DougAPowell
Austin, TX
Male, 33
I work in small 2-man architecture firm where I literally wear every hat imaginable (except Owner). I answer the phones, clean the toilets, pay the bills and do the design work. Sometimes that means drawing plans and details necessary to get a building built and other days it may be larger scale projects like city and town planning. It's not always glamorous but it's enjoyable and it's an opportunity to learn how to keep a business running and to learn how to put the built environment together.
At the heart of it architects are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of the users of our buildings. That means things like the air inside is safe to breath or that it is easy to exit in case of a fire or even little things like it's easy to find your way through a building. While most architects love the design aspect the most their main concern is making sure the buildings are safe and inviting place to visit.
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Well, I don't know about the licensing requirements in your state but in Texas you have to either get a 5-year BA in Architecture or a BA in something else and Masters (can't remember if it's a 2-year or 3-year Masters). About the only real advantage to having a Masters is if you ever want to teach. Personally, the extra cost and time versus the salary don't seem worth it to me. My hunch would be to get a BA in Architecture or maybe a dual degree in Engineering and Architecture. But I would certainly check what your state requires to get licensed.
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Great question. I don't think many people out there actually understand what an architect does. In the traditional design-bid-build role an architect's job can be broken down into the following phases (these can be very involved so I'll try to keep it as short as possible) - Pre-Design Services, Basic Architectural Services and Post-Construction Services: Pre-Design Services - Some of the pre-design services architects can be engaged to perform involve information gathering (surveys, existing drawings, deeds/restrictions, geotechnical data, etc), research applicable codes, if it's an existing building they an measure it and draw as-built drawings, write a Program (which delineates things like room sizes, adjacencies and other parameters in words before anything is drawn or designed), Master Planning and a myriad other services. Basic Architectural Services are broken down into 5 traditional phases: Phase 1 - Schematic Design - Tasks include creating design sketches for client review, putting together outline specifications and creating 3D massing models of the project for extra visualizations. Phase 2 - Design Development - Once the client has settled on a design the architecture team will start to put the basic structure if the design drawings together, will being cutting sections and drawing elevations start adding detail to the 3D model. Phase 3 - Construction Documents - Here the architect creates all the drawing necessary for permitting, bidding and construction. Phase 4 - Bid/Negotiations Phase - Here the architect helps the client solicit bids for construction, helps the client compare bids and offers and supplemental instructions or drawings. Once the client has chosen a contractor the architect then helps the client negotiate the contract with that contractor. Phase 5 - Construction Administration - Here the architect makes periodic site visits to make sure the contractor is building the project according to the plans. Other duties include issuing clarifications or changes to the drawings. The architect will also review applications for payment. The goal here is to make sure the project is being built according to the plans and specs and to make sure you haven't paid out more than you have value on site (either in built product or materials). Post-Construction Services: These can include things like creating as-built drawings (so that you have a set that reflects all changes that happened during construction), collecting and cataloging manuals and warranties for equipment purchased and do an 11-month walk-through to address any warranty items that may expire after a year. Again, this is a very abbreviated list of the Architect's duties - I left a lot out.
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A lot of the work we does comes from word of mouth. The great thing about that though is that we usually get referrals from all types of people we work with - clients, contractors, engineers and occasionally even other architects. If we are working directly for a client it's often in the form of the (traditional) design-bid-build format but we've also done many design-build projects where we work with a contractor throughout the project to get periodic cost analyses to make sure the project stays on budget. In those cases we are sometimes hired by the client and sometimes by the contractor.
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My ultimate goal is to run a firm myself, yes. The owner here is in the later part of his career and so my hope is to become knowledgeable enough and to build a good enough client base that when he retires I can take over duties myself (along with other employees, ideally).
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The section shown in that image gallery give a lot of evidence. Basically that cantilevered portion of the house is acting like a giant beam. It's hard to tell exactly how it's supported from the small drawings, though. Sorry I can't be clearer.
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As I alluded to in my prior post about earthquake-proofing buildings this isn't really an area of expertise for me. We don't get much seismic activity in Texas.
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