Practicing Architecture – Personal Experiences (2)

” Practicing Architecture –  Personal Experiences ”

a series of articles by

Michael Perciali, AIA, NCARB, OAR, LEED GA
Architect Planner Designer, Visiting Lecturer

Professional Practice – Personal Experience

This discussion covers some practical and theoretical architect’s activities during the development of a project from the inception of it (OPR- owner program requirements, URS – user’s requirements specifications,  NC – Nota de Comanda, Tema de proiect, Brief, a.s.o.) until construction documents phase starts. It does not cover however the architect’s role as a program manager, project manager, although architects often find themselves in these less design involved roles, but as important if not more important than planning and designing  a capital project.

The vast majority of projects now happening around the globe are being commissioned by large and very large organizations, which are hiring us among other consultants to execute a capital project. This is a team activity and we as architects have a key role in that team, in particular during the scoping phase of a project. Remember, no other discipline in this project team knows sufficient data about another discipline to place judgment on a design issue more than we do – although this is not recognized by all team members. Therefore we need to prove ourselves over and over until we gain credibility in the design team. This aspect varies from project type to project type; we should recognize that there are differences also many similarities among building types. It is not a brainer to admit architects should lead residential (housing) development projects, or hospitality projects etc., but we are not as accepted to lead engineering driven projects such as Data Centers, R&D facilities, etc., although many of us did enough of these to be able to handle such a project (building specialization is v important in today’s high technology market). However finding ourselves involved in a general industry, manufacturing, logistic type project or commercial power generation project, we need to devote our entire talent and knowledge to its success, following the lead of engineering disciplines, by introducing ideas that will benefit the project. Remember we need to do “justice” to the project, regardless of the team structure and any hierarchical rules that governs its design.

Critical areas we need to address – not in any particular order, all are as important:

1. The political aspect of our profession – although many said for a long time and still do: “depoliticize the architectural practice” – that aspect is still present in large and very large projects, when working for large and v large corporate customers and / or Gov entities. Not much different is in a democratic setting where every member of the client’s organization (could be tens of them) has the right to his / her opinion, making the design process very complex, stressful, cost and time consuming.
2. Our role as a “facilitator” within the customer’s organization – is very evident in the “planning” phase of a project when requirements are very sketchy, budget and schedule not very well defined. We have a vested interest in moving the project ahead (unlike some of the customer’s team members which may see it as an unnecessary headache) because that is our livelihood we depend on and it requires a very skillful approach to a team design effort (sometimes this becomes more like a “design by committee” – which we should avoid whenever possible) – as the only way to move ahead. Offer a number of design options, support all of them on an equal platform and use scientific data (cost, schedule, feasibility studies, risks assessments, etc.) to make a recommendation supporting one option vs another.
3. Be kind, polite, understanding and knowledgeable of customer’s business, – (it was said we need to know their business better than they themselves know it) – of local circumstances, restrictions, risks, codes, economics and social realities on the ground.
4. Be knowledgeable of customer’s goals, mission, objectives, – it was / is said metaphorically – “be like in bed with your customer” – and be creative in mitigating their needs with all constraints specific to most jobs.
5. Be true to your profession, professional organizations you belong to and the society as a whole. Accept that not all your initiatives will be welcomed and / or implemented, accept that the society and / or environment may not be served by the project as you wish, same with project’s aesthetics (it is said: “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”) – which means what you perceive as beauty may be different from how your customer perceives it – yet try your best in a restrained way to implement as many as your project affords you to – any gain in these areas are for the benefit of us all. Expect to hear the non-sense that ugly buildings cost less, therefore “ugly” in some customer’s mind is associated with low cost therefore they love it. The reality proven in millenniums of vernacular design and by the most recent movement that “good design is good business” – is the opposite; a good design is always the lowest cost solution to any project. Think in terms of a bridge design, fewer elements it has, less expensive it is and best performs its intended use – to span a large to very large distance.
6. When it comes to life safety and property loss prevention, we should not negotiate it – this is our profession’s main role in assuring safety for building occupants and the general public and no customer in good conscience will demand us to overlook these. There are codes and standards that help us to see these requirements implemented, therefore a very strong knowledge of local and international codes and standards is essential to gain and maintain your credibility – also called “vote of confidence”. Most industries we serve are regulated and knowing these regulatory requirements are essential in our practice – not observing these regulations during design and / or construction can result in huge fines to our customers, costly delays and re-work, for sure for us is a lost client, possible loosing reputation over an entire industry sector.
7. Cost overruns and schedule delays often kill a good and needed project – it is us – the design professionals – to be blamed for this. Do not expect Customer to increase the project budget due to uncontrolled changes and demands beyond the initial scope. Keep track of the cost OOM (order of magnitude) every step on the way and inform your customer with honesty of any potential cost overrun.
8. Visual presentation is an essential tool for a good communication with customers and project team – we are the only project team entity capable to visualize and graphically communicate to others how the project will look when completed. We can do that using computer graphics, material supplier’s data; pictures of executed projects, even free hand sketches are still welcome in early stages of a planning job.
9. Very important for us is to know what phase / need of a project are we involved with at any given time and limit our effort to that phase only. Time and money / resources are always limited, focus only on what is the final objective we need to derive to and what kind of research, graphics, calculations, consultants, etc. are essential for this particular phase.
10. Do not bring a large engineering team at a customer’s scoping meeting; you will be embarrassed to see customer’s team very small as opposed to your large engineering team – think as a customer, who is paying us and for what value added?
11. To some extent, some of project’s objectives may have been answered by customers, expressed either in a good or in a not so good way. You may hear statements such as: space is needed, cost and schedule are essential, needed is  a showcase facility for marketing purposes, the goal is to meet codes and regulatory compliances, or expansion and / or compression is needed following a merger or a new product launch, etc.  These very brief definitions should be answered with the least amount of deliverables associated with the project, examples: a finish schedule may not be needed but finishes samples board yes. Elevator, escalator, roofing etc. details are not needed but a building section yes, toilet accessories schedule is not needed, but all plumbing fixtures on drawings are, building elevations may not be needed but a building massing  yes, a.s.o.

Needleless to say that building fire and seismic codes should always be in your mind, same with accessibility for these disabled and sustainability features, which, along with these mentioned above – make our profession a knowledge based profession

TBC (to be continued) and feedback is welcome – better@we-better.com

01/09/2022

#better gazduieste articole ale unor personalitati recunoscute in domeniul ARHITECTURA & CONSTRUCTII. Michael Perciali este un arhitect român care profeseaza de multi ani in Statele Unite ale Americii .