Glen Small in HOW TO GO TO A COCKTAIL PARTY, blogs about the necessity of being a good hustler to succeed in architecture. Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Peter Cook, Hadid, FLW and even Eero Saarinen, all referred in real time encounters and hustling moments.
Glen Small in HOW TO GO TO A COCKTAIL PARTY, blogs about the necessity of being a good hustler to succeed in architecture. Frank Gehry, Jean Nouvel, Peter Cook, Hadid, FLW and even Eero Saarinen, all referred in real time encounters and hustling moments. smallatlarge | related archinect discussions 1 , 2
8 Comments
I saw that video of Glen Small calling Frank Gehry a "hustler".
It was the time when post-modernism was just starting to take hold in LA and competing with the other schools of architectural thought: the old case-study modernist aesthetic or the 'organic/futurist/solar/environmental ' direction Small was advocating.
In a way the schools of vision are still competing today: The Dwell magazine look that emphases minimalist form and clean lines versus the messy green bio-morphic futurism.
It seems to me that Smalls messy green bio-architecture did not fade away as Glen did. Although he may of not of been as successful as a lot of other architects Glen's advocacy and teaching predated much of contemporary green architecture. Its a Glen Small world after all.
Every week I see photos that are doing or trying what Glen designed years ago.
turf town
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=100041_0_24_0_C
Hong Kong Peak container
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=96294_0_24_0_C
Here is a rhetorical question. How many people copy Frank Gehry's shapes? And call it their own? With a straight face?
Me. I'm just smiling.
eric chavkin
i remember getting an e-mail from plot office after posting here couple of years ago..
http://www.archinect.com/forum/threads.php?id=76356_0_42_0_C
they didn't know about small's work they said. but similarity, i think, is good, except glen didn't get a penny out of his earlier version. hence, "HUSTLER IS THE MAGIC WORD"
thats cool orhan. makes ya think.
don't agree ingels should be called HUSTLER as pejorative. that belittles a real accomplishment.
we are mostly all hustlers. even staying in this profession is a form of hustling. getting a client is hustling. designing your project and getting it build is hustling. architecture is a one big hustling tent. glen is a hustler too. who wasn't? neutra, schindler, rem, thom, you name it, are all hustlers. architecture, as we know and practice, could not exist without it.
i don't use it as a pejorative, i use it as a fact of life.
would i want differently? sure, because it disadvantages some very good architects who cannot do it well or don't have the right persona to perform hustle to their benefit.
any creative profession, art, architecture thrives on individual's drive, ways to represent one's self, talent and need to practice. the rules to do this include a lot of coming a step forward and and open your vanity, persona and work to the public. that takes a lot of courage and self assurance, thick skin. there aren't many work spots in architecture say for, there are as for doctors, scientists, lawyers, bankers etc.. you are basicaly selling something you make.. yes telephone rings out of blue every once in a while but usually it rings because you put the goods out there..
jump,
i don't know, i used to hate the word but as i get older, it starts to gain different meanings and represents more of a reality that must be dealt in this type of vanity sales.
you do know what i mean.;.))
oh yeah i understand completely, and withdraw my remark ;-)
i was being over-sensitive, thinking it meant BIG (and folks like us who want to be like the good Mr. Ingels) do nothing but sell themselves better than others, which is obviously not the real story.
to be truthful we are selling ourselves everyday. it is all that we do, really. we are not so good at it yet but i think we are learning...
i wouldn't use the word hustler though, but that is almost certainly just my ego. it implies to me the idea of a con man, which i am not.
glen's stories are great though and amazing that he did the BIG buildings before BIG. it is amazing how little can ever be truly new.
Like H.H. Richardson said in the 19th century (to paraphrase)- "The most important thing in Architecture is getting the job".
Orhan, thanks for consistently sharing this stuff from Small. It's great to follow and learn from this ongoing conversation (and thanks to chavkin for always dropping in with a few cents worth of history).
The thing is, architecture IS hustling to get the job, in part. Architecture is also talent, vision, perseverance, experience, organizational skills, and quite a bit of being in the right place at the right time.
In a parallel, over the last few years I've gathered a network of local parents whom I would trust to take care of my son if an emergency arose and I couldn't pick him up from school. I've consciously and aggressively assembled this network of people to help me succeed - is that hustling, or is that taking care of my responsibilities?
I disagree with this notion that aligning yourself with people with whom you would like to work is somehow dirty. It can be done dirtily, but that's different.
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