wannabe designer

i just came back from a meeting with the client, real estate broker, and potential tenants for an office building i'm working on. it's funny how the broker loves to play architect. it's one thing to suggest a few options here and there, and another to totally try to take all credit for design changes is just too funny.

you see, the broker at the meeting was mainly doing all the talking. his clients, the potential tenants, had some programmatic requirements they wanted to see before signing a lease. we were all going through these changes and i guess the broker wanted to run the show. he was suggesting we move offices here and there, put a conference room here and there, and even recited whatever little knowledge of the building code he memorized. all to look good in front of his clients.

me and the man just sat there quietly till he was done doing his presentation and said "we will take your program, come out with a space plan layout and send it out to everyone for approval." our client, the building owner, then praised us by saying "yeah, these guys are the experts. they can handle it. they know what to do."

lesson: real estate brokers can't design for sh*t.