junctionist
Senior Member
Kinda, yeah. Different firms will push back in different ways. Some won't at all and will let the client drive the bus entirely. There's lots of room for friendly banter in this exchange, but if you start getting a reputation as being intransigent, regardless of how good your work is, you'll lose your client base and won't be able to work at all. 'Pick your battles' is apt in this vein.
'Stagnated' and 'honed' are different sides of the same coin. aA have always had a sharp eye and are able to deliver a consistent product regardless of the client (something even HPA sometimes struggle to do). That's extremely tough to do in this City. Further, are you trying to tell me that in your eye, Junction Point is 'essentially the same' as this? "Stagnated" indeed...
Junction Point's heavy geometry and colourful brick recall 383 Sorauren, which dates back to 2016. Junction Point is turning out to be an outstanding landmark, but it doesn't necessarily disprove my point. aA has been designing skyscrapers for, what, 20 years now? In a similar timeframe, HPA has given us more varied landmarks such as the Florian, Garrison Point, FIVE, Massey Tower, One Bloor East, and 410 Front Street (the office tower at The Well).
There's a lot more variety to their portfolio. But I was thinking, too, of the likes of Eberhard Zeidler and, to be more international, Philip Johnson. They designed outstanding works of Modernism and ended up designing some outstanding buildings in a completely different style in their older years as well--Postmodernism. One can see an interesting element of change and development over the course of their careers in their portfolios.