I believe that building influence online is the future of architectural practice.

Fast forward to a not distant date; it may be that some buildings are designed and engineered digitally, “built” before the ground is even broken – all in view of a watching public. When construction begins, its process is monitored, explained and documented – also for public consumption. The hidden dramas of architecture are revealed to an untapped audience.

This is the nuptial promise of networked BIM technology and decentralized media advertising.

Still near-future: a potential client watchs an episode of Mad Men and then dial up Frank Gehry’s premium content (or that of any architect who has packaged his ongoing story via text and image). Stories of creation and teamwork, hardship and failure, make for great drama. The one providing these stories will influence the public audience and enhance the state of the profession. This is marketing writ large.

I’ll say it again. Building influence online is the future of architectural practice.

Now, back to the present:

• What can an underemployed architect do now to reach this future where what he or she has been trained to do is understood and valued?
• What can a struggling firm do now to cultivate viewers, followers, subscribers – “pre-clients” awaiting the new economy?
• What can strapped professional associations do now to raise the perceptual tide that buoys all the boats?

What can be done now to build influence online? Launch and maintain a professional blog!

That’s what Building Content is about. Coaching and encouraging architects to tell their unique story with a professional blog; to begin to build influence online.  Come back as I roll out the revised “Building Content”  – we can build architectural influence together.

 I’ll take one last look at the Orlando trip, not as a travelogue, but as an example of how consistent blogging can lead to new opportunities. In addition to my posts here at Building Content, I also guest blog on the member site UPworld  and I am active on a few key social networking sites including Architizer, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These extracurricular online activities, coupled with blogging, form the framework of my story, presented here briefly.
 
Prior to the Coverings 2010 show, Architizer established a contest to send a guest blogger to the event. The entry itself was a blog of sorts; a 200 word self promotion pitch.  The selected entry (linked here) was a light-hearted, if not cheesy, take on the Disney’s What’s Next ad campaign “I’m going to Disney World!”
I was flown to Orlando, met some great people (Nicole, Mark, Ryan)  learned a lot and prepared this recap blog  (linked here)  after the show.
 
Meanwhile, back at UPworld, I had been conversing with Duane Craig  who was seeking a LEED AP architect to interview for a pod cast on his own blog, The Construction Informer. Duane contacted me based on my member profile and a few earlier shared comments. Although credentialed, I didn’t feel qualified to discuss the LEED process, but I was interested in expanding my network through Duane’s pod cast. Fresh off the WordPress, I suggested my Architizer guest post as content for our interview.
 
After a bit of coordination, we connected and produced this podcast (linked here). 

Image by State Library and Archives of Florida via Flickr

 The long and short of it is that social network connections can and should positively impact others. Your blog content can be shared and exchanged and formatted in new ways to enrich different audiences. Be open to opportunities, enter online contests, seek the opportunities that abound in your social networks. 
 
Take a first step and share your story here.

• Registered Architect for 20+ years
• Creator of “Building Content” (Professional Architectural Blog) Nominated for “Best Construction Blog” competition
• Guest Blogger on UPworld.com (Real Estate, Design and Construction network) 
• Upcoming Guest Podcast on ConstructionInformer.com
• Member/Contributor at TrendWatcher.com
• Team Member/ Listed Contributor at Punchmark.com and WritersElite.com
• LEED Accredited Professional 
• Public Relations Committee, AIA National Convention, Charlotte, NC
• Architectural Participant, NADA National Conventions, Atlanta & Dallas 
• Project Manager, personal residence remodel including Oak, Tile and Granite
• Member, Architizer.com

The group learned from our guide that above all else, Walt Disney was a teller of stories. We know that bold concepts and broad stokes can outline a story, but it is the details of a story that bring it to life. And it is not the mere presence of details that matter, but the skillful application of them that makes the difference. Too few specifics can hinder engagement while too many can produce tedium. The Mastery of Details is in striking this balance.
 
We learned that Walt applied this simple rule; lavish fine details where guests will spend the most time and be more sparing elsewhere. As we toured the grounds we spent as much time behind the scenes. It’s true – Disney World visitors are immersed in rich detail while “backstage” is a place of unadorned efficiency. 

Photo by DanAndSherree.com

Our veteran guide gave a great example. Apparently some automated flowers were added to a planting bed near a public restroom. Children were the first to notice the active little flowers and their delight caught their parents’ attention. Before long families would gather around the animated plantings for group pictures. The special detail took on a life of it’s own. Whether the placement of the automated wonders came from Mr. Disney himself or whether it was evidence of the culture he established, I believe it speaks of the importance of details at an interactive level.

Liberty Theatre

Another example of details comes in the scaling of the buildings. I had learned years ago that ground level doors, windows and details are typically standard sizes, while upper floor elements are proportionally smaller and painted slightly lighter shades to promote the illusion they are farther away from the viewer. Disney didn’t invent these techniques – classical architects designed with such perspective-forcing devices. When necessary the visual rules can be manipulated in other ways as they are at the Liberty Theatre in EPCOT. As our guide pointed out, the recognizable elements of Williamsburg architecture were manipulated to bring the five-story structure down to scale as a two and a half-story. 

A final example, more subtle and more fun (to this writer anyway) are the Hidden Mickeys. These are details through out the parks, formed simply by three circles – the universally recognized icon of Mickey Mouse ears. Hidden Mickeys can be large enough to drive through as in the entry gates to Arata Isozaki‘s Team Disney building or as small and subtle as the slightindention of Mickey in the faux-stone fireplace in the Wilderness Lodge. These are the details that keep you hunting – each one a surprise treat for the viewer. 

Please feel free to add your Disney World details below…

Even if your assigned event is only an hour long, don’t go without a smart phone of some sort.
Access to your Twitter and Facebook accounts (as well as to other industry-specific community sites, such as Architizer) will allow you to post moment by moment updates. Beyond the obvious reasons for Tweeting your on-the-scene-experiences, there are two additional benefits. At the event, once you hit “tweet” your mind is clear of that thought and you’re ready for the next encounter (no mental notes required) and, after the event, when you do sit down to compose a blog post, you have a body of retrievable impressions to work from.

 
How I know this: I used a digital camera for images and a sketchbook for notes to compose my posts later. This combination worked earlier in my carrier, but it’s all we had then. This time a smart phone with web access and the appropriate apps would have allowed me to merge real-time words and images for even better blog content. Learn to work with the best tools you can get your hands on.

 Even if you tend to be frugal personally, don’t cut costs at the risk of jepordizing professionalism.
Unless your event and your accommodations are on airport property, or you find a driver holding a card with your name on it, you will have ground transportation choices to make. Taxis from the airport cost more but are more timely than shuttle circuits or public transportation. Daily car rental will likely be the most expensive, but most dependable, form of local transportation. Don’t loose control over your schedule and timely arrivals; plan ahead for these links. Oh, and have some tip money handy.

 
How I know this: My sponsors had forwarded me a check calculated to cover the taxi fair to and from the airport. Nice perk, right? Well, my big idea was to pay for the less expensive round trip shuttle service and apply the difference to the airline’s checked baggage fees. The math worked. The problem – money is time, and I lost hours of it in that choice. I arrived to the hotel after the lunch gathering and would have missed the Disney by Design tour if not for a wonderfully patient guide (thanks again, Nichole).
 

Even if you regularly blog in your pajamas, you’re being sent to an industry event. Dress the part.
Face it, some of us blog (or hope to one day) in order to ditch the corporate culture of grave-sized cubicles, paperwork tedium and company dress codes. (These non-conformity traits may have begun in preschool with checkmarks next to ”does not play well with others.”) However you choose to conduct yourself at home is your business, but when you are invited to a place of other people’s business, respect that industry and its leaders. Dress and present yourself appropriately.

How I know this: No, I didn’t arrive in Florida wearing sandals and a flowered shirt. There were no Mickey Mouse ears either. Fortunately, I had learned this lesson long before I’d ever heard of blogging. In preparation I determined the event’s expected attire (and packed an extra change of said attire for “just in case”) and I filled my identification badge cover with a thick stack of business cards. This part I got right.
 
 

Fellow bloggers, I hope these tips, some learned the hard way, serve you well on occasions when you are invited to guest blog at such an event. Feel free to share your story or add your advice below.

Walter E. Disney

The Coverings 2010 press team was treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Disney property. I have heard of these tours from other Architects over the years and have always wanted to participate. Assuming them to be invitation-only events, I relegated the tour to page two of my mental “bucket list”.  However, a tip of the hat is due to Esther Perman and Nicole Janok at Weeder+Perman for arranging the Disney Tour – and a dozen other perks – for the invited press.

 
 
We learned that Walt Disney was above all things, a teller of stories. Where Disney World may seem to be a sequel to his earlier Disneyland, the planning of his Florida project could not have been more different, or more profound. 

Disneyland Plaque

For Disneyland, Walt had selected an area outside Los Angeles; far enough out in Orange County to provide 160 undeveloped acres, but close enough to the freeway and other infrastructure to accommodate visitors. In addition to local residents, Los Angeles was growing as a vacation destination and an entertainment capital, providing an ongoing flow of family travelers and fantasy followers. Everything from media coverage to construction laborers to plant nurseries were available for Disney’s master plan. Construction began in summer of 1954 and Disneyland was grandly opened a mere twelve and a half months later!

 Walt Disney envisioned his new development to be so much more than an amusement park. He considered the entire development to be his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow – his E.P.C.O.T. Disney had long been captivated by World’s Fairs. They were a wonderful a mix of national pavilions promoting cultural understanding and of corporate demonstrations of future products and services. Alas, Worlds Fairs were only temporary extravaganzas, gone as surely as they came. Disney’s masterwork however would be a thriving community build around an ongoing fair of far away lands and future dreams. 

Image by Samantha Decker via Flickr

Whereas the Anaheim acreage for Disneyland was a relatively typical acquisition, the land mass required for Disney’s new world was a large scale covert mission. It began with Project X, a secret national search for the ideal location. On a flyover of central Florida, Walt must have seen the “X” marking the treasured spot. Soon dozens of entities – none bearing the Disney name – began seemingly random purchases of Orlando-area land. Over time, Disney secretly amassed a collection of low-cost pieces of Florida swamp- and scrub-land totaling 27,000 acres. Disney had taken this clandestine approach because he’d seen the quick and unmanaged growth around his California park. As soon as media reports speculated the Florida land grab was linked to Disney, he came forth to announce his grand vision – and real estate prices immediately soared.

Reedy Creek Improvement District - Disney World

The Los Angeles infrastructure that served Disneyland so well was non-existent at the Disney World location. Public-private ventures were established for the required utilities and services; Disney initiating and/or funding such necessities as water, sewer, power, communications, police, fire, and so forth. 

Disney was ahead of his time regarding sustainable land use and habitat protection. Well over a quarter of his newly acquired land was set aside as a perpetual nature preserve. An elaborate system of canals and levies were designed into the landscape to control water levels. Winding through the property (a place two times the size of Manhattan) these waterways were also used for canoe recreation and training. The canal system has managed water through several Central Florida hurricanes and will continue to serve in the future.  

These are a few of the details in the the planning of Disneyland and Disney World – two of Walt’s greatest “stories”  (as told to us by Wayne, a twenty-one year veteran as a Disney “cast member” and the current presenter of Disney by Design.) Please feel free to leave your comment below.

Later in this series we will look at how Walt Disney handled details.

Image via Wikipedia

 As a member of the press team for Coverings 2010, the first event was a behind-the-scenes tour of the Disney property with a twenty-one year veteran “cast member”. The theme for the afternoon: Disney by Design.

Most of us have gleaned stories of the over the years of the Disney, his talents his vision and the World he created. His hired architects and corporate successors too have generated some tales that have become legend. I was glad to be on hand to hear them again first hand.

I will follow this update shortly with a list of fun facts I learned or relearned from this tour.

Image by Fraochsidhe via Flickr

    PLEASE STAY TUNED. . .

Welcome to Orlando!

 The occasion for this change of focus? Well, on behalf of Architizer.com, I will be attending and blogging about Coverings 2010 – The Ultimate Tile + Stone Experience, in Orlando Florida. I have attended my share of conventions, but this is my first time as a member of the press. I look forward to posting my Coverings experience here daily but I also invite you to Architizer.com for “best of” coverage. (And go ahead and join Architizer.com while you are there!)   

 The following is from an early Coverings 2010 press release:

 ”Coverings is the premier international trade fair and expo dedicated exclusively to showcasing the newest in ceramic tile and natural stone. It has grown to be the largest and most important show of its kind in the U.S., featuring exhibitors from more than 50 countries and attracting thousands of distributors, retailers, fabricators, contractors and specifiers, architectural and design professionals, builders and real estate developers, plus the press and journalists who cover this vital and dynamic industry. Coverings is the stage for introducing some of the most innovative tile and stone products in the world. The exposition also serves as a valuable resource for continuing education for all categories of attendees, with informative, accredited seminars and live demonstration sessions conducted throughout the four days and all free of charge.”