As architects, who do we serve? As a client business, we serve our paying customers. As licensed professionals, we serve regulatory standards and safety codes. As community members, we serve society. As creative individuals, we serve an artistic agenda and the zeitgeist.
At Poon Design Inc., we evaluate the completion of each project. The question is this: What percentage of the original design is evident in the built work? If we are successful, the final results capture the initial concept, and we pat ourselves on the back for achieving 95% or higher. But sometimes, we get only 70% or lower, meaning the original design got compromised along the way. Why/how?
VoyageLA, the flagship publication of the Voyage Group of Magazines, takes a fresh approach to media, within multiple cities across the country. With stories on artists, entrepreneurs, underdogs, and risk takers, VoyageLA states, “We respect people and organizations that take the path less traveled.” Below are edited and abridged excerpts from my interview with VoyageLA.
A contemporary phrase often recommended is, “Read the room.” In business, everyone is required to have skills of observation and deduction, as well as awareness, both in general and self. But this is also required–whether a corporate boss or high school teacher, a police officer or nurse, with family or friends. In life, it is imperative to understand a setting or situation, whether professional or social.
In 2015, I launched this weblog. It has been a decade of writing, now over 200 articles, totaling about 150,000 words. For reference, the first Harry Potter book contains 76,944 words.
At the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of Egypt, south of Jordan, an ambitious region of industry, global trade, recreation, and housing has been underway. For this newly planned community, Poon Design was invited to provide sketch concepts for five residential prototypes, to be mass produced throughout the neighborhood. From the archives, I share our 2019 studies that explore new ideas in the architecture of grand private estates. In this West Asian and Middle Eastern context, how is a house a home?
