Martha Stewart visited recently.
The country I live in, not me, though I am personally grateful for all the interviews she’s entertained my husband for days (indirectly, of course via the printed publications we are lucky to receive daily);
The homemaking Queen’s call triggered my renewed interest in domesticity but also hospitality in general.
I’d written a number of posts on the need to run the AEC more like the hospitality industry before and was challenged on the idea by some;
Nevertheless, the subject fascinates me. I see far more similarities than differences so I still encourage keeping an eye on what ‘restaurantors’ are up to when devising strategies to improve the AEC.
One of the commentators promoted ‘prefabrication’ ahead of the idea of being overly charmed by the actions of those that help filling ones tummies.
“...These are successful because we modelled our activities after manufacturing, not Veal Picatta. Prefabrication keeps waste of the jobsite, meeting one of the highest principles of LEED (managing waste)...”
But is the Foods & Drinks industry not one of the best examples of prefabrication?
Where did the “The one I prepared earlier” saying originate from?
The AEC is notoriously bad at capturing lessons learned, collecting, distilling and bottling up its knowledge, get Martha Stewart’s help!
Or is it time to talk to the good people of ‘Sara Lee’?
Was it William Morris the early industrial designer who thought (hoped?) that automation would be applied to individual products making custom designs affordable to a broad section of people?
ReplyDeleteWith well-known exceptions, and long before and since the industrial revolution (and fast food), buildings have typically been "one-offs," in contrast to the stuff Morris was thinking of (if I am correct about that attribution). So the applicability of mass production techniques to buildings tapers off significantly once on the jobsite.
But, no reason it shouldn't be applied in the designer's office, right? All that the term "Mc-architecture" implies aside for the moment, standardized formats, methods, packaging, and yes, even principles can serve a design office, its clients, and even its product well.
As with everything, the challenge is in knowing when to leave the security of formulas lest the product become as rote as the process. Damned if that time doesn't look different every time I approach it.
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