Public Art Conference Archive—2001

Study Session: Design Teams and Integration

Presenters: Richard Brecknock, Brecknock Consulting, Adelaide, Australia and Mark Spitzer, AIA, Arai/Jackson Architects and Planners, Seattle, WA
Notetaker: Allyson Spellacy

Summary
This seminar presents design team work as a classical tradition which has surfaced periodically, most recently in the late 20th Century. It discusses the relative levels of integration as a convergence of interests with varying benefits and challenges. It then walks through the process, from the basic intent, to the selection of the participants, to the recognition of the power relationships, to the structure of a project and the related mechanics, and finally to the future of design teams.

The seminar combines the experience and skills of Richard Brecknock, a Public Art Consultant from Australia and Mark Spitzer, a practicing public art collaborator. This two-pronged point of view covers both the logical and practical organization of a variety of types of collaboration with the hands-on realities of bringing the projects to creative fruition.

Richard began the discussion by outlining ways of recognizing differing degrees of artist architect interaction:

• isolation, that is when a signature piece of work is dropped in to a public space
• interaction, where an artist’s work plays more of a role in the space, as in site specific work
• participation, where a dialogue between the artist and architecture take place and
• collaboration, where the artist has an active role on the design team of the project

Mark discussed the importance of the collaboration as an opportunity to push the innovative elements of an architectural or engineering project. In order for this to succeed it is crucial that the artist be brought on as early in the design stage as possible.

Questions from the participants

Q: How do you assist communities who have no experience in the collaborative process?

A: One method the speakers have used is a slide show in a community workshop, where successful design team projects are shown side by side with projects done without design teams—specifically using examples from the town or city that is commissioning the project. In this way, the value of a benefit versus a lack of benefit" is quickly established. It is important that the workshop reflect as many representatives from the community as possible: a city official, arts administrator, contractor, architect etc.

The speakers also recommended getting a copy of the city’s budget in advance of the meeting, to determine political priorities for the community's time, effort and money ahead of time: where is the bulk of city monies being directed? Is there a commitment to artwork in those areas?

Q: How do you engage the planners and architects into being willing collaborators?

A: Key word here is "willing" and should be applied to all participants of the design team.

Firstly the intent to collaborate needs to be there, or else the nature of the project needs to be redefined. Collaboration should not be imposed on either the artist or the architect.

Secondly, it is important for people to get to know each other, see slides of each other's work, spend some time talking about attitudes about this kind of work. Collaboration does take time.

Thirdly, in the case of the unwilling architect, the issues need to be identified and worked through. How language is used is very important. Each member of the team needs to understand the language (technical, conceptual and otherwise) of the other members. It is when this language becomes common to each member that the project takes on a truly collaborative nature. The speakers used the example of having all the members of the design team don each others’ caps, so that the architect would be dealing with conceptual issues and the artist would engage engineering issues. This helps build the team because it identifies each discipline’s boundaries, trespasses into what is usually sacred territory, and makes it difficult for the separate disciplines to draw behind their professional barriers. It also emphasizes that the project is greater than any one design team member.

In some situations it is a good idea to bring on another architect who has had positive experiences with the collaborative process, to act as a third party influence and facilitator.

Richard recommended that when obstacles are raised to creative ideas it is important for the artist to ask "why?" as a way of exploring the options and finding alternative ways of achieving the concept.

An artist commented on language exchange, in one case, through materials.

He found himself surrendering a project in a positive way. He described having a back-hoe operator "sculpt" the installation of an I-beam on a project. This made the artwork belong, in a sense, to the construction worker. The public art project becomes a success when it outgrows the sum of its parts. Mark agreed and said that in his experience, the more he "gives up" on a project, the more he gets back, that when he makes the intention of his work reaching other people‘s goals the more successful a project becomes. He calls this syndrome: "the highest common denominator."

Q: What is the role of the arts administrator on the design team?

A: Generally, it depends on how the contractual obligation has been defined. Specifically, it involves getting involved with the dynamics of the team, intervening, predicting problems, facilitating the process, supporting the artist.

Q: How can you prevent artists from being excluded from meetings?

A: All members of the design team must be allowed to attend every meeting, no exceptions. When people are missing from the decision making process it is not a true collaborative project. Artists should also be cc’d on all email exchanges affecting their work between the architect and general contractor.

The artist must be considered a professional part of the team and paid as such. If the artist is paid appropriately to attend meetings, he/she will be expected to show up. No-one would expect the engineer to show up for free, nor would the design team consider having a meeting if the architect could not attend.

Because artists are often paid on a commission basis, multiple meetings tend to be an expensive component of the project for them, particularly if they have to fly in and stay overnight to attend meetings. How the artist’s contract is set up is very important. It should be taken into fiscal consideration, perhaps on an hourly basis, how much it costs the artist to attend meetings. A certain number of meetings can be agreed upon at the beginning of the project and costed into the artist’s fee. Any additional meeting over and above those budgeted for could be handled as variations to the artist’s contract price. If everyone else on the team can bill for reimbursable expenses (travel, hotel, reproductions, etc) then the artist should be able to do this as well.

Q: What are the issues when you import an artist or architect onto the job?

A: You need to be realistic about the budget of the project. If there are insufficient funds to cover the additional costs of out of town travel it’s better to go with a local artist or architect. It needs to be determined before the call for artist if there is enough money to fly the artist or architect in for regular meetings. If it is decided that outside experience is of value to the project, then the project should expect to reimburse the out of town artist for travel.

In the case of importing an artist, it is often a good idea to also bring a local artist on board to oversee fabrication and attend meetings.

Q: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to how an artist is commissioned?

A: In the case of an artist being selected by the art commission the art tends to be more independent from the rest of the project. Collaboration will depend on the voluntary willingness of the team members.. On the other hand, what happens if the team brings its own artist? If the art commission doesn’t choose the artist, often it is hard to fall back on them to intervene when problems arise. On the other hand, when art commissions do choose the artist it is often late in the design stage. It is important to resolve the hiring protocol before the team is selected.

Richard recommended having an artist on board when the design team bids on the job and explained that he and his colleagues work with teams early in the project to identify the art opportunities and artist skills required. It is also a good idea for the commissioning agency to expect an artist to be part of the design team package. It helps for a design team to have a pool of artists that they work with and successful projects as examples, in the same way it is important for the art commission to build into the scope of the project, that an artist should be involved.

Mark explained that he helped write scope changes into the King County Public Art ordinance. One important aspect of this was the advance work which Cath Brunner, King County Public manager, did with the affected department heads. Richard noted how important it is for a city to have long term vision when it comes to identifying opportunities in infrastructure projects as they arise.

For those communities wanting to try design team work for the first time, Mark recommended starting with small "demonstration" projects. Something as straightforward as a bus shelter project that is successful, has a much more positive affect on Public Works Administration, than ambitious failures. Richard used the example of an artist and architect hitting it off at a slide show. The architect brought the artist on for a small but successful collaboration. For the architect’s next project, he brought a dozen artists on board for a building with no art budget, and managed to work their concepts and signature pieces into the scope of work, based on his previous positive experience.

Q: Do buildings really look significantly different when an artist is part of the design team?

A: (Mark and Richard) Yes!

Q: Must an artist go all the way through the project?

A: Yes, you wouldn’t drop the engineer after the drawings had been approved. One important aspect of this type of work is that artistic decisions are made in the shop drawing and construction stages in the same way as changes to the architecture and engineering are.

Q: Define Design Team.

A: A true collaboration. While there are many ways to approach an integrated project and they may all be valid, it should be decided if a true integration is appropriate. Sometimes it’s equally appropriate to drop a sculpture into an existing space. True collaborations require thinking holistically, sometimes hiring a consultant, having enough time and money and having the community’s commitment.

Q: How do you get started?

A: Again the slide show described above. Also, ask for the city’s budget a month ahead of time to get sense of political commitment. Look at a 5–10 year infrastructure plan for the city. Determine if it is appropriate to bring in an artist. (Phoenix, San Jose and Ft Lauderdale had Mark and Jack Mackie come in and do one-day workshops to give a broad view.) Richard described the Australian experience of assisting artists and architects to build confidence in collaborations through joint workshops between the arts organizations and the institute of architects. These workshops allowed for an exchange of creative ideas and processes in a relaxed and supportive environment.

Q: Design Build Vs Design Bid Build. Are there advantages to an artist here?

A: Bottom line with Design Build is to save money. There is not enough client interaction. The Project Manager has ultimate power, and is under tremendous pressure to bring the building in on time and on budget. Because of this it may be more appropriate to have an artist do a site specific work, or a signature piece. Richard explained that one way to ensure that artists were included in Design Build is to require their involvement through the tender document

An arts administrator from Denver described a successful experience he had with a Denver project. By working art into existing components of the building, they extended the budget and were able include more art. Key, though, is having artists with construction experience and background on board. It is then possible to have some "second tier" artists to embellish the project. In his case, the volume, shape and materials of the building were all affected, and the result of the project was truly collaborative.

Q: Regarding contingency fees.

A: Budget worksheets are a must, especially as artists tend to over propose. Write up a line item budget (see next answer). Artists should be encouraged to include a contingency fee, always, of at least 10%. It was also recommended that contingencies be set aside for both the construction budget and the commissioning agency’s budget.

Q: Some recommendations for artists and administrators.

A: Because the procurement process often brings artists on too late, it is a good idea to maintain a Planning Document. Scope out possibilities with artists, bring them on board to do books which scope out the possibilities. However, the artist should be allowed to realize at least one project.

Recommendation for artists: send your slides, particularly successfully completed projects, to architectural design teams, as well as arts administrators.

Q: What is the role of the artist on a design team?

A: To push, to motivate and to enlarge the concept of the project. To represent the artistic voice of the community.