The Relationship Untold - A Review of MONU's 28th Issue, "Client-shaped Urbanism"

As architects and architectural designers, a balanced relationship between client and architect needs to be addressed. Being a fresh graduate and only being part of the work force for collectively under a year, I’ve begun to understand that these relationships must be tailored per architect, firm, client, project, etc., but that was the extent of my knowledge to this point. After reading MONU’s issue #28 “Client-shaped Urbanism”, it begun to open my eyes to how both a client or architect may feel they are being mistreated in certain situations and projects. Obviously, clients and architects mutually want a smooth relationship but understanding perspective, balance, and experience can affect the connection between the two.

In university, we are often told to put ourselves in the shoes of the user when thinking of our projects. That empathy begins to that help further our designs, so understanding perspective is highly important. In the first article, “Sympathy for the Devil” was stri...