I’m going to put on my AIA Custom Residential Architects Network Communications Committee hat for a moment. As you may or may not know, I write for the quarterly AIA CRAN Chronicle. You can read my previous CRAN articles here. As you probably DON’T know, I’m also part of the group that puts together that online journal. It’s a ton of fun and gives me an excuse to write some things that don’t necessarily fit on the blog. Or well didn’t fit; a lot of that writing has inspired further exploration on the blog. Anyways…it’s a fun group to be a part of and it helps remind me that I’m still an architect.

Architectural Train Wrecks Ahead!

Right now we’re putting together the next issue, which is due to be shared in February. And we’d like to solicit some stories, long or short. Here’s the official call for submissions (followed by some additional thoughts):

We are looking for items for our next CRAN newsletter issue. Do you have a story about a project that went wrong? A client you let go? Something you forgot to include in your drawings? Missed the deadline by a mile? We want to hear from you!

We’d like you to write 3-4 sentences about your experiences. Sometimes we can learn from one another’s mistakes and now is your chance to share. We’ll compile all your experiences into one article for our next newsletter issue.
 
To protect the innocent (or just yourselves!), please consider changing the names of those involved. We also plan to include everyone’s stories anonymously when sent out in the newsletter. We want to hear from you – seasoned professionals and licensed architects, so please click here to submit your stories.
 
And for you – emerging professionals, have you been put in the middle? Asked to work on a project that looked like a lawsuit in the making? Really messed up that set of documents? We want to hear your stories too. Please click here to submit your story.

We’d also be happy to publish longer, full articles if you’d like to write more in depth about your less than perfect moments (and what you learned).

This train wreck issue isn’t about shitting on architects; it’s about comradery and learning from our own imperfections. Don’t worry if your story has nothing to do with residential work, or if you’re not part of the AIA CRAN group. Good stories and sharing are what’s important. To that point, I’m going to finally write about building a full-scale mockup of a monument to George H. Bush. And how it probably ruined the rest of my internship at that particular firm. Spoiler Alert: I am the bad guy in this story. Again.

You have a story to share. We all do. What have you done horribly wrong? And how did you fix it, survive, or hopefully learn from it? Do you just have a really funny story that we can all laugh at? I’m up for reading those too. Sometimes there is no lesson. Sometimes it’s good just to laugh and not take ourselves so seriously-like the time a friend had to slowly sneak out to the dumpster 35 sets of drawings she accidentally printed when she was an intern. She was supposed to print one sheet 35 times, not the whole set. A slightly more senior coworker saved her with some sagely advice. She disposed of the evidence of her idiocy a little bit at a time for weeks and weeks, just like Andy Dufresne slowly did with all the rubble from his tunnel to freedom.

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