Designing Relationships

For Pickard Chilton’s recent monograph, Thomas Fisher, Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota, authored an insightful essay entitled Building Good Relationships. In a section entitled “Designing Relationships,” he identified those factors contributing to the firm’s success and concluded that one of the significant factors is the firm’s relationship-focused commitment and how this effort is translated into the form of its buildings.

For the Designing Relationships exhibition, twelve projects were selected to demonstrate the diversity of building types, geography and scale. The common theme is the firm’s collaborative approach in its work with clients, consultants and construction team partners to create buildings that affirm society’s best aspirations.

Models of each project were all crafted at the scale of 1:120 to allow for clear comparison but also to illustrate how each project relates to its context, culture and climate.

The exhibition traveled to four architecture schools around the country including: The University of Minnesota, Oklahoma State University, Iowa State University and The University of Hartford. The theme of the exhibition was cross-disciplinary initiatives that increase diversity and expand networks. In addition, it exhibited the holistic approach to the success of every student in building relationships, which is a blend of academic, social, personal, and professional needs.