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Millennials, old guard and how to get to be a licensed architect

7/29/2014

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There is a lot of noise going around the internet about getting licensed as an architect.  There was an article on Architizer.com about "Why the Millennial Architect Won't Be Your CAD Monkey" and the Archispeak Podcast had a great discussion about it.

Why are all these young architects wannabes so upset about the process?  I understood the process before I got started down this path.  If you don't like the process I suggest you don't start down this road.  Nobody makes you become an architect.  I don't ever remember feeling like I was "used" working my way through the system.  I just accepted it and kept my eye on the prize, to one day be a licensed architect.  

As mentioned in the Archispeak Podcast, apparently many feel like they have been lied to in college.  Dreams of becoming a "starchitect" and saving the world?  My Dad was a mechanical engineer by degree and a lighting rep by profession.  He dealt with engineers and architects on a daily basis.  In my last quarter of my fifth year, I can remember my Dad saying "I don't give a damn if you are the next Frank Lloyd Wright, if you want a job when you get out of school you have to do two things.  You have to know how to print and draw because if you can't do those two things nobody will hired you."  I also remember my fifth year advisor telling me that the trouble with the fifth year students when they pick their thesis projects is they all want to save the world in one year.  He said you can't do it, simplify your project and bring it back to me and I will let you know if I will be your advisor.  In my final critique, the parting words from one of the invited professors was "I hope you don't put this crap out when you get out into the real world".  So where in the hell would I ever have gotten the idea I was going to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright?

All I want to do is design buildings, any building.  I will do my best to provided the best design to make the space as enjoyable and functional for the occupants.  Where in that desire is the necessity for fame and glory?

I am not saying that the way we have gone about becoming architects is "the way".  I have questions and issues about the process too.  One thing I fail to understand is why we took away the option of letting experience replace college time?  It use to be if you worked for an architect for so many years you could sit for the exam, but now you are required to have a professional degree, why?  The exam, why do you have to take an exam and if you do why are there any requirements to take it?  If you have to pass the exam to get your license, why can't anyone take the test and if they pass it become licensed?  Why can't we just get our degree, spend "X" amount of years in an apprenticeship and then be given our license?

Why don't we make the test "real world" enough that you need a comprehensive understanding of the architectural environment to pass it.  Have an eight hour design test and real world building code application questions along with questions about all the things that architects typically do during a project.  If you pass it you're licensed.  I would still be in favor of getting a degree or working a certain amount of time in the architectural profession.  You just can't beat experience.

I love what I do and I am grateful to be able to practice architecture everyday.  It is a privilege, not an entitlement.  It amazes me the older I get the more I realize the less I know.  I have more desire now to learn than I ever did at 18 or 23.  I often feel less than qualified to do what I have been doing for the last 35 years.

It seems to me that the millennials fail to understand that architecture is not just about design.  It is about life safety and that is why we have codes.  Do they realize that if you screw something up bad enough you can kill people?  I never hear this come into any conversations about being an architect.  There is a great deal of responsibility about providing a safe environment to protect people.  If they think about the amount of liability they have for each one of their projects, would they be so anxious to jump into the profession?
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A tool of the trade - CAD

7/27/2014

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I get a fair amount of grief for still using AutoCAD release 14.  Antiquated by any standards.  I have always considered CAD an electronic pencil.  The magic of CAD is that it allows you  to manipulate objects after they are drawn and the automation provided by languages like AutoLisp. 

To draw a large building and then have the client say they would like to make the center area 5' larger would make a grown architect cry if he drew it by pencil and that is one of the reasons architect state "Do NOT scale the drawings".  It was also disheartening to start drawing and then run out of room as you approached the border of the sheet of paper. Can anyone say "Break Line?"

Back in the early CAD days there was someone who was always the "Cad Guy" in each firm by default.  It was usually the guy who showed the most interest.  I have been using a third party CAD system that was developed by a friend who worked for a different architect's office than the one I was in.  He eventually even left the architectural field for a while and taught CAD and did custom programing on the side, but eventually ended back up working for an architectural firm.

The automation he provided really made my work easier.  Over the years he upgraded his product, but eventually lost interest as he got back into the architectural profession.  I have never found an acceptable replacement, so here I sit at AutoCad Release 14.  My clients, contractors and developers, do not require any BIM with their projects, they mostly want permit drawings.  

I have had people give me some grief for being on Release 14 instead of 2014, but when I ask them how this insert a door I hear the same process.  They insert a block, scale it and then manually trim the walls.  Below is an image of the dialog box I use when I want to insert a door.  I typically pick a hinge point, opposite point on the same side of the wall that I want the door to swing in and the opposite side of the wall.  Then the door is automatically inserted.  I select the type of door and door size I want to use first and then my three points.
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I realize that there are multiple advantages of moving to later versions of AutoCAD.  I also realize that for me to move forward the way I want to that I will have to do all the customization myself.  So I need to learn how to program in AutoLisp.   They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I'm not that old and the they aren't exactly new tricks, as I have dabbled in AutoLisp for years.  I understand the process and structure of AutoLisp, I have just never really sat down and coded.  After years of telling myself I would, I am finally at a point where I now want to change somethings to do it MY way.  There are excellent resources for learning AutoLisp on the internet and it is just a matter of committing one's time to learn how to do it.  An old but excellent book to start is "AutoCAD in Plain English" by George O. Head.  I think I have read this multiple times.
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Our tweaks, I think are what make us more productive.  I have a certain way I draw and I have looked at other CAD packages and third party add ons for AutoCAD, but they never do it the way I do. My opinion is that in most computer software there are only a handful of commands you typically end up using, so if I can customize that handful for a later version of AutoCAD (or maybe even ProgeCAD) I will be heading in the direction I need to go.  In some future posts I will update you on my progress and what I have learned and where I got my information from.  The tweaking of AutoCAD has been one of the major things that has separated it from other CAD packages and has been extremely beneficial to architects.
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Business Cards

7/19/2014

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My first business cards were drawn by me with a leroy set, needless to say they left a lot to be desired.  I had a friend who had a printing business and he designed my next card, which I have always been very pleased with and it has gotten many compliments.  Last year I decided I needed more information on my card, so I designed my own card.  I used Serif Pageplus X4.  It was the closest thing I could find to Microsoft Publisher and a very inexpensive price.  I then used a service on the internet and got 1,000 cards for about $37.  I am very pleased with the way it turned out.  I think it represents  my office in the professional manner that I had hoped it would.  I also have gotten many compliments about this card too!  And every now and then I get "You designed this didn't you?  It looks like something an architect would design."

The card on the left was my long time card by my printer friend.
 
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Got me wondering....

7/14/2014

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In the not so distant past, I listened to an audio book on Frank Lloyd Wright.   (Frank Lloyd Wright by Ada Louise Huxtable).  I highly recommend it.  I should know a lot more about previous architects than I do.  Until listening to the audio book I had never put together the connection between FLW and Louis Sullivan.  So that got me doing some searching on the internet.  Listening and reading about the wonderful time all the architects I follow on the internet had at the AIA Convention in Chicago just fueled my interest.  I wanted to know when certain architects were alive and how it overlapped with other architects.  So I got on wikipedia and made my little chart below.  These are most of the names I remember hearing when I was in college.  I will continue my search for more current architects, as I am less familiar with the current group.  Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid are the two names that come to mind.  I highly recommend watching "Sketches of Frank Gehry" if you haven't.  I really like the man, from what I have seen, but am not in love with his architecture.  
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Since I have been in the profession for 35 years, I have formed some pretty consistant opinions and I thought I would share one.  We all get out of school thinking we are going to design the next great building.  As stated before I have designed dog kennels to churches.  While working with clients there have been some things I really liked and some I thought were hideous.  I always tried to improve on the designs I didn't like, but sometime you just let the client have what they want and they walk away happy.  So my thoughts on design are represented in this skillfully crafted diagram below.  Your opinion may vary, just like your gas mileage!  Enjoy!
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Book buying update

7/13/2014

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So again I got the bug to buy a book.  The victim today was the Robie House.  So I went on Amazon and found the following
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Looking at the used books in both Amazon and Alibris, I found a copy for $1.46.  With shipping I think it came out to be about $5.00
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So you can go online and find some really nice books at very discounted prices.  I also purchased from Alibris - Charleston Style Then and Now   and  Architects of Charleston    .  From Amazon I purchased - Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House: The Illustrated Story of an Architectural Masterpiece.  Come on Mr. Mailman!  It will probably be about a week before I see these books.
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Stairs and terminology

7/8/2014

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The situation starts off as an issue, I think, because of misunderstood terminology.  I am code oriented type of guy.  I think I know the code better than most of my local peers, but it always frustrates me when I don't know things that I consider simple or things I think I should because I have been in this profession for so long.

I have designed and drawn up a few multifamily housing type of buildings in my day.  Some projects have both apartment buildings and townhouse type units.  Everyone knows what an apartment building is, but what exactly is a townhouse?

What you find on the internet when you look for a definition is "a tall, narrow, traditional row house, generally having three or more floors."   So many people consider a townhouse to be a style or type of building .   Townhomes are usually associated with residential buildings, but there are many office buildings around that are done in a townhouse style.

One of my clients has done several apartment complexes that have both the apartment buildings and the townhome units in the development.  Many people outside the industry don't understand that just because people live in the building it is still considered a commercial project.  The North Carolina Residential code is for one and two family dwellings and multiple single family dwellings (townhouses) not more than three stories  with a separate mean of egress.  The North Carolina code defines a townhouse as " A single-family dwelling unit constructed in a row of attached units separated by property lines and with open space on at least two sides".   

So many of my residential development projects have "Townhome" style residential buildings, but for code purposes they are not true townhouses and do not fall under the residential code, but the commercial code.

Why is this such a big deal?  The commercial code is much more restrictive.  Which brings me to stairs.  The residential code states that the maximum height of a riser and be 8 1/4" high.  Commercial risers are typically restricted to 7", but there is an exception for residential (R-2) that will allow you to have 7 3/4" high risers.

On my latest project prefab stair were delivered and most installed in the units.  A field inspector measured the height and it was 8 1/4".  Oops!  Which leads the to statements " We have always built them this way and never been called out"  The bottom line is they have to be removed and replaced.  Fortunately the sheetrock has not been hung.  So they are in the process of replacing them this week.  Why they were fabricated incorrectly no one has said nor accepted blame.  I am sure the company who supplied them to the site is walking on egg shells hoping for the minimal amount of collateral damage.  I will keep a more watchful eye as I am currently working on another "townhouse" style residential (R-2) building .

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    A self  employed architect.  Office of one. 
    I work 24/7 and weekends too!

    "For every complex problem there is usually a simple solution............................................and it is usually wrong"

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