\u2018So, when you say: \u201cFigure out a concept design \u2026\u201d you mean, like, right now? From scratch?\u2019<\/p>\n
We\u2019re nine weeks into a 15-week process and I\u2019m just double-checking I\u2019ve understood my remit. The Associate Director presses his lips shut in an apologetic grimace, like we\u2019re strangers passing in a hospital corridor. \u2018Yeah, we just need something we can work with? Otherwise we\u2019re really just \u2026 putting stuff in space.\u2019<\/p>\n
Perhaps realising he\u2019s bleakly summarised the entire discipline of interior design, he falters and we ponder in silence. This is the problem with being a sub-consultant to a more famous practice; sometimes their \u2018vision\u2019 only stretches to the drone view, leaving little material to cover the actual building. We don\u2019t want to do too much; there are some delicate egos above us. But there\u2019s also a massive gap that needs filling. He ploughs on.<\/p>\n
\u2018Just something simple but, uh, varied. Obviously cool and vague enough that if they don\u2019t like it we can change it without, you know, really changing it? Oh, and something that screams \u201ccontext\u201d, yeah?\u2019<\/p>\n
I scowl at my monitor, aware he\u2019s enjoying this. I absent-mindedly crack my knuckles while the kettle boils. Simple and varied, cool (but not too cool), vague yet context-specific. What even is that?<\/p>\n
Oh my god, I\u2019ve got it. Herbal tea in hand, I\u2019m back at my desk, full building plan on one screen, browser on the other. I\u2019m Googling, I\u2019m screenshotting, I\u2019m pulling up previous presentations to check we\u2019ve never said this out loud to anyone before. Forty-five minutes and one congealed cuppa later, I\u2019m done. I double-check my logic. Will the landscape team buy it? The QS? Can I convince a sceptical structural engineer? It\u2019s not too<\/i> cool, is it? I\u2019m overthinking it. Just PDF it and send.<\/p>\n
Ninety-four minutes pass before anything hits the fan. Then a call. A call to my actual desk phone, which I swear I disconnected in 2020. It\u2019s the MD. Conference Room 5. NOW PLEASE. Good grief.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s sweating, scrolling on his laptop while sketching on his iPad. \u2018Hi, yeah, come in, hi. Yes.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018You wanted to … review … with me?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Yeah, so, first of all, I actually thought of this two months ago. So great to see you\u2019ve caught up.\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m blindsided. You what, mate? I rally. \u2018Oh well, great minds, eh! Would be great to see what you were thinking …\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018What? Oh, no. I didn\u2019t draw anything … No, I thought of it. THOUGHT of it. Ages ago.\u2019 He\u2019s still scribbling. I\u2019m hovering six inches above my seat, not sure what to do. \u2018Oh, ok, great. You want to talk about it? \u2018 I sit, but don\u2019t unclench.<\/p>\n
\u2018Yeah, yeah. So what you\u2019re saying is so simple, it\u2019s kind of obvious, right?\u2019<\/p>\n
Rude, but … sure. I say nothing.<\/p>\n
\u2018Yeah, so I was thinking we could make it more nuanced, you know, in plan, like here …\u2019<\/p>\n
He has screen shot my screen shot and is drawing concentric semicircles all over it.<\/p>\n
\u2018Yeah, I was thinking maybe the gradient could…\u2019 I offer.<\/p>\n
\u2018YEAH the gradient I thought of!\u2019<\/p>\n
I\u2019m working for a despot.<\/p>\n
\u2018The GRADIENT could go from here \u2026\u2019 big arc starting in one corner of the building \u2018\u2026 to all the way round here!\u2019 Wobbly arrow pointing at the opposite corner. He beams up at me. \u2018And THEN!\u2019 The iPad starts to scoot across the desk under the force of his enthusiasm, \u2018we can just show it kind of VAGUELY ENDING over here.\u2019 He stabs at the words \u2018Atrium TBC\u2019 on the plan.<\/p>\n
I stare at the half-rings, fading from one colour to the next. I\u2019m realising it\u2019s a profoundly stupid idea. But maybe so stupid it\u2019s brilliant?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m losing faith fast, but he\u2019s just getting started. \u2018I\u2019ve really got something here! I\u2019ll send it to you! That\u2019s all!\u2019<\/p>\n I slink back to my desk, unnerved. His email lands seconds later. The Part 2 next to me leans over as I open the 45MB attachment. I can feel her eyes boring into the side of my face.<\/p>\n \u2018He bought the rainbow idea, then,\u2019 she smirks, and presses print. Best not to overthink it, I tell myself. Sometimes the stupid ideas are the best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018So, when you say: \u201cFigure out a concept design \u2026\u201d you mean, like, right now? From scratch?\u2019 We\u2019re nine weeks into a 15-week process and I\u2019m just double-checking I\u2019ve understood my remit. The Associate Director presses his lips shut in an apologetic grimace, like we\u2019re strangers passing in a hospital corridor. \u2018Yeah, we just need …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9844,"featured_media":760757,"comment_status":"open","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":[1343,72352],"yoast_head":"\n