Aaaaand we\u2019re back, bigger and better than before. Except my green juice leaked all over my new messenger bag and I\u2019ve received a flurry of invites for \u2018super fun\u2019 get-to-know-your-colleagues presentations for the whole of 2025. Sounds \u2026 great. I\u2019m gutted to miss them though, as there\u2019s a weekly project update meeting over exactly that time, or there will be once I\u2019ve remembered my password and scheduled the invite.<\/p>\n
I quite like this project, it\u2019s a big civic building in The Netherlands and the Dutch partner team are quite fun to work with, although their sense of humour takes some getting used to. Very dry, slightly surreal.<\/p>\n
We ran into some difficulties at the end of last year with the client\u2019s museum curator insisting on an ever-increasing \u2018wish list\u2019 of spaces and the financial manager for the museum shouting that, if they wanted all of that, they could pay for it themselves.<\/p>\n
The design team got caught in the middle, trying to turn more into less, and also less into more. We found ourselves drilling into increasing levels of detail with plans and schedules of accommodation, trying to resolve their in-house battles, while the QS sat smugly tinkering with their spreadsheet and granting a thumbs-up or thumbs-down like a Roman Emperor.<\/p>\n
But new year, new us. I really thought we left 2024 on a positive note, within 90 per cent of the extra areas included and only 3 per cent over budget. By anyone\u2019s measure that\u2019s a win! Yet once I\u2019ve passed 12 rounds of re-authentication to access my email, I can see a string of messages and emails dating back to 27 December. Wow, the poor PM has a terrible break. They\u2019re a bit flustered on our call this morning too. Sounds like the client has been having some \u2026 robust conversations with the museum team.<\/p>\n
Robust \u2026 how?<\/p>\n
So, I really just think they have the project\u2019s best interests at heart.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t we all mate, what exactly are they saying?<\/p>\n
Well, he fumbles, it\u2019s just that all of the layouts and talks about cost per square metre last year\u2026<\/p>\n
The ones that they insisted on \u2018for robustness\u2019?<\/p>\n
Yes.. those ones. Well apparently he just finds it all quite \u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019m holding my breath.<\/p>\n
Quite\u2026 under-stimulating \u2026 It\u2019s just not very \u2026 juicy.<\/p>\n
I suppress a shudder, recalibrating to disaster-evasion mode.<\/p>\n
Ok, so it all got a bit functional towards the end, that\u2019s fine! I perk up. Now we\u2019ve agreed the size and cost we can focus on some images, some fa\u00e7ade studies, some materiality. Lots of, er, juicy things.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still squirming. Yeah that all sounds great, it\u2019s just \u2026<\/p>\n
Go on \u2026<\/p>\n
The client thinks \u2026 it\u2019s all just quite \u2026 same-y? They\u2019re looking for a bit more \u2026 variety?<\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m outraged. These plans aren\u2019t same-y, they\u2019re elegant! We\u2019ve done loads of fa\u00e7ade test options around the spacing of the column grid and the depth of the brick recessed panels; some of them vary by up to 75mm?! There are some funky off-square columns in one option! One of the plans even has the stair on the south side of the building, which is pretty insane; but hey, the Dutch design director is a kooky guy! That\u2019s what you get with design-led innovative practice. How can the client be bored \u2013 we\u2019re on the edge of a Neoclassicist revival, man!<\/p>\n
He sighs and nods. Totally agree, yep, all really wild stuff. They\u2019re just finding the way it\u2019s presented quite \u2026 hard to get enthused about? Maybe we can turn up the dial on making the work more\u2026 engaging? You know, in the way we speak and stuff? He winces.<\/p>\n
They think \u2026 WE are too \u2026 BORING?! I stutter.<\/p>\n
No! No no no not that, not that \u2026 not exactly. Just \u2013 let\u2019s use this year as a chance to re-set, you know. Really get the juices flowing on both sides of the table.<\/p>\n
I think about my messenger bag and sigh.<\/p>\n
Ok, I concede, so we should go on a charm offensive? Flash them a bit of rendering, maybe swing them round the model before the weekend, that sort of thing?<\/p>\n
He\u2019s nodding while visibly scrolling on his phone.<\/p>\n
Yes, sounds epic. Honestly, I\u2019m pumped about it! What a year it\u2019s going to be, eh!<\/p>\n
I scowl and nod. What a year indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aaaaand we\u2019re back, bigger and better than before. Except my green juice leaked all over my new messenger bag and I\u2019ve received a flurry of invites for \u2018super fun\u2019 get-to-know-your-colleagues presentations for the whole of 2025. Sounds \u2026 great. I\u2019m gutted to miss them though, as there\u2019s a weekly project update meeting over exactly that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10162,"featured_media":771051,"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":[90210,1222,1343,72352],"yoast_head":"\n