Faking It

You may have come across this show At Discovery Travel and Living. It's a very interesting. I sometimes wish they would select me to fake it as a fashion designer, a chef, or something else cool.

Bullshit is the name of the game actually.

This week has been quite busy and I feel like I'm "faking it". I've been faking as an architectural designer. Hahaha. This might come out weird cuz I am an architect in degree and in practice. But since joining the corporate world of Building and Construction, you can actually get away with being an architect without the "design" part that most people know -- sketching massing models and schemes. studying forms, etc. For the past months/ years that I have been trained as a project architect "designing" came in the form of answering RFI's (request for information), value engineering, details that need to be worked out since the original design intent doesn't work on site.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy designing -- the schematic/ form designing -- but I am particular about the type of building use. I believe my interest is more for residential bungalows. Small-scale buildings of other usage are okay too. Unfortunately I am part of a big firm that lives on large projects. Not really my cup of tea but I'm surviving so far.

So anyways I've been helping out with the waterfront project I wrote about a few entries ago. We had one presentation yesterday (Tuesday), and there will be a second one tomorrow (Thursday). After the presentation yesterday and hearing the clients' comments, my superior told me I should work on an alternative design in time for the presentation tomorrow. Gasp! For one, I'm not the designer he may have assumed I am. And two, less than 48 hours of preparation?!? Is he kidding?!? That superior of mine is a designer in all sense.... he draws on every piece of paper or napkin everytime a new idea pops into his creative brain. He threw some ideas at me and I just nodded as he spoke of concepts like "Water vortex" and "languorous curves" and spirals and cones and a whole lot more. Not to make myself look dumb I tried to put my own input -- being abstract myself by saying "the sunshading would come out like ripples" and this plane should be flat to distinguish it from the rest" and the sunshading will form the silhouette of a spiral". Hahahhaa.... who was I kidding?

I did put in some effort. Even if I had to meet friends for dinner after work yesterday I brought home my work and stayed up late to work on it. I guess it was more for me to FEEL like a designer, but I didn't accomplish much. I just realized that my ideas wouldn't work as they were too complicated. Trying to do too much too soon and at lack of time.

I've gone through the scheme with my superior and I think I passed "faking it" since he didn't laugh. (or was polite not to laugh?) And by this morning before lunch we have settled on a scheme that met his ideas and the limitations of my design skills given the short amount of time. I have to admit he has a way of swaying the scheme to actually be according his ideas. I didn't mind. I just want to learn a bit more about designing from him.

So maybe I have hope. Maybe the next time I wouldn't have to fake it anymore and become the next Frank Gehry or Richard Meier huh?