A few weeks ago, I posted the third episode in my series of personal recession stories, leading up to the recession of 1982. It was definitely a turning point for me, because I left a partnership position with RMW in San Francisco to face the somewhat uncertain world of consulting.

On one hand, I was fortunate to be able to join an established group of consultants in The Coxe Group, which was founded by Weld Coxe in the mid-1970s. On the other hand, the main office was in Philadelphia, and almost everyone worked from their own location. For someone who had been going into an office every day for the last 15 years, it was a major adjustment.

I set up a home office with a phone, a Rolodex wheel, and an answering machine. After a few weeks, I bought a typewriter. (In 1982, few individuals had faxes or computers.) If I needed to dictate something, I called The Coxe Group in Philadelphia after hours and left the dictation as a message on their answering machine. I was essentially left to my own devices, literally.

My first assignment for The Coxe Group was a search — to assist Anderson DeBartolo Pan (later acquired by Fluor Daniel in 1995) recruit a Senior Mechanical Engineer for their Tucson office. Since I was the newbie, I wasn't allowed to talk to the client (which was a new experience), so all information was transmitted through Nina Hartung, who managed The Coxe Group. Frankly, I had no idea how to develop a network to recruit a mechanical engineer, and I knew almost no one in Arizona, so I reached out to the engineers with whom RMW had worked, as well as those at SOM. They were happy to give me suggestions of people to contact, and I started "dialing for dollars." After contacting what seemed like everyone in the Tucson engineering community, I had a nibble, whom I vetted and then passed along to Nina. She began playing phone tag with the ADP client, and weeks went by. Finally one day, I decided to call the candidate, only to discover that he had left the firm and joined ADP. I called Nina and told her that the search was completed. And I wondered what was wrong with that picture....

My second assignment was for Ellerbe (pre-Becket). At that point, Ellerbe was one of the largest A/E firms in the USA, with at least 12 offices. They were known for client relationships and good architecture, but the executive leadership wanted to "raise the bar" in terms of design excellence. (This was not the first time I'd heard that — since it had also happened at RMW — and it was definitely not the last time, either.) The Coxe Group was retained to identify 10 to 15 design directors for various office locations, and I was assigned to do the search, again working through Nina.

Although I had personally worked with lots of good architects and designers, this was an overwhelming assignment. My first thought was to talk to someone who was considered to be among the best nationally, and who would also be willing to talk to me. I knew Bill Turnbull through David Robinson of RMW as well as the AIA/SF, and I called him. And I will always be exceedingly grateful to him for his help. 

Bill opened his Rolodex and started giving me names of his friends and colleagues, which ran to at least ten pages, single-spaced. He told me to use his name when I called, which worked better than "Open Sesame!" I called lots of very famous architects (often without even realizing who they were), as well as an amazing group of emergent design architects. And I began to make friends with design architects in every major firm in the USA. 

I identified a number of candidates for the various office locations, but again, all of the candidates were passed through Nina to the client, and I had no control over who was interviewed or how the interview was conducted. Ellerbe liked several of the candidates, and they hired one (an architect with a substantial healthcare portfolio -- not unlike their existing designers). Then a leadership change occurred in the firm, and the initiative was cancelled. (They subsequently hired Peter Pran, who was one of the young design architects whom I identified, but that was years later.)

I continued to do recruiting for a number of diverse firms, and I enjoyed all of the networking. I was able to develop a reputation for understanding what the firms and people really did, and soon I was the lead consultant on the assignments, working directly with the clients. In addition, I was given consulting assignments, which I did without any connection to the other consultants (other than an occasional phone check-in). I realized that I felt insecure about consulting with really large engineering firms, but I loved working with entrepreneurial architects and designers.

In 1983, the Board of Directors of AIA/SF decided that they wanted to try, yet again, to have a big party. The 100th anniversary masked ball had fizzled, but there was a desire to renew the Beaux Arts Ball. This time, it would be a benefit for the newly established Department of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the ball would be held in City Hall. And they asked me to Chair the event.

I turned to my friend and former partner, Andrew Belschner, to help plan the Ball. SOM agreed to allow the wonderful Debra Nichols design the event graphics, and she outdid our wildest dreams, coming up with a wonderful Cecil Beaton ballet photograph that she enhanced with colored masks. The economy was in recovery, and everyone was ready to have a party, especially for a good cause. The ball was exceptionally well-attended, we had a panel of distinguished guests to judge the costuming, and the only slight embarrassment was one well-known architect who came dressed as a baby (in diapers) and crawled up and down the Rotunda stairs. A good time was had by all, and we donated $10,000 to SFMOMA. Hooray!

In 1984, the AIA/SF again reached out to me to be the Chair of what would become an urban arts festival, to be held in conjunction with the National AIA Convention in SF in 1985. John Merrill Jr. of SOM agreed to chair the Advisory Committee (which meant that he would lead the fundraising effort), and he twisted arms of the best-connected architects, including David Robinson, to join him. 

I worked with David Robinson and Andrew Belschner, of course, to identify the arts groups that we wanted to participate. Ultimately, "Settings: A Celebration of Urban Arts" included visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and fashion design, with more than 80 people from the architectural community and the arts groups participating on the committees. The organizing committee was a real who's who, with leading names from each of the arts disciplines co-chairing committees with an architect or designer. We held an opening party in the Green Room; we had banners (designed by Debra Nichols's team at SOM) in place on California Street; and we had free events on plazas and in galleries, museums, and performance spaces throughout the downtown area. As an example, the Dance Committee converted the plaza of the Bank of America Headquarters Building into a performance space, with commissioned modern dances performed each day at lunchtime.

Unfortunately, although we kept providing information to the National AIA, there was a disconnect between our planning and the National AIA's, and as a result, no one attending the Convention from out-of-town knew anything about "Settings." The festival was a great treat to the office workers who emerged from their buildings at lunchtime to discover art and performances waiting for them — like the "flash mobs" of today— but it was disappointing to everyone who had worked so hard to engage the Conventioneers. If only we had Twitter and Facebook back then....

In between all of my pro bono activities, I continued to work with various clients, including some that turned into my very favorites. One client that definitely changed my life was Frank O. Gehry. And although I promised to tell that story in Episode #4, it will have to wait until Episode #5.

Tally: 1982 to 1985 - just little ol' me + lots of volunteers

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Want to start at the beginning? Here's a link to My Recession Stories: Episode #1