I saw an ad on the internet. R was looking for a senior architect who pays attention to file naming standards..... i never heard their name before but I had seen their museum building before. it houses Serra's famous torqued ellipses. I watched a couple lectures online of theirs to see their presentation and ideas. They came off as very serious and thoughtful. I crafted a letter highlighting main points based on their lectures on why I appreciated their museum so much. By Sunday afternoon I had my first phone interview. On Tuesday I had my first in person interview. The office at the time consisted of the partners and 4 others sitting at a central table facing each other in 2 lines of computers. They pulled another guy to the interviewing table and started asking questions. It was more like a conversation rather than interview.
For architects who had been working for a long time they had no new building experience. All their work consisted of renovations including the museum which used to be a nabisco box factory. The conversation was very fluid. I explained my portfolio as a narrative. A story of my evolution... adding jokes like at polshek the reveal (separation between disparate materials or finish joints) was 3/4”, Richard Meier 1/2” and renzo piano 1/4”. R said he liked 3/8”.... or J never slept horizontally as a baby and all my strolling studies on Central Park landscapes I made during Dallas with him in Bjorn, or how I worked for polshek who worked with Im pei, or how I replaced a guy who had a heart attack at 46 on the renzo piano building. I had never considered working for such a small firm before. At the end of the interview, L in a soft voice said to me “I really hope you join us” and shook my hand. She seemed very genuine.
I received an offer... but then spent 2 weeks interviewing at various firms before deciding on R because of the growth opportunity and building typology (library). It’s a typology I’ve always wanted to work on since the Seattle public library (favorite building) came out. During my 2 weeks I also visited libraries around the city to see different approaches to library design. As my Iceland trip had ended, I thought it strange I behave so differently on vacations. I wake up exploring, trying new routes, seeing new landscapes and ideas. I wanted my work life to be like a vacation. Living on the edge... adventurous, not knowing what lay ahead.
When I called R to accept the job, R confided he told L he was breaking up with her and marrying me.
My first week I found out a small firm is like riding a small boat. You feel when a crew member is not helping, you can feel when the boat is out of balance. You can feel the anxiety like fearsome waves pushing the boat. One of the constant waves of worry is their trouble with finances. They need someone sharp to keep their books.. I hear calls in the background where they speak of lines of credit, bounced payments... in other firms a business partner would typically handle the business part of architecture so the designers could be free to apply themselves whole heartedly in their work without worry.
In the first week, My first task at the office was to write their schematic design report which was overdue several weeks. I reorganized and compiled a hundred page report about their ideas for a Brooklyn library. Their initial rough draft was scattered and disorganized. Without nostalgia I edited in a decisive manner.
I carefully observed R now that i was working alongside them. They put time into thought and never rush to put pen to paper. They are extremely focused on design. They are very friendly and social inviting me to beaux arts ball. They are passionate in what they do. They are always in before me and always leaving later. They are academic and teach at universities. They work without music or distraction. They spend effort making diagrams and ideas legible.
R himself appears very self effacing and humble.. a country boy from oklahoma. In reality he uses this front and humor to disarm and charm people. R has an unique expression where he sticks his lower jaw out with his mouth closed exaggerating an underbite.. he does this every time he faces a daunting situation. He offers funny anecdotes to explain his dentist tribulations, “One day my tooth cap came off, I found an emergency dentist. They drilled a replacement tooth a little too deep, now I have issues. This is an important Rule.. don’t try to find quick dentists.”
The following week we were summoned to Brooklyn’s main library to talk about the project. When they go to meetings, they always dress up. It’s like their camouflage. Before the meeting r revealed some history to himself. They’ve been on the front lines of design battles having worked 90 hour weeks at diller scofidio when it was just 4 people working out of an apartment. “I had been working 90 hour weeks when I said I’m going home at midnight”. This was when Liz says “ok we’ll call it a short night today.”
Before our library meeting r asked a ddc bureaucrat if he played any instruments, the guy responded the trumpet, to which rice replied “me too” to laughter and he proceeded to joke he always meets closet trumpetists. The meeting did not go so well. “Radio control... do you hear me” he said when the meeting strayed from the agenda.
By all accounts, It was an ambush. The managers and bureaucrats were mad R were late on delivering documents and meeting milestones. Surveys needed to move the project forward were suspiciously cancelled. L feared the worst... they were fired. I was hired to lead this job and now I was in limbo. R told me I could help with the Queens library instead. Unlike Brooklyn, this was a geometrically interesting library with a faceted roof and facade. In architecture you wait years to work on a good project. I welcomed the opportunity but was a little unsure of my role.
Sitting by my side was coworker, mohawk who was hired to run Brooklyn but not approved to lead it by DDC. Mohawk came from diller scofidio and graduated from Harvard. I was intimidated by his presence because of his mohawk, his pot belly, and his pedigree. I would soon find out he was soft and actually nothing to be afraid of. Each week, he would take one day off for one excuse or another... stomach virus, plumbing problem, taking his wife to the hospital. The most annoying absences came the day before presentations and deadlines... where we would pick up his slack and stay late to fill in for his work. When he did show up, He would saunter in at 11 or 12 pm sometimes then proceed to eat lunch at the table for an hour.
And what was his output over 3 months? Lines on paper with no thought. I got the impression he had never gone through the construction process of architecture, nor seen a building completed. Because if he had, he would have drawn quite differently. A seasoned architect has learned from painful mistakes, contractor battles, and knows exactly what is useful for builders and what is not. He did not have the sensibility of a veteran who comes back from war is filled with wisdom to help him lead troops safely. Control over the construction process and execution is vital for a building’s success.
Mohawk tried to change the design a couple times but was shot down by R. Given simple instructions by R, mohawk would refuse to follow... instead he offered alternatives he thought were better. The inflexibility to follow and lack of experience to lead or execute, and laziness led to his downfall. For weeks, R would come up to me in private whether he should fire mohawk. His salary is too high, he misses too many days, he comes in too late etc... the first two times I felt bad for mohawk since I had just gone through the firing experience and told R mohawk had potential. When L asked me what mohawk was doing... I finally snapped and said I don’t know. Mohawk refused to follow my instructions to develop the building... he did his remorseless call in sick and skip the day before presentation. It was the last straw. The day before thanksgiving, R told me he was firing mohawk after the holidays. He told me in the movie moneyball, billy Beane, played by brad Pitt shows an employee how to fire someone (a baseball player) it’s easy. You tell the player, you’re fired, your next game is in cincinatti.... If he showed up to work on time, mohawk would’ve known his fate. He was wistfully oblivious. Mohawk told me he was going to Miami for a wedding. We joked a little and I left.
The day after thanksgiving weekend he sauntered in at 11:40 am like a clueless turkey late to his own slaughter. It was fitting he was late for his early morning firing. I went to lunch to try to avoid the messy situation. When I came back mohawk was still in his chair. His face bright red... like a Mohawk Indian. His last actions were to go to the bathroom, return the bathroom keys to L and then leave without a word. He left his dirty tea cup sitting on the table. Very childish and millennial I thought.
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