It became clear to me the other night that after all of these, years, I have a lot to learn. Our firm is working on the design of a very nice church addition and we had been waffling around with the plan of the sanctuary over the past few months. We would look at it one way and get some folks to engage, and then they would ask us to look at it another way and others would prefer that layout. And then, it dawned on me. Our design is all about flexibility. And, we just keep on showing them only a portion of the story.

That is the issue with drawings. They are static. As architects, we see the potential of the space and have a vision that is so darn hard to communicate in graphic form to the client group. And, a fixed plan is exactly that. It is a plan that is fixed and cannot rely on the viewer to understand the potential flexibility. In order for the client to understand the flexibility, we have to show them the potential.

You just never keep learning. Architecture is all about communication…and you have to tell the entire story.