Submitted by Carl Lubawy, AIA
Architecture can be thought of as a golf course.
Golf is a great game! The player has spectacular views of the best real estate in the world. Players experience the adventures of their foursome. Players experience first hand weather conditions which affect the simplicity of what the game is about, the score. Since I was twelve, I’ve enjoyed the game; as I have aged, these three intangibles – location, reactions, course management – are now recognized as things that benefit – or justify – my score.
After 50 years of playing it comes down to that; it comes down to understanding what determines your score. The score says how you performed within the parameters of these intangibles. So how did you manage the land, react to your fellow players, and experience the weather?
So here’s my story line: Architecture can be thought of as a golf course. Quite a comparison some members may scratch their heads about. Let’s continue.
Being an architect is a great career and the more I mature the more I learn. The designer has views to some of the best real estate in the world. Architects enjoy the dialogue of their colleagues and allied supporters. Architects monitor the weather conditions which affect the simplicity of their design, the form left upon the landscape. In my fourth year of architecture school, I enjoyed design and began to understand its process; as I have matured, three intangibles of architecture – location, reactions, course management – are now recognized as things that benefit – or definitely affect – the final form upon the landscape.
After thirty-five+ years of being an architect it comes down to that; it comes down to understanding how the form comes to be. How many professions influence land, people, and weather, in a single form left upon the landscape? Did we, as the architects, utilize our project’s intangible benefits to better our understanding of the form?
There’s the decision.
Have you ever stood on the first tee with three foursomes watching you take that first swing? Have you ever stood in front of a drawing board and embarked on a design?
To me, both experiences are similar by the nature each forces you to react naturally; you’ll start out based on your talents; you’ll set a course for the next decision; you’ll act/react/counteract to achieve the best result; and those watching you will see how choices are handled wherever the adventure takes you. And whether we stroll down a tree-lined fairway, or move our drawing tools over lines and more lines that only the creator of the lines can end up translating, our path will make its mark upon the landscape.
As I and my generation of colleagues have matured, we have learned that everybody influences our design and the design is not complete when our role changes. Architecture is not a one man show. How can one man be responsible for what happens to the land, community, weather patterns? One man relies upon another upon another which in the end makes the form more important. It’s like a golf course. Architects have the unique challenge of viewing the location, creating adventures for those that enter, and reacting to the weather…the form is all that’s left.
