THE TRUE NARRATIVE
By Alex Temporale, OAA, FRAIC
My experiences in over 50 years of practice have been mostly positive. Yes, there have been recessions and tensions, but troublesome clients have been in the minority. Regarding general contractors, my experiences have also been almost always positive, although there was one contractor who, rather than completing the project, took the time and pleasure to call late Friday afternoons with grievances. Once these became verbal attacks on municipal staff, the contractor was fired. There are always challenging projects, rewarded by too little compensation, but generally, my “stories from the trenches” are happy ones.
Our editor often stresses the importance of writing for architects, and I can’t dispute this (see, for example, The Right Angle Journal’s issue on “Storytelling”). But I would like to focus specifically on the stories architects write about the design of their projects. In other design fields, these are sometimes called design narratives and backstories. Too often in architectural projects, these stories are simply rationales to justify a design approach or a means of branding a design. They appear as an afterthought rather than an original story that has been developed from the parti. Some of these stories are written in an architectural language that only architects can comprehend. Whether this way of writing is deliberate or unintentional, this is one area where better architectural writing would be beneficial to everyone.
Part of the problem is that there are limited opportunities to “think out of the box.” Projects often come with many constraints and predetermined outcomes from clients and authorities. It seems that, with the passing of time, it has become even more challenging to assess and reinvent building types to meet the needs of a changing world. Since architecture is designing for people, in every project, there must be time to evaluate how the building will be used and its impact on its users. Both these things—use and impact—involve stories. Time is required to consider the narrative options. A strong narrative or parti can lead to a breakthrough design. The storytelling that flows from the design is direct and honest.
I’ve been a member of design teams that were given both the opportunity and the time. Our “stories” have won awards.
Our first lesson in design had a wrong start. Stark Temporale Architects’ first house, the Mumford Residence had a program but a totally open design direction. It was to be located on a hilltop by a rural road. We focused on one idea too quickly, designing for ourselves and not for the client. It came as a shock and a surprise that our modern” Sea Ranch” design did not sit well with the retiring couple. We changed gears and paid greater attention to the needs of the client and the context. The narrative that was eventually chosen was based on “the farmyard,” which typically has a cluster of barns and sheds. The result was a series of one level barn-like pavilions, clad in board-and-batten siding. A national housing award followed.
A second and rarer opportunity came next. Without any past public work as a firm, Stark Temporale was given the opportunity to design three outdoor pools, with the goal of reinventing these outdoor facilities, which until then consisted of rectangular concrete block change rooms adjacent a wire-fence-enclosed pool. The breakthrough parti was the “Family at the Lake,” whose story involved the many activities available to each member of the family regardless of age. The resulting architecture was totally new for this type of facility. It had stadium seating for viewing and sunbathing. There were picnic areas and a splashpad. The design employed natural materials and bright coloured graphics. The pools immediately attracted strong public use.
There have been other opportunities since. But the above two examples are memorable because they influenced the culture of a young firm and sent it on a positive trajectory. From these experiences, I learned that a good story is important, whether it is written down or simply understood by all design participants, and it begins when the project begins, not at the end. The most important story is the one that the users of the project create for themselves, with the architect’s design story to guide them.
I think that most architects seek those special opportunities to have the freedom and time to look at potential narratives in order that everyone can see and appreciate the end story.
