'What is the risk of doing nothing versus the risk of doing something' - a collection of quo

The following is a collection of my favourite quotes, ideas and thoughts taken from this years National Architecture Conference themed 'The Changing Role of RISK in Architecture' held in Melbourne.

Greg Pasquarelli (SHoP - USA)

'Planning can be prescriptive or performative. You don't know which way it's going to go, but I think when it's performative it can be more interesting in the fact it allows more difference in the way you might design a building.'

'We were looking at doing a university building in one of the satellite cities outside of Shanghai and when we arrived all the roads were in, all the parks were in, there was a concert hall, a museum, a library and schools, but there were no buildings there yet, none of office and residential buildings were there. This is exactly the opposite of what happens in the States. I said to the head planner, this is amazing that you spend all this money here and he said "well we realise that if we invest the money now in all the infratsructure we can sell the plots of land for the residents and the offices for a lot more money". I said that's awesome being taught capitolism by a communist.'

'I think that we've tried to show that great design is a profit centre and not a cost centre, and if it's done intelligently, there is a lot of value there that gets created by doing the design well even if it does cost a lot more money.'

'Good design can become a competitive edge...bring value to share a seat at the table'

'Provide quantative & qualitative analysis post project'

Mitchell Silver (Parks Commissioner for the City of New York - USA)

'People are looking for authenticity... there is a certain identity when you go from city to city... and they're very acute when something is designed that seems out of place.'

'All life is experienced on the street and we focus heavily on the experience of place. It is how people understand a city'

'The Silver Tsunami is hitting us and we need to understand the implications of those demographic changes.'

'I believe right rules for right places. I tell my staff and the developers, if there is a rule that doesn't make any sense, bring it to my attention and I will have it changed. My goal is that far too often codes are designed to prevent bad things and not encouraged to provide good things... We should not have codes for the lowest denominator, we should strive to have quality design.'

'I move people around (within my department) so that they have a more holistic, inclusive approach and greater awareness.'

'It's a delicate balance between the planners, architects and developers we are trying to find... the developer is looking at a 20 year investment, maybe longer and we are looking at an investment for generations in the city and we need to make sure the two reconcile. Plan making versus deal making. What is your city focussed on? You can usually tell by the communities that have developed.'

Dr Cheong Koon Hean (Housing and Development Board - Singapore)

'There is an inverse proportion when trying to understand what people want. When it's very complex (planning at a national level) a lot of people don't actually understand what they want. But, the nearer it comes home to them, in their backyard or nearby, the really know what they want... at a strategic level, most of the time, people respond to you at a local level.' -

'I think you need to pay people well... it's an important commitment... talent is mobile, they can move because they are very good people and so we have to give them attractive careers'

'A planning authority needs to try and understand what it is trying to do. It's not about rules for rules sake...the rules should be there as a guide and planners need to work with architects.'

David Gianotten (OMA - Hong Kong)

When asked to comment on what your client really wants - 'Firstly reading the brief and putting it on the site... but a brief gives you information, it doesn't give you the spirit of the assignment you are about to embark on so first you need to question the brief to really understand what they want.'

'It's a process where you start to introduce options, variations and maybe in the brief give extra possibilities so they start moving from their original position and then arrive together at the final position you both work out.'

'Question the client's motives - do you want 'this' or 'this'

Caroline Bos (UNStudio - Netherlands)

'We tried to create magnetic moments and then redistribute movement

Anonymous

'Place youself in the path of luck'

'We are at our best when resisted... when there is resistence'

'Research takes faith, because the result is unknown'

'Risk as a word did not exist until the birth of modernity'

'Every building should have a cultural output, not just art galleries'

'Websites are virtual representations of the physical'

'Design is a verb not just a noun'

'What is the risk of doing nothing versus the risk of doing something'