Platform on architecture, interior design and landscape architecture
Hard work was never an issue in our family. No talk, just action. Start early, finish late. That mindset has paid off big time. Our firm is built on that foundation, and together with the team, we create the most beautiful villas and commercial buildings in the region. But that same mindset also perpetuated something else: the grind…
You—dear reader—probably recognize this. Always busy. Schedules filling up, evenings that just keep going. More hours mean more revenue, so working more makes sense. Staying on top of everything, wanting to know everything, wanting to control everything. And that—you get the picture—under the guise of quality. And for a long time, that just works. Until it starts to grate.
A project from a while back made that painfully clear. I’m talking about a beautiful location, an ambitious client, and a technically challenging project. Exactly—it was exactly the kind of work that’s supposed to be energizing. However, things turned out a bit differently.
The project was mostly just noise. Everything was running, but nothing felt focused. Meetings followed one after another, details were discussed endlessly, and meanwhile, the feeling lingered that the essence was slipping out of sight. The focus wasn’t on the project itself, but on keeping the momentum around it going. That was the moment it became clear to us: this isn’t right.
In this sector, being busy is no longer a side issue but has become part of the system. Time is the measure of value. Full schedules feel like success; free time feels like a risk. And so we keep going. One more meeting, one more revision, one more late night. For convenience, we simply call it ‘commitment.’ Professionalism, in other words. But often it’s just poorly organized work. The choice to do things differently therefore feels uncomfortable at first. Working fewer hours. Not being involved in everything. Delegating responsibility back to the team. Creating space where there used to be only pressure. It feels as though control is slipping away. But the beauty of it was: that is precisely where something else emerges. Because with calm comes clarity. With distance comes focus. Suddenly, it becomes clear what a project is really about—and what isn’t. Decisions become simpler, the work better, the conversations more honest. And that’s uncomfortable.
Because if working less leads to better results, what does that say about how we’re organizing things now?
After all, projects are designed down to the millimeter, while our work methods still rely on overwork. As if that were the price of quality. However, it isn’t. Hard work has its value. But better organization is ultimately what makes the difference.
Perhaps that is where the real breakthrough for the industry lies. And that is my message in this guest column, which I was happy to write. We must not keep spinning our wheels in the “hour factory.” We need to have the courage to choose space instead. To build better. •
