Two Minds Are Better Than One::Collaboration in Design

      

"Great designers need great clients" -I.M. Pei 

     The design process is a journey that is never taken alone.  Like we talked about in Tuesday’s class, looking at something from other perspectives can only make us more aware.  If I were to take on a design without getting advice or input it would be tremendously less successful.  In some of my other design classes we have been discussing Interior Architecture versus Architecture and in discussing this I have become more aware of just how many groups of people become interdependent factors in your design. 

      In the beginning there is you- the designer, you have a source of inspiration, and whether it’s a person or object that thing is something you carry with you throughout the design process that shapes the end product.  It is the simplest kind of collaboration; it is you and your inspiration and ideas in your mind.  This is all before the people come into play. Whether it is a client, a partner, an engineer, or an expertise, all of these people are factors that mold your design.  Your ideas provoke input and input shapes your ideas.

       One of the most important relationships in the design process is between the designer and the client.  It’s kind of like 'If Mommas not happy, nobody’s happy.'  In the end if the design and client aren't happy, nobody. is happy. 

Meet Louis I. Kahn: one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century.  By his side, Jonas Salk: developer of the polio vaccine and one of Kahn’s most influential clients.  This six-year collaboration resulted in The Salk Institute for Biological Studies.   One of the most noted pieces of work of Kahns career

I haven't pictured The Salk Institute here because I think this video does it more justice than a still-frame and elaborates on the relationship between Salk and Kahn.

Kahn + Salk