Becoming an Architect

Lee W. Waldrep

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118857199
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

" Becoming an Architect will inspire future architects, career consultants, and human resources professionals alike, providing all the information you'll need to make intelligent decisions about careers in architecture." —From the Foreword by Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, 2014 AIA National President

Starting a career as an architect is an exciting prospect, but it's important to do your research before you take the plunge. The third edition of Becoming an Architect is an update to the best-selling guide and highlights the risks and rewards on the path to a career as an architect. You'll find new insight and tons of helpful resources, as well as a complete outline of the trajectory of an architect's early career, from higher education through internship and licensure. More than thirty-two new interviews and profiles from architecture students, emerging, and established professionals give the resource a truly personal feel, and help get you acquainted with real-life scenarios from architects from varying backgrounds and specialties.

With a highly accessible approach, this guide provides a complete overview of the profession, including educational requirements, design specialties, registration requirements, and the paths of a career in architecture. Whether you're a high school student, a college undergraduate, a career counselor, or a human resource professional, Becoming an Architect offers much-needed advice and information to anyone interested in career development for architects.

• Covers recent changes to the Intern Development Program (IDP)
• Provides advice on obtaining professional experience while studying to be an architect
• Considers career paths in a myriad of work environments, such as government agencies, education, and research
• Includes helpful appendixes with resources for further information, such as career-related associations, websites, and recommended reading

Obtain a solid introduction to a career as an architect, and plan your own path with the guidance and advice of dozens of others who have already started this process.

Chapter 1
The Definition of an Architect

Newseum, Washington, DC. Architect: Polshek Partnership Architects LLP. Photographer: Lee W. Waldrep, Ph.D

He looked at the granite. To be cut, he thought, and made into walls. He looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a streak of rust on the stone and thought of iron ore under the ground to be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky. These rocks, he thought, are here for me; waiting for the drill, the dynamite and my voice; waiting to be split, ripped, pounded, reborn, waiting for the shape my hands will give to them.

Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead¹

AFTER READING THE PRECEDING TEXT from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, what are your thoughts and feelings? Can you relate to the main character, Howard Roark, in this passage? Are you overcome with the possibilities of creating with the materials around you?

Do you want to be an architect? Do you wish to study architecture? If your answer is “Yes” to any of these questions, this book is for you.

What is the definition of an architect? The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language² defines architect as:

1. One who designs and supervises the construction of buildings or other structures. är-ki-tekt, n. [MF architecte, fr. L architectus, fr. Gk architekton master builder, fr. Archi- + tekton builder]

Of course, this definition simply scratches the surface. Becoming and being an architect are much more.

What Do Architects Do?

People need places in which to live, work, play, learn, worship, meet, govern, shop, eat—private and public spaces, indoors and out; rooms, buildings, and complexes; neighborhoods and towns; suburbs and cities. Architects, professionals trained in the art and science of building design and licensed to protect public health, safety, and welfare, transform these needs into concepts and then develop the concepts into building images that can be constructed by others.

In designing buildings, architects communicate with and assist those who have needs—clients, users, and the public as a whole—and those who will make the spaces that satisfy those needs—builders and contractors, plumbers and painters, carpenters, and air conditioning mechanics.

Whether the project is a room or a city, a new building or the renovation of an old one, architects provide the professional services—ideas and insights, design and technical knowledge, drawings and specifications, administration, coordination, and informed decision making—whereby an extraordinary range of functional, aesthetic, technological, economic, human, environmental, and safety factors are melded into a coherent and appropriate solution to the problems at hand.

This is what architects are, conceivers of buildings. What they do is to design, that is, supply concrete images for a new structure so that it can be put up. The primary task of the architect, then as now, is to communicate what proposed buildings should be and look like…. The architect's role is that of mediator between the client or patron, that is, the person who decides to build, and the work force with its overseers, which we might collectively refer to as the builder.

Spiro Kostof³

Parthenon, Athens, Greece. PHOTOGRAPHER: R. LINDLEY VANN.

Design Process

But how does an architect truly design? It begins with a client with the need for a building, a project. To design and build this project, an architect follows the architectural design process. This process begins with the schematic design phase, with the architect first gaining an understanding of the scope of the project to be built from the client. With the program determined, the architect develops preliminary concepts and ideas for the project and presents these to the client for approval or revision. In addition, the architect researches zoning or other restrictions. Next is the design development phase.

In design development, the initial concepts and ideas are further refined. The architect begins to determine the building materials of the project as well as detailing the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural aspects of the project. The architect will formally present the project, at this stage of development, to the client for approval. Next is the construction document phase.

During the construction document phase, the architect produces detailed drawings and specifications of the project to be used for construction. These construction documents include all pertinent information necessary for construction. Once completed, the construction documents (CDs) are provided to potential contractors for bidding. Next is the bid or negotiation phase.

In preparation for actual construction, the architect prepares the bid documents. The bid documents include a number of documents for potential contractors to use in preparing a bid (cost estimate) to construct the project. Once bids are received from contractors, the architect will assist the client in evaluating and selecting the winning proposal. In the end, a contract is awarded to the selected bidder, which allows construction to begin. Next is the construction phase.

During construction, the architect's responsibilities will vary depending on the agreement with the client, but most commonly the architect will assist the contractor to construct the project as specified in the construction documents. As questions or issues arise on th...