Somebody Else Thinks Like Us!

Our outlook on client relationships is that of a partnership. To us, teamwork means using everyone’s expertise. The client knows their product best- we know design best. Our best work comes from a relationship where this is understood and we can use our creativity to make something great. This situation doesn’t always happen easily, though, and sometimes the whole thing requires a gentle nudge in the right direction.

This architecture firm feels the same way! It’s good to see this fundamental interlacing through industries.

How do you balance allowing for a necessary amount of compromise with clients with maintaining your creative integrity and vision on any given project?

One of the things that people come to us for is the quality of the design. Our biggest challenge is to maintain that quality of design, and to work within the parameters of each individual project. There’s no such thing as a project with no budget. Every project has a budget, and every architect has to work within those constraints.

Sometimes it just comes down to us constantly reminding the client, saying things like: “We’re not going to go down that path, because we don’t like that design approach, or we think the details should be done this way. This is typically what we do, therefore this is why you’ve come to us. If this is the kind of building you want, this is the direction we have to go.”

Then we try to understand what their goals are, and do what we can do within that framework to achieve something that we’re happy with from a design point from view, and from an execution point of view. A building needs to be built beautifully. That’s always our goal, and we remind the client. [laughs] A lot!

Read the whole interview with Richard Meier & Partners Architecture COO N. Scott Johnson here.