{"id":716692,"date":"2023-10-17T10:22:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T09:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=716692"},"modified":"2023-10-17T10:35:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T09:35:20","slug":"the-secret-architect-where-the-digital-meets-the-real-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/the-secret-architect-where-the-digital-meets-the-real-world","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Architect: I\u2019ve been outed as Another. Bloody. Architect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018You\u2019re all the SAME,\u2019<\/em> he hisses \u2013 I flinch but the spittle misses me, landing like confetti on the table between us. I blink and stare as this usually mild \u2013 even awkward \u2013 VFX designer sinks his pint and transforms, Dr Jekyll-style, into a booming ogre, boss-eyed and raging \u2013 I\u2019ve been outed as the one thing he clearly can\u2019t stand. Another. Bloody. Architect.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve taken on some freelance work for a trendy \u2018digital experience\u2019 group, working out of a disused sawmill on the edge of town. By their own words \u2018we really engage with the digi-textural narratives of the industrial space\u2019. Sure. But on this project, they are struggling with that nanometre where the digital meets the real world; how to translate swooshy graphics and snazzy visuals onto something that the Lead Architect \u2013 their client \u2013 can put in a drawing issue sheet. So here I am, making dreams touch reality.<\/p>\n

First things first \u2013 what would you like to see in the space? I thought I asked nicely; I even did the politician-struggling-on-Newsnight<\/em> open-palm shrug, magnanimously conveying that I, like them, just want fun things to happen. One of them adjusts their comically oversized spectacles and clarifies that it\u2019s not, like, what you see<\/u><\/em>? As much as how your reality is, you know, transformed?<\/p>\n

I nod reassuringly and make a note in my diary, like a therapist in a Woody Allen film. Interesting, talk me through your digital reality \u2026 there\u2019s collective mumbling about 4k projections and Bluetooth headphones. Ok so you need, like, a wall then? Sorry a haptic projection surface? Yes? And maybe a horizontal one too, which doubles up as something you can stand on? Nodding. Yes. Ok. Lovely. Easy.<\/p>\n

Each of her architects is straining to prove their knowledge, interrupting engineers to mansplain irrelevant legislation<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far, so good, but then I join the full Design Team Meeting, at the fancy architect\u2019s office. I\u2019ve never attended a DTM as a peripheral consultant, I\u2019ve always been The Architect. The project lead is polite, patient. But each of her architects is straining to prove their knowledge, interrupting engineers to mansplain irrelevant legislation, huffing when the QS suggests cost review, and skipping over the points we should be collaborating on, saying they\u2019re \u2018working it out and let us know\u2019. How dismissive is that! With all the clarity of an outsider \u2013 architects are the worst!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also definitely been this person. I know the pressure they\u2019re under (mostly from themselves). I\u2019ve had tight deadlines and missing information and last-minute client changes. But from out here, where we have and use the exact same skills, just at the human scale, this all seems a bit \u2026 dramatic? It just isn\u2019t that serious, particularly as the project isn\u2019t definitely going ahead. They\u2019re getting worked up about the door schedule for Barbie\u2019s Dream House. Just pick a RAL colour and have the afternoon off.<\/p>\n

As the DTM progresses, I can see the architectural team thinking; where is the urgency? Don\u2019t you sub-designers know we have deadlines? Schedules? BIM COORDINATION TO GET ON WITH? But it\u2019s not urgent guys, not really. It\u2019s just advanced colouring in. But for these guys it\u2019s Very Serious Stuff, like diffusing a bomb or removing a pancreas. They are Leading The Team.<\/p>\n

Pfft ok. I decide to ease the tension with a few semi-complex questions about Part M compliance and our contribution to the risk register. The architects seem reassured but I\u2019ve blown my cover. The meeting ends and our little sub-consultant team goes to the pub. The griping begins. My co-designer on the VFX side is sick of it. Why the codified language? The false urgency? The assumption that you people<\/em> know best and everyone else is just tinkering around? How arrogant is that? Alright mate, let it all out, safe space and all that.<\/p>\n

I try to protest that we\u2019re not all like that, some of us are just getting on with it! Can\u2019t see the wood for the trees; no harm done! Look, we made it go away, now we can crack on with a bit of fun stuff, right? His eyes narrow, and I realise my mistake. I\u2019m doing it too: I\u2019m patronising, belittling, treating digital design like a holiday from Real Work. He hisses, and maybe he\u2019s right. Maybe we are all the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Secret Architect has taken on some freelance work for a trendy \u2018digital experience\u2019 group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9844,"featured_media":716707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[13805,72352],"yoast_head":"\nThe Secret Architect: I\u2019ve been outed as Another. Bloody. 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