"Last, in the public sector more than in the private one, you need someone who can do contract administration," says Minicucci. He adds that school architects also need the ability to couple aesthetics with practicality to ensure a building's functionality and durability. Minicucci points out that because the adage "Time is money" is especially true in planning and construction, this key individual must be given the power to quickly make necessary changes on the job. "It's critical that you have a decision-making architect who coordinates the process from beginning to end. Minicucci Jr., who leads a seven-member committee charged with overseeing school construction for North Andover, Massachusetts. He's the quarterback of the professionals," says real estate developer Louis P. "The architect is the single most important member of the building-committee team. Unfortunately, committees charged with hiring often don't know what qualities to look for in architects - nor what to expect from them.
Though an eye-catching structure in an idyllic setting may also be an effective school building, creating spaces that enhance learning depends less on the "Wow!" factor and more on finding architects who know and understand the needs of those who will work and study in those schools. "It's as if architects and editors look at schools as beautiful settings for education but rarely consider how the school can be designed to enhance learning." He points out that articles about school construction often take this approach.
"The photos in architectural magazines are typically devoid of people," says Daniel Cecil, of Harriman Associates, an architectural and engineering firm in Auburn, Maine. There's nothing wrong with good-looking buildings, but a school's reason for being, not its appearance, should always be the primary focus. Though it's true that these anecdotal stories represent unusual, random architectural errors and shouldn't make the entire profession suspect, anyone involved with building or renovating a school knows that achieving success requires far more than finding an architect who can impress you with glamorous renderings that look like pages from Architectural Digest. And this: Rumor has it that shortly after a major psychiatric hospital in New York City opened a new high-rise wing, a patient on a gurney was wheeled into an elevator that turned out to be too short to let the doors close the architect explained that he had assumed mental patients don't need gurneys.
0 kommentar(er)
