My work has historically brought pleasure, whether it’s the joy of being seen in design, the excitement of building something new, or the awe at the realization of transformative simple moves. The joy during construction was, I thought, a natural extension of all this. But there is something going on outside the studio that is distracting the work. It has to do with the curious character of our current economy. It is so well camouflaged that is has taken me a handful of years to see it. COVID amped it up. Many of us see the ‘tip’ request when we are just fetching a loaf of bread at the counter; we also see obscure ‘fees’ added to our dinner bill. I was recently advised by my doctor’s office that in addition to the doctor visit, I would incur a ‘facility fee’ for use of the facility. What? As opposed to meeting my doctor in a park or at the coffee shop?! But here is where it came to me, clear as day, it was on social media:
Post: Recently moved to town ISO work. Don’t have much experience, any leads appreciated.
Reply: there are lots of opportunities on the Workforce site and people often post here for handymen and gardening. Also, most restaurants are looking for help.
Post: Not for me. I want to work remote and set my own hours and I am not sure those other jobs will pay enough.
Reply: sooo you do not really want to work but you want to be paid well?
There it was, in black and white, as clear as could be. The Poster unabashedly agreed with Reply. Hot dang! THIS is what I have been unable to see! I had suspected that this thinking was due to the COVID help that gave so many the opportunity to experience getting paid to do nothing (I now see that the tech saavy had figured this out long ago). I thought this would subside and we’d all get back to work. In my case…to the joy of work. But it’s not happening. I was slow on the uptake of the seismic shift! It makes sense that big money has piled into manufactured and 3-D printed houses. These are higher paying ‘tech’ jobs. And although plumbers and electricians still hold control over their realms, the framer and general builders are out of that pay track. Instead, I am finding that they restructured to extract as much money in as many ways possible (much like those ‘tips’ and ‘fees’ strategies), crushing the capacity for working people to build their small houses and ADUs.
During the years that the Poche_Truss swirled around in my mind, I very much considered the economy. The single family property owner and the framer and small builder were always in my sights. Low-tech was my solution to high-tech. I also considered the other multitudes of factors and details. NOTHING leaves my studio half baked. But, truth be told, nothing in my beautifully executed bespoke house career had prepared me for the character of our current construction industry. My long-time structural engineer was alarmingly direct in his observations. When I took my rocket engineer brother to a job site and he openly gasped at the work, my mind conceded: they also see it …
One of my former CU students (who is now a successful international developer) took a tour of one of my projects, he simply smiled at the learning curve I find myself in. He, more than most, knows what drives my work: Rigor, Attention, Beauty. I know that it all adds up because, regardless of the stage of the work, it takes rigorous attention to create beauty. Good design is like that. The Poche_Truss is an intelligent building system, fully capable of inspiring great work. But I do have to ask myself, what must be reconsidered in order to inspire beautiful execution in today’s building culture?
Photo credit: ALPINE MODERN Issue-06
