Thanks to Nancy Hadler for the "In Search of Design Excellence" paper. I think it makes some very good suggestions. More to the point, it moves the focus from outcomes - i.e. measuring design excellence by results
with design awards and the like - to
process, which is where I really think we have to focus our attention. Many of the suggestions in the paper are included in the orginal GSA design excellence program founded by Ed Feiner, and also in the Design excellence program established under Mayor Bloomberg in New York. As Ed Feiner often says, if you expect to get a dumb building that's what you will get. A large part of design excellence is just wanting it and then putting in place the delivery methods to make it happen. The results should then take care of themselves.
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David Burney FAIA
Commissioner
NYC Dept of Design and Construction
Long Island City NY
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