We were lucky to catch up with Avi Forman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Avi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I started at the very bottom of my industry, sweeping floors and bringing people tools. Through the years I worked at almost every level of the industry including framer, cabinet maker, foreman, project manager, draftsman, and architect. Through all the stages and gathered an intimate understanding of each of the many the moving pieces. I think this is critical in my industry and maybe in them all that you truly understand what people at every level are doing. This way you can give substantial and insightful feedback to team members and find efficiencies that others wouldn’t even recognize. Great buildings are born from great systems both in conception of the design and execution of the build. Increasing efficiencies requires that each component of the system is deeply understood. I am not sure if I would or could speed up the learning process. The period of architecture and construction is excruciatingly slow. It might take four or more years from the initial idea to the final completion which means it takes that many years to learn a single lesson, to get a single piece of feedback or photograph. This is why the learning curve of architects is so gentle and extended and why most famous architects don’t “hit their stride” until their sixties or later. It takes a tremendously long time to gather the information and get a handle on the whole process enough to make innovative work. I would say, just keep putting yourself in the location of where the work is happening and you will absorb through osmosis and glean from others experience and the process itself.

Avi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an architect and general contractor trying to improve the very broken design and construction industry. We are all too family with the common story in the building industry. Time and budget overruns, finger pointing, conflict between the architect and general contractor and in the middle of it all is left the client, typically relatively new to the process, who is left to adjudicate and mediate two expert warring parties. The conflict is all but built into the contractual status quo and the project, the client and their budget take the brunt of this built in inefficiency. Even in the most harmonious of projects, a tremendous amount of time and effort is dedicated to preparing for moments of hand off, avoiding risk, and preemptive law suit preparation. Projects are drawn in excruciating detail only for those details to be completely changed and rendered meaningless as the contractors alter the assemblies to match their capabilities. We believe that architecture, design, and the construction process is best served by a single source of responsibility that can shepherd the project values and priorities from the beginning to the end. We find designs are more nuanced when they incorporate the construction techniques in their genesis and that design opportunities can be found and improved upon throughout the construction process.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Architecture is philosophy in three dimensions. The goal of great architecture is to create the setting for a life worth living. To do this effectively, design must be rooted in philosophical priorities and the architecture must be formed to nurture these priorities through the formation of space. There is so much that effects are life that we do not consciously process and it is the work of creatives to expand other’s understanding of the world and make the subtle, the unconscious, the unnoticed more obvious. Creativity gifts others an opportunity to learn more about the world they inhabit and see. It may not occur to some that how they feel about others is deeply impacted by the spaces they inhabit together but this is deeply true. If two people share a space that demands they must walk by each other in a 36″ hallway many times a day, it is a matter of time before they start resenting how the other doesn’t give them enough space, how they don’t turn their shoulders enough, how they are so inconsiderate that they’ve rammed you with their shoulder 3 times now! If the same two people are asked to conduct the same activities in a 48″ opening, they might have none of this conflict. Family dynamics are deeply impacted by the spaces they inhabit. There is no childhood more lonely than inhabiting their own wing of the house, with their own bathrooms, playrooms, and long hallways to reach connection. Dimensions matter deeply and through careful consideration we can create a life that is more loving, more creative, more efficient and happier.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

In managing large teams of subcontractors I am constantly reconsidering what is the most effective form of motivation. Motivation for me lands squarely in one of two categories: carrots and sticks. Carrots are a stand in for positive motivation, like the rider who ties a carrot to a stick and dangles it in front of the donkey’s face. The donkey walks towards the carrot hoping to reach the reward and in the process of striving for the reward makes progress. The stick is a stand in for negative motivation and is summarized by the other way a rider can motivate a donkey, namely by whipping the donkey on the rear. As the donkey tries to run away from the pain, they too make progress. When I began I thought these were two equally valid forms of motivation but learned slowly that carrots are dramatically more valuable than sticks.
I know this in my own life. A small amount of positive feed back can fuel my creative pursuits for days, weeks, or years. An insult or dismissive comment can send me in a self doubting and stressed out tail spin that can just as easily derail me. It is true that the worry about paying bills, providing for my family, or fear of failure has motivated me but my best work is not served by stress. My best work is done when I am chasing something great not running away from something terrible and this is true for others as well.
The sticks in construction are threat of non payment, law suits, or contract termination may be real recourses but are terrible strategies to motivate performance. If they work at all, they work once and the sheer displeasure of the process is all but certain to sabotage future collaboration. Carrots in the construction industry are promises of quick payment, performance tied bonuses, more work, and recommendations. Carrots not only inspire comradery and positive regard but set the stage for future collaboration to both parties mutual benefit. As of today, I have retired all my sticks and reserve them for use on the battle field only.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.VIAdesignbuild.com
• Instagram: VIAdesignbuild

Image Credits
Marcus Edwards Photography