I thought you might like to see an ongoing exchange between John, a current Portfolio Center student, and Alexey, an alum…as it is one of the many things that separates our school from most any school in the country. As you might often be asked that question about the difference and have to offer a real difference, based upon fact, and not just what is speculative or general and therefore sounds much like something anyone else might suggest about their school — well, here is one for you. Our students interface with our alumni on issues such as this all the time. I put them together- bring in their expertise and then conversations, if not relationships, begin to develop such as you’ll see below— interests multiply, passions swell, and actions happen.

And, this particular dialogue goes right back to interest spawned from the environmental design classes we teach and the passion of our students and alumni. How appropriate that the education here is not so far from the legacy of the Bauhaus, as we move our students directly from the play of conceptual idea staging to reality—so fast.

Alexey, when he was a student here, won the SEGD national student competition for his conceptual restaurant design, and now he works at RTKL, one of the country’s foremost architecture, engineering, and planning firms, in Baltimore, Maryland, where his experience practice is environmental design. RTKL has offices in 21 countries- and is currently, for example, doing such exciting projects globally as designing Dubai, Saudi Arabia. Alexey recently undertook a personal project designing a restaurant in California. Take a look for yourself: Rendezvous

Hank.

On 10/5/06 2:48 PM, John XXXX wrote:

Hi Alexey,

My name is John XXXX. I’m at the beginning of my Grad quarter here at Portfolio Center, and a Big Opportunity has come long my way to develop a… [This part is a secret]…restaurant.

Shortly after the shock of meeting with the Investor and presenting my work, I e-mailed Hank with the news. Hank being Hank, riding the wave of excitement with me, cc’d your information to me to chat with you about this restaurant project.

I understand as an emerging designer that a designers time is very important and sometimes very limited. However, as the project beings to pick up speed, I’m sure I’ll get stuck at times and have a world of questions to ask, so if you wouldn’t mind I would like to know if you will have anytime to help out with some questions along way.

I guess the first question would be how much to charge? I know it would be amazing enough to have a real restaurant however, I understand I can not work for free. Should I make a contract; and if so what does one consist of?

With the project moving slowly at this point; following the concept while revising the drawings and model I am sure I will have to get together with an architect. I’m starting to think about what will the Architect expect, from me?

Currently, I have a “Illustrator blue print” of the floor plan, Images of furniture and other environmental components, a model of the structure which is still being built and redeveloped. Also, promotional tableware and the Website is under-construction.

Another question would be, where would you start/ continue on a project like this?

Again thank you for your time,

John

Begin forwarded message: From: Alexey XXXX Date: October 9, 2006 9:31:53 PM EDT To: “John XXX Cc: “” hank@portfoliocenter.com Subject: Re: Portfolio Center

Hi John,

It’s always good to hear from a fellow PC student. Sounds like you are busy yourself and have an opportunity for a great portfolio piece as well as a learning experience.

You should definitely have a contract for your good and your clients good. Doesn’t have to be a formal document as long as you write down what you propose to do and provide for your client such as physical deliverables and labor. The more detailed the better. This will also help you assess how much time things will take and therefore give you a better idea of how much to charge. The more detailed the better. You can also break it into chunks and price accordingly - somewhat of an itemized list. The only bad thing with this is they may pick and choose what they want and may limit what you can actually do.

Price is a tough one. It could be anything. Usually depends on the exposure of the project, the type of client (corporation vs. mom & pop), the budget of the project, etc. You can ask what the budget is and see if they give you any idea and then submit your proposal with what you feel you should get and come to a compromise or hope they take it. Once you have an idea of all the work you will be doing try to figure a dollar amount you would be happy with. Also the duration of the project will affect price. For me, my family was the client so I threw out a number based on how long the process would take and looked at is as a fulltime job because I did more than design such as ordered materials, managed workers, and built stuff myself.

Yes you will have to coordinate with an architect at some point - depending on what type of work is being done - they may have to include certain elements into their drawings. Sometimes you can work with the general contractor and let him deal with things such as permits but I guess it depends. Does the client have an architect? Usually anything on the exterior takes lots of time getting approval from the city and sometimes they won’t allow certain things.

So much to say. I could go on and on.

So where to start? Just like any project - start with a concept and carry it through. I pretty much started with general ideas/ concepts then worked with an illustrator file of the floor plan to figure out what would go where. The main thing to remember is flow - flow of customers and work flow - allowing for enough room for staff and customers to pass each other. Then I did sketches of elevations or specific feature elements. Some I took into Photoshop or illustrator to develop further. Here is the floor plan of rendezvous http://rendezvoussjc.com/after/ (scroll to the bottom). Just for kicks check out the before http://rendezvoussjc.com/before/

Also, remember to get as much info from the owners and chef such as what type of clientele they want. This will help drive your final product. The more the background info the better.

Cool.

Let me know how things go or if you have any other questions.

Alexey

Projects: Environmental and Architectural Design, RTKL

Arcadia Identity

Walt Disney World

Los Angeles, Staples Center

Shinsei EG

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