Is It More About the Doing or About the Thinking?
When I first started to think about writing Dad's biography, I wondered how I - not being an architect - would be able to write effectively about Dad's career in architecture. I figured I was reasonably smart, and my role in proposal management for a government contractor, means I'm constantly reading and evaluating documents about subject matters on which I have little expertise. I figured I'd make it work. Or call on his colleagues and my niece if I couldn't.
But what I'm finding - as I'm pursuing my theme of my father as a maverick - is that what Dad did is only part of his being a maverick. In many ways, it's not what he did that makes him a maverick, but how he did it.
For example, being a dean of at a new school of architecture is pretty maverick-y. Having to put new degree programs in place, get accreditation for the programs, and hire faculty - not to mention attracting students - requires a person who has some charisma and chutzpah. Dad had both in spades.
But he also wasn't interested in designing a tradition architecture program at SUNYAB. He was interested in systems thinking and in getting the students to see that they had to be project managers, as much as designers, because getting a building built requires the expertise of many skilled craftspeople. Both of these ideas were new in the early '70s. I won't say unique, because I don't have the expertise to say that. But definitely maverick-y.
Today's writing was about Dad's next venture - the American Institute of Architects Research Corporation (AIA/RC). By now, it's the mid to late '70s, and energy conservation is on everyone's minds. The AIA/RC coined the term "energy conscious design" and proselytized about it to as many of the 87 schools of architecture as would listen. They held design contests for students in the same subject. They wrote books and published magazines on this topic and others that AIA/RC had been hired to pursue for the federal government, which was just learning - from Dad - that it needed to pay attention to architecture - for energy conservation, but also life safety and other reasons.
But there are other aspects to Dad's job that are at least as important as what AIA/RC did. First, he was again pushing systems thinking and "asking the right question". Second, he was more interested in performance-based standards - whether the design accomplished its goals - than in strict engineering standards about how thick the walls needed to be or how many windows a building needed to have. Third, he was a mentor to a group of young people, many of whom either had already worked for him and followed him to AIA/RC or who worked for him again in their careers. He was "raising" a new school of architects who thought as he did about systems thinking and performance-based standards and asking the right question.
And to me, that's where his being a maverick had the biggest impact.
But what I'm finding - as I'm pursuing my theme of my father as a maverick - is that what Dad did is only part of his being a maverick. In many ways, it's not what he did that makes him a maverick, but how he did it.
For example, being a dean of at a new school of architecture is pretty maverick-y. Having to put new degree programs in place, get accreditation for the programs, and hire faculty - not to mention attracting students - requires a person who has some charisma and chutzpah. Dad had both in spades.
But he also wasn't interested in designing a tradition architecture program at SUNYAB. He was interested in systems thinking and in getting the students to see that they had to be project managers, as much as designers, because getting a building built requires the expertise of many skilled craftspeople. Both of these ideas were new in the early '70s. I won't say unique, because I don't have the expertise to say that. But definitely maverick-y.
Today's writing was about Dad's next venture - the American Institute of Architects Research Corporation (AIA/RC). By now, it's the mid to late '70s, and energy conservation is on everyone's minds. The AIA/RC coined the term "energy conscious design" and proselytized about it to as many of the 87 schools of architecture as would listen. They held design contests for students in the same subject. They wrote books and published magazines on this topic and others that AIA/RC had been hired to pursue for the federal government, which was just learning - from Dad - that it needed to pay attention to architecture - for energy conservation, but also life safety and other reasons.
But there are other aspects to Dad's job that are at least as important as what AIA/RC did. First, he was again pushing systems thinking and "asking the right question". Second, he was more interested in performance-based standards - whether the design accomplished its goals - than in strict engineering standards about how thick the walls needed to be or how many windows a building needed to have. Third, he was a mentor to a group of young people, many of whom either had already worked for him and followed him to AIA/RC or who worked for him again in their careers. He was "raising" a new school of architects who thought as he did about systems thinking and performance-based standards and asking the right question.
And to me, that's where his being a maverick had the biggest impact.
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