The Nature Of Collaboration

As an aside it is interesting to consider the nature of a collaboration, the process etc... Documentation of such is an important part of the archival process of the project. Also it seems appropriate to embark on a joint project when the brief is questioning the collective nature of domesticity.

The end of Caruso St. John...

I promise! (Have just finished 'The Feeling of Things'... by the by, I think almost all, if not all of the essays in the book are available on their website)

On the nature of the street:
'Hundreds of seperate interests fronting onto a single street. All more or less subscribing to certain rules of engagement and benefiting from a multiplicity of social and economic transactions. Within obvious limits, all the inhabitants of a street are empowered to make choices and to effect change.'

The Emotional City in 'The Feeling of Things'

Embracing the true spectrum of urban experience:
'The presentation drawings for these new projects almost always show the city streets flooded with people and the pavement café tables fully occupied. It is as if this architecture will make everybody happy, all of the time. It is a vision of the city that has no room for pathos.'

A Mistake in 'The Feeling of Things'

Collaborative design process:
'The way the sketches work is completely connected to the fact that Peter and I design together. There is a pile of scrap paper and we just grab some and start to talk about projects. In the first conversations we might not draw anything, or we may sketch out a highly subjective version of the thing we're discussing. Then the sketches try to get to the core of where the project might start.'

Interview with Mark Francis in 'The Feeling of Things'

On collaboration

'We are complementary characters,' St John says. 'Close, long-term collaborations can be difficult to maintain - they are like marriages. They require effort and patience in order for the good things to come out and to feel that you are doing something fuller and more relevant than you would be if you were working alone.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3563010/Caruso-St-John-the-pleasure-principles-of-architecture.html

Sorry about the Caruso St.John explosion...