24 Jul 2007 2051H

Design notes, on PBS

Was watching NOVA tonight, and saw a sculpture called Kryptos, which contains coded messages about light and darkness, and the wonder of discovery, embedded within it. An awe inspiring piece. (As a complete aside, there was also a marvelous piece about the discoverer of gravitational lensing and how he’s giving back to his community.)

Then followed Wide Angle as it tracked the attempts of the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta in competition with Rem Koolhaas’ OMA as they struggled to design the Ras al-Khaimah convention center. (You can see OMA’s entry here.) It was, frankly, painful to watch for anyone who has designed for clients. First, armed with little more than a vision (well, they also had a model and some renderings), their work is shot down summarily by the stakeholder, not only because the scope of the idea is prohibitive, but also because the deal with Koolhaas’ firm had likely been closed or near closing. Then, their first idea is deemed not ambitious enough to match the scope of the stakeholder’s own vision, along with a host of other issues, some financial, many having to do with presentation. It will all seem too, too familiar to those of us who do other kinds of design for a living. You may be left thinking, we do work like this and are more conscientious about the contexts, but perhaps that is due to editing.

You can watch this episode, “the Sand Castle”, online.

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