At this point, the teams “get” the point of collaboration to varying degrees. But when it’s time to turn in the materials list for the build out, the need to be realistic about the end goal - and inclusive of all members’ perspectives -  came quickly into focus.

Sounds like a real construction project, doesn’t it?

Day Three is action packed: a trip to the awe-inspiring National Building Museum, and some more crafts back at The Flynn Center.

It’s also the first time that campers sit together as a design team, in Studio. It’s a critical moment, because the way they start often determines how they work from this point on. The teams started figuring out who does what, and got a good start on their ideas. It was encouraging that people understood the value of getting everyone’s input.

The fun begins. Teams get a chance to experience masonry crafts up close and personally. Architects got tired arms and a new respect for what it takes to be a skilled BAC craftworkers. It’s also a golden opportunity for the craftworkers to experience other skills and career options. The masons got a peek inside an architect’s world, in a special design studio session. They also heard that the best projects take both good design AND the craftworkers’ understanding of how to build it.

How DO architects and craftworkers learn to collaborate?  That’s the end goal of this week.

To start, participants break up into mixed teams, half architects/ half craftworkers, to build a structure out of foam bricks. Personalities start to emerge within the teams, and they start to “get” how they can all contribute, and work as a team.

It was hard to get people to lay down their tools, but the time had come for the teams to discuss their projects, and how they came together on both ideas and execution. Collaboration came more easily for some teams than others, but every participant came away changed.

“The skills I learned from these guys will last a lifetime,” says Erick Goecken from Holabird & Root. The architects say it will change the way they work, and appreciate the craftworkers. They wish other practitioners could experience it (some think it should be required).

The masons appreciated a chance to peek inside another profession and gain an understanding that could head off conflict. For David Lesko of Local 7 NY/NJ, Masonry Camp “has shown me how important working together is for the future of our industry.”

“It’s this mutual conversation that benefits our designs,” noted Carlos Jimenez. “It can be bewildering, but to have that act of faith is very important.”

During his lecture, campers were awed by his projects, which made it lear that Jimenez is a fan of masonry. “There is something about masonry that is always so comforting. The sense of durability, that nothing can break it. You always feel the presence of the craftsman. It’s placed one by one…aided by all those invisible hands.” He also encouraged designed to keep sketching. “Your hand is still the fastest tool available.”

Back on the construction sites, “it was great to see the pride and competitive relationships the masons have, too,” says Matt Clarkson from The Collaborative Inc.

The lesson for Wenhung Chen from Kling Stubbins was that “being open-minded and valuing skilled masons’ opinions would keep a project straight.”

The next step –going from studio to building one element of the design – was an eye-opener for everyone.

“It gave me an opportunity to understand how much work is involved in designing and transferring those ideas to drawings that the trades can work with,” says Juan Salazar from Local 1 NY.  That understanding helps make me a better craftworker,” says Paul Leon DeSaulniers from Local 3 NY.

Designers are clearly excited about getting the chance to build something real. “Building materials have a life of their own that paper doesn’t allow young designers to understand,” says Kristin Schuster from SWBR Architects.

For Jennifer Lee from Robert A.M. Stern Architects, it was a chance for innovation, “which you can achieve with the architects’ ideas and the craftsmen’s skills by pushing each other’s limits.”

Team mates Commisso and Diane Tien from Perkins & Will admit that they pushed each other hard. “I am hard on myself, and I look at it as our building,” says Vinny. That was a revelation for Diane. “I always want my projects perfect as drawn. I did not give it a thought that the mason wants to build it perfect. We became one through the process.”

There is “more doing, less talking,” as one camper puts it, especially from those teams that understood best how to work together.

For many of the masons, it takes some time to shed their shyness about trying the design trade. Once they do, they understand architects better. “It’s given me a new appreciation of architects and the creativity they possess to design,” says Mark Brown from Local 1 MI. Jake Luffy from Local 9 PA had “mixed emotions” about the project at first; by the end of the week, he says, “I could not be more pleased with the end result or the experience as a whole.”

For inspiration, campers visit the National Building Museum, www.nbm.org. After all, it’s the one week of the year to really do something different. With 15.5 million brick, massive plaster-covered columns, and a rich history, the building never fails to impress. “This is the kind of thing that I want to build,” says one inspired mason.

Back at The Flynn Center, there are more craft stations, and the architects are starting to feel it. “My arms are going to fall off,” says one. “I thought we were going on a vacation. This is long days and hard work!”

It’s also the first day of studio, when the teams starting thinking about their design/build challenge, and personalities start to emerge.  For Wanda Lopez Bobonis from RMJM Hillier, who found herself tapped as team leader, “Camp marked the beginning of a different way for me to see things, not only in architecture and construction but also about myself. I usually don’t think of myself as a leader, but I did it, and I liked it. We worked as a team…and it worked!

Still, when the teams first got started, “it was like we were speaking different languages,” says Warren Bath from Steed Hammond Paul.