Space
Note 006: A dojo of one's own
“Hey Lukey!
It’s Andrew, from the house on the Hill in Newy. How’s things?
Romance Was Born is killing it at the moment mate - congratulations!
Katie tells me you guys are bursting at the seams on Oxford Street… really?
OK. I think I may have a solution for you.
We are starting a movement, and you’re gonna love it…"
You need a dojo
No matter where you are on your creative professional life timeline, just starting out, beginning a few experiments after hours, or moderately established, there is one universal need that traverses all points.
You need somewhere physical to create your work.
You need a Space.
It need not be glamorous, or large; but there are some very desirable minimum requirements that I have noted across the range of space types ADAD has inhabited over these 8 exciting years so far, from musty attic to city incubator, and I’ll go through the pros and cons of each here for you.
One more optimistic pre-note-note to add before we start - a benefit of the 2021 extended-lockdown that we still find ourselves in here Australia (benefit? Yes, bear with me), is that all of our client ‘types’ (not just the larger institutions as was the case pre-COVID) have become Zoom literate, which gives you an excellent breathing room opportunity between your own ‘attic’ and ‘board room’ stages of growth down the track, which will come in very handy later.
The attic
Technically a bit of a grey area, I think I class my first space as the point that I shifted from setting up my sketchbook and laptop on the dining table late at night (and packing it all away again before going to sleep), to finding a permanent space for my creative mess.
Up a ladder.
Was this the willing of a hobby into a profession? Laziness at the whole set up / pack up routine? A significant other, sick to death of my creative junk spread all over the dining table?
We will never know*(*all three!)
I pulled down the ladder, climbed into the triangular prism of our tiny terrace attic, and took in the musty scent. I cracked the skylight - ahhhh. To some, this smell was simply Sydney’s industrial exhaust, but all I smelt was freedom. I am open for Business.
What physical equipment was needed to begin?
My Laptop (which I already had)
Dodgy A4 printer (not ideal - it did for now)
Nicked dining chair form downstairs (or downladder)
Office-works trestle table $59 (you know the ones, from building sites, Bunnings BBQs, cheap and indestructible, nasty bumpy surface that destroys any hand drawing)
Pack of 10 Manilla Folders $7
Why manilla folders? I had that few leads, which I thought that by organising printouts of each emails or notes of scrap paper into their own physical place, that I could will them into something more substantial.
Like a little Space each for my Projects to occupy…
(Fast forward 8 years, and we have the exact opposite problem of laboriously digitising the copious physical archives of the pre-digital era! Consider yourself warned.)
There are obvious benefits if you can carve out a permanent unused space within your own home: no commute, no cost, and you can leave all your mess out to return to the next day.
The downside, especially if not behind a physically closable door, is that your work is constantly in your face - which can be a psychological negative as the nature of creative enterprise is that nothing is ever really finished, is it?
Remember this: Ready, Fire, Aim.
Start somewhere, refine later.
The fishbowl
I was lecturing quite a bit at the University of Newcastle when I first started my practice, in both cross-disciplinary critical theory and Masters design studio’s thanks to Chappo (a key mentor and friend from way back in my student days to now.)
This was an ideal situation, a perfect balance between the 2 intertwined wolds of theory and practice, ideas and action.
There was a fantastic, empty, glass and light filled function space (back then -now fully utilised as Makerspace) opposite ‘Red Square’, the primary Architecture lecture space at UoN’s bush campus, so I started setting up shop there earlier and earlier before the my 9am Lecture (see Note 005 Time - I was by now a total kookaburra).
By 8:55am I would close my laptop, pack up the ‘office’, walk through the throng of students just outside (that for some reason never glanced into the empty glass box next to them every morning! - thank you iPhone addiction!) and switch into teaching mode.
On reflection, I was not totally ‘off a cliff’ as I had previously thought in Note 000… While not on a gradient (the path that I still recommend to you all as the best course of action between here and becoming pro), teaching part time for those first 12 months offered a kind of ‘high-tide’. Impermanent, but softens a cliff jump landing
There are so many mutual benefits to teaching architecture while practising, great for students, great for practitioners - another virtuous cycle, I’m a big fan of these - I will dedicate a whole note to this in the future.
I used to love that sunrise trip, fanging across the Harbour Bridge speeding out of Sydney, while the whole world seemed to be crawling in the the opposite way at a snails pace.
It was such a good feeling going against the grain.
Adaptability is key here. As your % of practice vs employment increases (further along your gradient), get used to being able to set up temporarily, out in the field, for chunks of productivity within your day, before returning to ‘home base’ (your attic).
Kicking myself out
All good things come to an end, and there will come a point when you need to graduate - you need to get out of your attic!
How did I know the time was right?
Well, our youngest daughter had been born, I was teaching less and practising more, and as your project number increases I was having to skip down the ladder to get mobile reception more and more often. You can’t hide forever, you must eventually eave your cave.
Mostly though it was a work life balance decision. We were slowly painting this little terrace we had just bought, and my retired father-in-law had come over to help paint with my wife during the weekdays.
I was constantly feeling anxiety for not helping around the house if working, and constantly feeling anxiety for not working if I was helping around the house!
This is a problem not just for your (and your family’s) mental health, but also for your business (and therefore your family’s) financial health. Because remember: you have just became your own boss, and when it is only you (and you are in 100%) - any time not working is unpaid leave (until you build up a buffer, or build your team - for a future note)
The first step to solving this is further separating your workspace from your home space, and treating it as you should from day 1. As a privilege 1st, as fun of course - but also as a very, very serious job.
Back in the house
OK, I need to get out. But where can I go?
To use my favourite phrase (that you will hear more than once here, so get used to it!) pretend you are setting up a manual 2 point perspective, and:
“Work from the known to the unknown”
It was time to return to the old stomping ground. The Archi-Factory up the road in Surry Hills where I had spent 8-18 hour days over the preceding 10 years, Marlborough House.
I had some trepidation walking back towards the building, I had turned down a partnership and left this place forever* less than 6 months ago, so it felt alien, but also like an old friend.
My heart lifted the moment I walked into the foyer. A lot of the old faces where there. Sacha from Aspect beamed, asked how things were, and when I mentioned I was having a crack at running my own show, immediately and kindly offered wisdom and well wishing (they were growing at an incredible pace!)
The boys from Fuzzy were in the lift, more old colleagues, now also super successful, offering their own advice and well wishing.
It felt like coming home.
You will be surprised and humbled at the support you get from those much further along the path than yourself when you begin to the let the world know you are taking it on. All the really great leaders remember their own nerves, and excitement, like it was yesterday when they first began, and are more often than not more than happy to pay it forward themselves.
I found ‘desk-for-rent’ note in the lift (where they aways were), and introduced myself to my first share-space comrades on Level 6, Campbell, Ben, Emma, Suze and Martine, a lovely bunch of sole-practitioner friends, a very casual work environment as no one had too much work on, very happy to welcome a younger stranger into their home. I have very fond memories in hindsight.
It was however a massive point of frustration for me knowing that current rents for creative spaces where around 600% of what we were paying in our previous (albeit, 10 year continuous) lease in exactly the same building.
I was lucky that I had already built up such a large, mutually supportive, wonderful network over a long time.
Make a wis(c)h
I caught up with old friend Amelia (who was still at Neeson Murcutt prior to launching Aileen Sage with Isabelle), and she mentioned that David was looking to expand Lochbuild, and that City of Sydney had a Creative Space Expression of Interest out for a large, vacant building in the heart of Darlinghurst in need of a vision.
The stars were aligning, this was an opportunity not to be missed. I was grinning ear to ear. I was comfortable returning to what I knew, nostalgia is its own drug, but deep down in my gut I felt it was time for a change. Time for a leg-up for the next generation of creatives, those without a network, without city contacts, those without financial means. And I was in the mood for a manifesto.
“Hey Lukey!
It’s Andrew, from the house on the Hill in Newy. How’s things?
Romance Was Born is killing it at the moment mate - congratulations!
Katie tells me you guys are bursting at the seams on Oxford Street… really?
OK. I think I may have a solution for you.
We are starting a movement, and you’re gonna love it…"
to be continued…
Space Choice - my pros and cons for the 3 main choices in your early days of practice kickoff:
1. Home Bod
Pros
The time saving, no commute!
The cost saving, no (additional) rent
A Mid-COVID world means that for almost all sectors you can produce your design, and documentation work anywhere, present via Zoom (and even remote Contract Administration to a degree - although it is a punish)
And the biggest Home Bod Pro (as long as you are off the dining table and in a ‘permanent’ spot) - You can leave all your half finished, in progress, creative mess as is at the end of the day and return to it the next day
Cons
The danger of never ‘switching off’
Balancing a family life, especially if you have younger children at home
Mid-COVID world means we are all collectively fairly sick of working from home - it is not a novelty anymore
And to mitigate the biggest Home Bod Con (the anxiety of feeling you should be always helping at home while at work, and always at work when helping at home) - Combine with spurts of ‘Vagabonding’, and if it becomes too stressful, trust your gut, move straight to ‘Dojo’
2. Vagabond
Pros
Resilience - when you must get something out (drawings, proposals, Andrew’s Notes) and there is too much distraction wherever you are, grab a laptop, hit a cafe, and crush it. Like a good tradey never blaming their tools, sometimes you must perform under less than optimal conditions, and congratulations, it gets easier the more you do it!
Change of vibe and pace, I love writing alone in peace, and love designing in the zone with music cranked, people around and energy high
Cons
No reliability, wifi can drop out, closing hours, loud patrons, general public, COVID closures!
3. Dojo
Pros
Surrounding yourself with other driven, energetic, creative professionals
Foster Plus, Minus, Equals mentor - mentee relationships naturally
Pump each other up to grind through deadlines, celebrate small wins
Shared resources, space, printing, equipment
Cons
As your deadlines and industries won’t perfectly align, sometimes you will need to grind when others cruise, and vice versa
So what will it be… Home Bod? Vagabond? Dojo seeker?
As you have read above I have tried all three, and nothing is forever. I have also grown, shrank, moved, re-expended… all change is progress. Like a project, there are differing but linked life phases and practice phases that suit the differing offerings.
Tune in next time for Space Part 2: Wis(c)h and beyond…
See you soon,
Andrew Donaldson
Note 006 done and dusted!
Please give me any feedback whatsoever on this experiment, I would love to hear from you - after all, this is for you :)
PS - if you have a friend, colleague, or archi-buddy that you think would benefit from Andrew’s Notes, please feel free to send this to them or share with the button below: - lets grow this tribe :)