TerraMai
Q&A
A conversation with Otto Design Group (ODG), designers of the Coca-Cola Company’s new Far Coast Café in Toronto.
Participants
CB: Chris Boccella
JM: Jamie Montgomery
KP: Karl Peters
PO: Phil Otto
Who and what are your main design influences? PO: Cultural anthropology was my first love when I was at Stanford. I realize that’s always where we start when we design – ‘who are we talking about here? What is the inventory of the culture?’ In the early part of Rem Koolhaas’s career, they would study the culture and call out a gesture – that’s my first way of understanding. CB: We don’t often look to the design world for inspiration. The art world, moreso - Gordon Matta Clark is an obvious influence.
JM: I’m inspired by things that illustrate great craftsmanship. Craft before form.
KP: I’m interested in what you can find in the ordinary landscape, the design of our immediate surroundings.
What and where is your favorite space? PO: I know it’s one of ours, but I have to say that my current favorite is the Far Coast pavilion in Atlanta – at their new World of Coca Cola. We call it the David and Goliath. It’s between the Georgia Aquarium and the New World of Coke. It is a green building and it has a planted roof. It’s an interesting space.
CB: Ronchamp, Notre Dame du Haut.
JM: The Pantheon, in Rome.
KP: …myspace? (laughter)
What living architect or designer do you most admire? PO: I already mentioned Koolhaas. And I like Gehry as well. I also like his early career and maybe because they had budget constraints.
CB: No comment.
JM: No real heroes. But I’m inspired by people who are designing things for greater causes than just adding to the world.
What deceased architect or designer is most overrated? PO: (Ludwig Mies) van der Rohe – he couldn’t draw very well and was not so great with his motor skills. He would cut out magazines to get his conceptual ideas across. I have to say it would have been very interesting to see what he could have done with the advent of photoshop.
CB: That’s kind of a rude question. Why pick on the dead?
JM: Why not? (laughter)
KP: It’s hard to cast stones, given the constraints of our medium.
What is your favorite city or town? PO: Seattle
CB: Philadelphia is a wonderful place.
JM: I have a lot of favorites, but what comes to mind is Kyoto.
KP: It sounds like a cliché, but…well…New York City.
What building or structure do you most dislike?
PO: I don’t like to speak ill of people. I don’t like arbitrary buildings, though. How about that? CB: Hospitals totally creep me out.
JM: I hate to see wasted space – from big box retail to vacant houses.
KP: I am not fond of buildings that don’t function well.
What is your design philosophy? PO: Start with function. Solve the program in unusual ways. Base it in culture.
CB: Successful design requires embracing the limits of a project and is dependent on the successful collaboration of a big cast of characters – from the client, to the drafstman, to the builder – and everyone in between.
JM: Keep it simple, I guess.
KP: Yeah, K.I.S.S.
What are your favorite colors? PO: The naturals. Earth tones. The colors of the sky, the earth, and water.
CB: What’s the color of my desk top? I like it – it’s something between chartreuse and olive.
JM: I like them all.
KP: Navy blue.
What were your childhood enthusiasms? PO: Franz Boas, the anthropologist, and Northwest Native American carving tradition. Swimming. Skiing.
CB: I wanted to be a carpenter until it occurred to me that carpenters had to climb ladders and then I conceded that I’d be an architect. JM: No comment.
KP: What kind of question is that?
What advice do you have for young people interested
in a career in design? PO: Sell Insurance.
JM: It’s almost a business, and you don’t really think that way when you start.
KP: Go to law school. Honestly, I think you have to understand that there’s a lot more business involved with design than you think.
From left to right, Chris Boccella, Phil Otto, Jaime Montgomery, Karl Peters.
