As an architect i've always felt that there are 3 types of people that we cater to:
- customers
- clients
- patrons
The Customer is someone who pays our bread and butter, we're not looking to create the next best thing, rather we're providing a solution that works best for their budget and their needs.
The Client is someone who wants something more customized and is willing to pay a little extra for that and know that there will be issues that will comeup but is willing to work with us and come to the best conclusion for the project. Cost and durability is an issue but they want something that defines their lifestyle.
The Patron is someone who appreciates architecture as an art form and is willling to concede that with unique design comes unique problems, we're not working on an assembly line of drawings that has the benefit of having all the kinks worked out rather the understand that problems will arise and that the design is an ever evolving object that will have both problems and solutions associated with it.
All 3 of these types of people help keep me passionate about my profession and it too bad that the MIT building is going through the problems, but the building is a prototype and with all prototypes there will be problems, they knew that going into the process and now are complaining that the design is flawed.