OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



139 



them proper and suitable under certain 

 circumstances ; but it is fundamentally 

 imjiortant that there should be a clear 

 understanding in each case as to just 

 what the relations are. Failure to have 

 a clear understanding on this point is a 

 frequent cause of trouble; and it is the 

 duty of each of the professional men con- 

 cerned in any undertaking to come to a 

 clear understanding on this matter frank- 

 ly and at an early stage of their relations, 

 and not to rely too much upon a tacit as- 

 sumption that the others are of his own 

 way of thinking. 



The three relations to which I refer are 

 these : 



1. One professional man may employ 

 another (either as a consultant or as an 

 assistant) in which case the one em- 

 ployed, so long as he continues to accept 

 such employment, is responsible directly 

 to the other and subject to his instruc- 

 tions. If he cannot with respect for his 

 own professional standards accejJt and 

 follow the instructions he receives, his 

 normal recourse is to resign. He is in the 

 position of any other temporary employee 

 e.xcept so far as his contract of employ- 

 ment sets up special previsos. 



2. One professional man may be 

 charged by a client with general respon- 

 sibility for a complex piece of work and 

 another (or others) may also be employed 

 directly by the client, with the assent of 

 the former, to collaborate with him, 

 either on the whole of the work, or on 

 more or less clearly defined parts or as- 

 pects of it. subject to the general direc- 

 tinn (if the principal designer but with 

 the duty of reporting directly to the client 

 (with the knowledge of the principal de- 

 signer) in case the collaborator disagrees 

 with the principal designer over a matter 

 which the collaborator believes to be 

 vital to the success of the work or of 

 other parts or aspects of it to which his 

 responsibility extends. I have known of 

 satisfactory collaboration of this sort 



with an engineer as principal and an 

 architect, a landscape architect, a sculp- 

 tor, a painter, and a professional realtor 

 as co-equal subordinate collaborators. 

 The appropriateness of this method de- 

 pends on the job and the man. It is de- 

 sirable to have a tolerably clear under- 

 standing in advance of the special field of 

 responsibility of each of the subordinate 

 collaborators, but the fact remains that 

 there is one chief designer. 



3. Two or more professional men may 

 be employed by a client to collaborate 

 upon a complex problem, charged with 

 an indeterminate joint responsibility for 

 the success of the whole, without making 

 either wholly subordinate to the other but 

 with a general understanding that the 

 prime responsibility of one is for one part 

 or aspect of the problem and that of the 

 other is for another part or aspect. 



This means that, particularly in those 

 parts or aspects of the problem where 

 their respective special responsibilities 

 merge and overlap, no designs which are 

 not acceptable to both, and accepted by 

 both, shall be put in course of execution 

 except after a "show-down" by both be- 

 fore the client and a decision by him. For 

 the good of the work, which should al- 

 ways be the first consideration, it is not 

 particularly important which of them 

 draws the plans for a particular item in 

 the borderland of their respective fields 

 where both are competent, provided both 

 are satisfied with the plans as drawn and 

 accept joint responsibility for recommend- 

 ing them to the client. If either is seri- 

 ously dissatisfied with the plans it is his 

 duty to say so, in order that the client 

 may get the best that the combination 

 can produce. 



This is a method which tends to some 

 delay and some duplication of labor, and 

 is not satisfactorily workable unless the 

 client is prepared to pay for the best that 

 the combination can produce ; and unless 

 it is the case either that the professional 



