The minute you enter an architecture school and take a first step towards becoming an architect, you will learn about the on-going animosity between contractors and architects. The rivalry so epic, the Capulets' and the Montagues' feud from Shakespeare's famous love story would look like mere bickering in comparison. On a more serious note though, both contractors and architects are known for bringing hostility to the table even before getting to know each other as professionals. There is a preconceived notion that the architects are irrational souls who want to make floating and soaring buildings without adequate structure or means of support. There is another notion that contractors are uneducated buffoons who don't take the issue of craft very seriously and, therefore, need to be watched over at all times.

As a result of preconceptions, it is hard to find examples of healthy partnerships between architects and contractors in today's building industry. Trust and reliability always seem to be the two of the main obstacles to overcome when collaborating with either an architect or a contractor on a project. So, how does one deal with a difficult architect, or, in more general terms, someone who is not cooperating with the terms set in a contract and is not willing to accommodate the concerns and requests of all parties working on a project?

Just looking at the most recent news, we can readily find an example of a building gone wrong, where the blame is shifted back and forth among the parties involved. Frank Gehry's newest building on MIT's campus began to leak and Gehry got slapped with a multi-million dollar lawsuit by the university for serious flaws in design. Gehry, in turn, responded to the lawsuit by stating that "value engineering" was largely responsible for the leakage problems. "There are things that were left out of the design," he said. "The client chose not to put certain devices on the roofs, to save money." The contractor said they asked for a mediation with MIT because recommendations then made for drainage were ignored by Gehry's office. And that's when people began pointing fingers at each other and professionalism gave way to immature bickering, with lawyers present, of course.

So how do we avoid the disaster, the lawsuits, the hurt egos? Issues and conflicts of interest are bound to arise when there are several minds working together on bringing a project from a set of blueprints to life. It is impossible to please everyone, since

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