This is Part 4 of a 10 Part Series, derived from my lecture at the Boston Architectural College Student Lecture Series “Just Futures”. My lecture was titled “The Power of Interior Design to Impact Positive Futures for People and Communities”. My message was that Interior Design has the power and responsibility to positively impact people, communities and their futures, that this can only be achieved through an equitable and inclusive design process, and that positive outcomes for people and communities are the measure of a successful design. I shared this message through stories of our partnerships with our clients and their communities. This is the story of the THE RECORD CO
This is the story of The Record Co, a community music workspace in Boston. First a lesson in marketing – you never know where you will meet a client. We met our client for this at fundraiser concert, screaming to each other over Jason Derulo, and somehow we connectd about TRC’s vision and expansion plans, and about how we might help. Always have your eyes open and be ready to talk design!
TRC’s Mission, values are impact right there –
VISION – a city where everyone can enjoy and make music, where its as easy to get together and create as it is to meet at play games in a park or connect and learn in a public library
MISSION – to remove the technical and social barriers between music makers and their creative visions through affordable music workspace and professional development opportunities
VALUES – every music maker deserves to learn, grow and progress in a supportive community. Building that community requires inclusivity, integrity, and radical hospitality
There’s a lot to talk about on this project – the complex State of the art recording studios, the technical aspects, acoustics, and the fact that it happened during the pandemic. In this story, I’ll focus on the inclusive process with the TRC team, and everyone in the TRC community – true to the TRC mission.
There were a number of opportunities to engage with the community, and that include musicians, managers, engineers. One of my favorite moments was in January 2020, and it was a vision gathering where we looked at all sorts of images, ideas, sticky notes -, it was a blast and everyone was honest. As we do, we shared a lot of precedent images, and what got everyone excited was the images that looked lived in, eclectic, not pristine – One of the comments was that the inspiration should be a 70’s gold men’s velour sweatsuit
That meeting was the last in-person meeting we had, and then we were in lockdown, so we had to learn to collaborate in a new way. We shared renderings, we shipped finishes to peoples homes. We learned digital shared tools, we learned zoom, we did everything we could to stay in contact with our people. Every room had a completely different finish palette, and we opened up the shared tools so that we could constantly get input
The collaboration continued with virtual reality, which we shared at fundraising and awareness events, including an interactive video of the space where we could collect feedback from the audience at a concert. The collaboration continued during construction, where we led tours to musicians, and the community.
When all was said and done, the space looks like I could never have imagined, and yet exactly what I imagined! The space continues to change – it is designed to evolve, and reflect that community. It’s a little different every time I go, and that’s fine with me.
The feedback from the music community has been amazing. We hear time and time again that people love it there, are grateful for it, and feel welcome, like home. It’s become a true center of the music community. I’m not sure what that special sauce was, but I’d say it was inclusion.
The people were heard. It’s about them. It was made by them, and that’s what made it feel welcome.
Generally I am not obsessed with design awards, but when TRC won best recording studio at the Boston Music Awards, that was one award we were pretty excited to see – because it was from the music community
If we have any part of musicians having a place where they can make music, and feel welcome and at home, that they belong, I count that as a success
