建筑师希望景观设计师能配合的5件事
5 Things Architects Want from a Landscape Architect

由专筑网孙佳，李韧编译

我们喜欢建筑，我们喜欢与建筑师合作。大家都知道，建筑师与景观设计师的关系中有时较为紧张，但是并没有必要这样。当和谐的团队共同合作时，工作效率往往会高很多。多年以来，我们已经成功地完成了许多项目，我们听取了建筑师们的许多看法。以此为前提，下文列出了五条与建筑师合作的建议，它们可以帮助您一次又一次地成为他们的“首选”景观设计师。


1．注意截止日期

做出按时交图的承诺非常容易，但是你真的要这么做到。每个企业常常都会调整最终的交图时间，努力让事情按部就班地进行。每天你的任务都有可能不同，但交图日期却始终存在。如果你感觉时间紧迫，那么一定要向建筑师确认最终日期。因为在通常情况下，建筑师定制时间线的时候会考虑到一些变动性，大多数的设计师都很能理解这些状况，所以从一开始就应该考虑这些变量因素。

虽然交图时间听起来有些可怕，但是你一定要为自己留出充足的预留时间。在任何情况下，只要你认为可能需要推迟交图日期的时候就立即告知建筑师，这种及时的沟通很容易被人们所接受。如果当你等到最后一刻才通知建筑师，那么你可能会面对更多的问题，甚至会让合作者很难堪。因此你可以提出增加时间的需求，这样做你才能更好地完成项目。话虽如此，但是你一定更希望能够提早完成任务，这样你的工作也具有一定的灵活性。

We love architecture and we love working with architects. It’s no secret that there’s sometimes tension in the architect/landscape architect relationship, but there’s no reason it needs to be that way. The duo will always create a better project together when they work as a team in harmony. Over the years, we’ve successfully navigated many projects and relationships and we’ve listened to what architects say about what rings their bell and what pushes their buttons. To lay the foundation, here are five guidelines for working with architects that will help you become their ‘go-to’ landscape architect, time after time.

1.        Be responsive to deadlines
It’s tempting to say “never miss a deadline”, but never missing a deadline requires that you recognize when time seems short and respond to that. Every business is juggling all the time and consistently re-prioritizing in an effort to make things run smoothly despite variables. Your top priority today may not be the same as your top priority tomorrow. But still, there are deadlines all the time, sometimes more than one on the same day. When this happens and your collar starts feeling tight, pick up the phone and ask the architect for the latest possible date of delivery. Often times there’s some flexibility built into the timeline because most professionals are all too familiar with the need for wiggle room and thus pad deadlines from the beginning.
Even if it’s a hard deadline, you never know when another factor has changed on the other end and the architect needs an extra day as much as you do. In either case, by giving them a heads-up as soon as you recognize you might need to push a deadline out, the open communication will be well-received. It’s when you wait until the last minute––or the actual deadline––to inform them you won’t meet it that you create more problems and inflame the architect and probably others. By asking for more time, you can effectively re-establish a deadline and by doing so, you won’t miss it. Having said that, surely you want to aim to meet those original deadlines the best you can each time so that when you need flexibility it won’t be a case of here he goes again asking for more time.


4th West公寓／4th West Apartments designed by Loft Six Four

2．让生活更轻松

我们可以尽量让沟通轻松一些，这样建筑师就不需要为了证明自己而不断重复某些观点，这样让大家的工作都更加容易进行下去。问题的关键在于记住他们所提出的问题，并且意识到他们是客户，你在这里为他们解决问题，而不是产生问题或摩擦。你可以通过良好的工作、沟通，在整个过程中积极主动，不要延误交图日期，最终达到建立信任共同合作的目的。

我们需要做的是消除尽可能多的障碍。当发送电子邮件时，请尽量保持文字言简意赅，并且明确地列出需求。通过这种方式你可以避免错误地传达信息，亦或是一些不必要的重复。这些小事加在一起就是良好沟通的开端，并且最终成为项目顺利进行的保障。你要让合作方感到轻松愉悦，这样他们也会对你给予信任。

2.        Make their life easier
When we make the architect look good it makes their life easier by way of eliminating the need to prove themselves. The key to making their life easier is always having their perspective in mind and recognizing that they’re the client and you’re here to solve problems for them, not create problems or friction. You can do this by doing your job well, communicating, being proactive throughout the process, not missing deadlines, building trust, and collaborating with them.
The main goal is to remove as many obstacles as possible, even in things that seem mundane. When you send an email, make sure they don’t have to read a lengthy message and extract from it what you need. Put any requests or items that need a response in a list format or a clear statement of what you need and when you need it. This way you can avoid miscommunications or the need to go back and forth multiple times to clarify. All of these smaller efforts add up to a well-run project and ultimately a stellar end result that everyone is proud of. You want the architect, and everyone, to walk away feeling light about the entire project, knowing that they can count on you to deliver, to be creative, to communicate well, to alleviate stress, and always have their back.


4th West公寓／4th West Apartments designed by Loft Six Four

3．让他们在客户面前看起来很棒

我们常常会有自己的日程，我们处在自己的世界中，做自己的事，这样常常使我们忘记了从另一个角度去看问题。让我们感到压力的事情往往都很微妙，例如来自上司的压力，亦或是错过了交图时间，以及项目文件中的纰漏。首先要了解建筑师，然后肯定他们的工作，同时保持项目的顺利进行。不妨反问自己，我们如何让合作方感到轻松？比如我们可以帮忙他们解决一些问题，这可以加强你们之间的关系，建立信任感，让他们可以从内心里相信你。

让建筑师保持自信很重要。一位建筑师有一个项目，客户在设计文件中特别要求14英尺的棕榈树，但不知怎的，建筑师在图纸上并没有表达清楚，图纸显示10英尺的棕榈树，因此景观施工方便只安装了10英尺的棕榈树。客户不太满意，他们希望保留原来的需求。我们查看了文件，找不到任何关于14英尺的棕榈树的记录，图纸上显示的都是10英尺。但是客户坚持要求14英尺的棕榈树，这二者之间的差价不容小觑。建筑师和我们沟通，希望我们帮忙，最后我们自费购买了大型棕榈树。

这家建筑公司是我们很好的客户，我们有良好的合作关系，他们也为我们带来了很多很好的项目，所以我们希望他们能够向客户说，棕榈替换没有问题。这看起来虽然花费不菲，但是受益更多。最后，我们知道维持这种关系并保留客户的终身价值很有必要，因为重新建立客户关系是一项更难的事情。因此你要尽你所能，与合作建筑师建立良好的关系。

4．寻求共赢的答案，而非正确

协作对于成功至关重要，如果每件事都刻意追求理性，那么其他人便会感到不舒服。最好的项目来源于双方的合作，大家都是平等的关系，都可以表达内心的期许，有自己的想法值得提倡，但是也应当适当接受他人的建议。最终的答案也许与你设想所不同，但是同样应当多考虑其他角度的想法。结合不同的专业，能够共同构思出优秀的作品。

有时你会遇到某个特定的概念，但是之后你也会发现更加适当的解决策略。建筑师也许会支持你，但是这个想法必须具有实际意义。让人难以接受的是，你所提出的概念与项目无关，或者并不会让项目有所改进，那么他人就很难接受。因此你需要灵活的应对这些问题，不仅考虑美学基础，还应当考虑功能，让各个方面都能够更加完美地呈现出来。

很多好作品的设计思路都很简单，少即是多，你并不需要过多地考虑问题，只需要和建筑师保持良好的协作关系。也许你无法立刻看到某个人的工作成果，这很正常，因为这是团队的共同努力，这就好像室内外空间相互依存的关系，你应该考虑的是怎么处理好其中的空间效果。

5．建筑师是英雄

真正的成功需要你拥有自己的风格，但是仍然需要与人合作。建筑师希望你拥有自己的创造力。因此你可以协助建筑师来完成项目，创意并不一定来源于景观，但景观却可以称为项目的辅助，通过创造力让整体项目更加特别，同样也更有价值。这种创造性的愿景包括建筑与景观的融合，而不仅仅是设计一些功能性的东西。

3.        Make them look great to their clients
Too often we have our own agendas, we’re in our own world and in silos of doing our own thing and we forget to see things from another’s standpoint. Whenever we’ve taken heat from an architect it usually comes down to a few simple things: either they feel the heat from their owners or client, we haven’t delivered something we said we would, or maybe we’ve missed something in the documentation resulting in miscommunications or mismanaged expectations. Really understanding who the architect is and making them look great to the people paying the bills is key. Be aware of the bigger picture enough to check in along the way be sure everyone is on track. Ask yourself, “How do we make the architect look good, how do we make their lives easier?” This includes handling problems well that may come up along the way. If an architect calls with a problem they’re having and you can help them, it often strengthens the relationship, builds trust, and lets them rest easy knowing they can count on you.
A favorite example of making the architects look great to their clients and making their life easier is something that became one of our company’s core values that we call Pay for the Palm, meaning do what it takes. An architect had a project where the client specifically asked for 14-foot palm trees in the programming document, but somehow they didn’t get translated into the drawings. The drawings indicated 10-foot palms, so the landscape contractor installed 10-foot palm trees. The client was very frustrated and held us to the original request. We looked through the documentation and couldn’t find anything on 14-foot trees, the drawings all said 10-foot and the architect had our back. The client was adamant about 14-foot palms––which was a $10k difference to replace. The architect called us and asked to help them make a concession for the client and asked if we’d help pay for, or pay for, the palm trees out of our pocket. We said that yes, of course, we would.
This architecture firm is a great client of ours, we have a great relationship, and they bring us a lot of great work, so we wanted them to be able to say to the client that the palms would be replaced with no problem. Writing that check felt like a lot, but it has paid dividends. In the end, we knew it’d be worth it to maintain that relationship and retain the lifetime value of the client. To go out and acquire new architect clients and replace all the potential work that it can lead to is far more costly. Do what you can to hold on to a great collaborative relationship with an architect you know, like, and trust.

4.        Seek the right answer, not to be right
Collaboration is critical to success and whenever one person on your team is consistently trying to own the floor or to be right, it hinders everyone else. The end products of the best projects are a combination of feedback from both sides, no one directing the other, but rather everyone leaving their expectations at the door. It’s good to go in with a vision and an idea, but be open to the input of others and different iterations that it might take on. The answer or end result might be very different than what you originally imagine and guaranteed to be at least a little different. Take other points of view into account – everyone has a different perspective from the vantage point of their expertise. It’s a combination of all that input and allowing the architecture design and landscape architecture to influence each other that generates an outstanding design.
Sometimes you go into a project with a particular idea and find that a better solution exists. Architects will advocate for you as much as you advocate for them, but it has to make sense for the project. A pain point for them is that it’s difficult to argue on your behalf if the scope of what you’re proposing for a project doesn’t somehow relate to the betterment of the architecture. This is where you need to be flexible with your vision. There has to be more of a purpose than just being pretty and everything needs to truly integrate with the use and appearance of the architecture.
On one project we found that what worked and looked best was simple, minimal landscape design. Sometimes less is more. It’s not about being showy about what you can do, but being in tune with the architecture and designing something that is seamless. It’s a good sign if you can’t immediately see what the landscape architect did because it’s so intuitively laid out. Everyone on the team plays a part in making that happen and when it’s well-blended, it’s hard who tell who did what. If you’re doing your job well, you’ll make more seamless transitions, especially when there’s indoor and outdoor space, making it as if they are part of each other. You can do this by being open to what are truly the most essential components of the space.

5.        The architect is the hero
True success requires that you have your own voice and style but work with people in a way that highlights the architecture. Architects want to know that you’re creative and have your own sensibilities but that you work to let the architecture be the star. Think of yourself as the guide that helps the hero––the architect––achieve greatness. Creativity is not necessarily a given with landscape architecture, some landscape design is more heavily based on the engineering of components which is very useful, but it’s creativity that makes it special. It’s hard to put your finger on, but it’s what makes the work valuable. This creative vision includes the ability to see how you can make the architect and the architecture the hero as part of the creative process, not just engineering something functional.


4th West公寓／An overview of the 4th West Apartments designed by Loft Six Four

当你满足客户的需求，就是最好的结果，但这并不意味着你必须仅仅限制于他们所说的内容。你要用你的专业性来理解他们的用意，因为他们可能自己也不了解自己想要的是什么，因此如果你能够满足建筑师的需求，那便再好不过了。事实上，你可以通过景观的方式来达成建筑与景观之间的协作。有时候，你的提议也许会在未来落成。你还可以把他们想要的东西通过创意的方式来表达，这需要你仔细了解客户的需求，并且结合专业知识来进行思考。

最佳关系和成功需要良好的沟通。当这些内容你都能做到时，那你离成功就不远了。在以后的合作之中你便能够熟练地把控整个项目。

When you give a client what they want, it yields a better result, but that doesn’t mean you have to be limited to only what they say. Take your intuitive sense for design and your expertise to filter what they ask you for. What they request may not be exactly what you give them, it’s up to you to come up with something that’s inventive. If you hit all the main points the architect requests and imagine a space that’s seamless, that’s what matters. There’s value in the fact you have an understanding of architecture in a way that allows you to read between the lines and translate the architect’s vision into a plan that makes the architecture and the landscape architecture harmonious. In many cases, your translation may offer elements that they haven’t considered or are unfamiliar with. By mixing the specifics they want with creative ideas about how to deliver those in the project, you’ll demonstrate that you care, you listen to your clients, and you deliver what they want while highlighting the architect’s work.
As with any professional or personal situation, having the best relationship and success requires good communication, integrity, and humility. When these attributes are combined with an amazing skill set, you have a winning recipe for success that will pay dividends with repeat work with the architects and projects you love to work on the most.