Spencer McNeil, Author at Ernesto Santalla, PLLC | Architecture + Interiors + Furniture + Graphics

Good Design or Bad Design?

Electronic check-in and boarding passes? Good design.

Not enough space on a form to enter an email address? Bad design.

Rubber shoe covers? Good design.

The Ford Pinto? Bad design.

Everything we use has been designed. Sometimes it’s effortless to the point we take it for granted and then there’s the day the release latch on the umbrella is stuck and it’s pouring rain. What is the criteria to distinguish a good design from bad design? First, it must provide a viable solution to a need or desire. Next, it must serve its intended purpose. And finally, it must withstand its usable life cycle.

When it comes to architectural design, the criteria is simultaneously easier and more complex because of all the possible permutations of a single idea. I’ll use some of Studio Santalla’s projects to discuss the concept.

This is a 5 ft x 7 ft bathroom. It’s used just about everywhere in the US; it’s the standard when planning a bathroom. Does it provide a viable solution? Yes; and it works for its intended purpose and with proper care it will last for years. It’s a space efficient design. But is the instance shown in the photo a good design? No.

Bases, Casings and Mouldings-Just Why?

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For years, applied trim was a given on all my interior projects. By trim, I am referring to base moulding, crown moulding, window and door casing, etc. It was was selected and specified from a catalogue, except in those projects where we created custom profiles. Trim is available in hundreds of shapes and sizes, which when combined or modified, expands the possibilities exponentially.

Trim serves an architectural purpose, with origins that trace back to Classic Greek Architecture. Used effectively, it gives a room scale, enhances doors and openings and reinforces the geometry of a room.

The interior of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice by Renaissance Master Andrea Palladio illustrates the perfect use of moulding in accordance with the Corinthian style of Architecture, executed in stone and plaster.

The Architectural Pantheon

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I am a one word professional: architect, so the inevitable cocktail party question has a simple answer. Over the years, my list of professional interests has expanded. I’ve done work in graphic design, photography, furniture design, exhibit and event design, product design and textile design. Add writing to this mix and now you know what I’ve been doing for almost thirty years.

That for all this time I’ve used the one word expletive is primarily because it’s accurate, mixed in with a healthy dose of snobbery. Architecture is one of the classical fine arts, an ancient and noble profession, which somehow confers the self-imparted right to turn one’s nose sharply up at other applied arts, the likes of those I also practice. I think the attitude starts with the educational process.

Research shows the nose will appear to curl up higher when the mouth is pulled back.

Objects of Our Desire

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When you need a check up, call a doctor, but when you have a toothache, call the dentist. When buying property or in need of a will, there will be a lawyer involved. When the plumbing malfunctions, call the plumber and when the car breaks, take it to the mechanic.

In a world of must haves, why doesn’t everyone have an architect? In fact, most of the built environment is not the work of architects. What’s interesting, in an article published by Metropolis in 2008 suggests it’s largely due to architect elitism. If 98% of architects are unwilling to design for the middle class income sector, the vast majority of the population is underserved. If that’s accurate, there’s a huge untapped market out there. Something here isn’t adding up, is it?

Fashionista Architecture

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I like fashion, for which I have officially joined the ranks of the frivolous as far as many serious professionals are concerned. That I like clothes is no secret to those who know me, but couture is not a subject frequently discussed by the intellectual elite. In my opinion, however, fashion has much in common with architecture and the fine arts.

Scientists estimate our ancestors started wearing clothes around 100,000 BC from the evidence of body lice on humans. The fur from hunted animals was used to cover the body and served as functional shelter from the elements.

Archaeological findings reveal that textiles and needles dating from prehistoric times, which were likely used to manufacture clothing. Depictions abound of uniformity in dress, which implies mass production, but clothing has and continues to be used as a sign of hierarchy, class and distinction and has a language of it’s own to the present day.

A reconstruction in the British Museum of headgear and necklaces worn by women in some Sumerian graves. Versions of both are worn to this day, sans daffodils.

Architectural Shopping Cart 2013

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Visualization is key. If you can see it, you can achieve it, self-empowerment gurus are quick to say. Well believe it, because I’ve been seeing it for a long time, insofar that I spend my days thinking about the visual world as I experience life in the city, buildings, interior spaces, and so on.

As I experience this visual world I love, there are projects that would become welcome additions to that cocktail book in progress on my work. I’ve added them to my “cart.” In no particular order…

This is a view of the renovated lobby at the Public House, an Ian Schrager hotel in Chicago, designed by Yabu Pushelberg. I saw it this past summer and was blown away. The renovation is done with artistry, restraint and exquisite taste. It epitomizes “cool” because it’s not trying, it just is.
http://www.yabupushelberg.com

FABULOUS

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I started using a cell phone on a regular basis around 1998. As all it did was make phone calls and as battery life was poor, I’d turn it on and off whenever I needed it. A number of years later, texting was introduced and for that I had no need, to say the least of a camera. Eventually, I learned to appreciate and embrace new and useful technologies

In 2007, shortly after the iPhone was introduced, I was in Paris, I had a moment when a number of things I am passionate about came together: travel, shopping, writing, photography and graphic design merged with the romantic at heart. Fabulous, a self-published booklet came out of that.

Arrivederci Prima Donna

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I have a new banker. He visited the office last week to introduce himself and to begin our meet and greet session he asked “you’re and interior decorator, right?” Long silence and then, “no, I’m an architect.” Truth be known, it wasn’t a first, it won’t be the last, but frankly, does it matter? I realize my knee-jerk reaction is part of an education rooted in the Bauhaus school, which eschewed decoration, but this gentleman’s perception is worth exploring.

Stereotypes, which depict extremes will help explain what I do exactly. One end of the spectrum has the architect,

Green Was Not Sustainable

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I’m thankful green is a color again. A few years ago, it seemed like all I heard was “Go Green.” Luckily, those who were in it to turn a profit were exposed as frauds and we could re-focus on the global issues we face.

Far from being left behind as a fad, however, the “green” discussion has more aptly focused on sustainability and is more heated than ever because it’s a fluid goal and concept. One discussion leads to others, introduces a new set of issues, which add a new set of considerations. And so on and so forth.

Take Daylighting for instance. Daylight is free on a daily basis and available to everyone equally-at least in theory. As a lighting technique it decreases our reliance on artificial lighting, generally powered by electricity, which is typically produced from fossil fuels. The notion that daylighting is desirable in many application is simple to embrace.

Luxury, Necessity Then Obsolete

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When things like electricity and telephone service became available to those who could afford it, some households passed on the offer because they had servants to keep their rooms lit at night with candles and other servants to deliver and receive messages. As with any other technology, the novelty caught on to the point of necessity where we are very hard pressed to subside without either one of them for more than a day as we rely on electric chargers to keep our phones operational.

A hand powered electric generator