities and skillsets were vital to overcoming the challenges before us.

Ten minutes before the gong (no, really, there was a gong), you could have cut the tension with a knife—pun intended. Team Salmon was nearly cooked, but Team Filet Mignon was still rare. Those of us waiting for the meat to come out of the oven had begun over-designing the judges’ plates. White space, we learned, is of equal importance to the food in culinary presentation. Though we lost a point for finishing last, Team Filet Mignon plated our creation just in the nick of time and won praise for our “natural,” “candid”—in reality, unprepared—presentation.

We celebrated our success by devouring our delicious meals; grilled salmon with green beans and couscous tabbouleh joined filet mignon with an apricot glaze, buffalo-breaded cauliflower with blue cheese dip and sweet potatoes mixed with walnuts and cranberries. Every bite was phenomenal. After dinner, the head chef announced the winner. Team Salmon won by three points and were awarded their very own chef hats—or dunce caps, according to us bitter losers. Team Filet Mignon tried to convince them that they should wear their badges of honor in public for the rest of the evening, but they didn’t buy it.

Winner or loser, by the time dessert was set on the table we were exultant. We’d discovered new team members around the globe and seen their strengths in action. We’d faced our fears and succeeded. We were reminded that when we contribute our best selves to a great team, the collective result is unbelievable.

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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.