The Intern Dialog

- ... and what do you do?

- I'm an intern architect.

- When will you graduate?

- That's the way it's called for those who have already graduated from college, but are still to file training hours and take architectural licensing exams.

- Really?

- Once you file your training and pass these tests, you can call yourself Architect.

- That sounds like a pain.

- Tell me about it.

Is BIM right for you?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been around for years. When it became the trend in the Construction Industry, some embraced it almost immediately. Others wanted to wait it out and see how the more adventurous would do first. It seems to be everywhere nowadays. But what exactly is BIM? It is a computer-aided process that generates and manages building data information throughout the life cycle of a given structure. True or not, this proposed function sounds suspiciously broad to many professionals. In more practical terms, BIM is currently used with the upgraded Computer-Aided Design (CAD) in 3D; game changer in design and construction management. There are several programs that can offer BIM integration.

Today, we have building proposals and client requests wanting us to work with BIM. And sometimes, even more specifically, we are told in which BIM program the work has to be. It’s definitely a different way of working with building information. It offers team sharing flexibility, interdisciplinary coordination, the obvious 3D advantages, not to mention all the possible 4D, 5D, and green analyses you can imagine. Those of us working with BIM couldn’t do without it now. It seems intuitive and direct -at times.

On the other hand, those faced with the decision of picking one BIM product, usually pick between two of the most popular options in the US market: ArchiCAD (by Graphisoft), and Revit (by Autodesk).

Which BIM can work for you?

The answer: It depends. It is hard to say which program is better without comparing them side by side. After working with both, I would hand pick features of one and implement them in the other to create a sort of super-charged version to meet my specific needs. Each program comes with a set of particular advantages that you can tap depending on your delivery model(s). Definitely, be informed before moving along.

When is it a good BIM time?

Typically, a learning curve moves at a positive exponential rate. And there is no difference when learning this program. Account for additional upfront time, a new design process with your team, and new delivery outputs. There are transition bumps along the way. New is different, but can also be more efficient. Be in a change-ready mindset. Anytime something new is put into place, there is going to be an interval of integration time involved.

The same old still works.

Yes. And same in, same out. These are changing times in a market where distances seem to be shrinking. Competition is everywhere, more so than ever. BIM is becoming an industry standard. That being said, it is likely we’ll have a standardized interchangeable platform in the near future. Similar to the interchangability of word documents in PCs and Macs, this platform would allow all types of BIM products to co-exist and extrapolate data without losing information. This could be achieved within a common frame.

The more we engage in BIM, the more we will multiply its advantages for the benefit of the industry and our services. I believe BIM is still in its infancy and that the best of it is around the corner. There is still work to be done in the BIM-sphere.

Licensed

This is a happy day. The day I open the mail and it says go ahead, you can finally call yourself Architect. What did it take? Seven years of education, over 3 years worth in IDP hours, 2 years of shear torture and examination, and lots lots of determination...

Feels like someone should be calling me not just architect, but your honor, or something.

Just as if I were getting the Pulitzer Price, I am very excited if you can't tell, thank you family, and an special thanks to the ARE forum, a great source for tips and moral support.

To those still in the process, hang in there captain, it is possible.

mvs_the Architect, AIA

New Model Practice

Recession, what recession?

The latest issue of Architect magazine has a catchy title on its cover: New Model Practice, Great Recession? Let's Start a Firm. Three young firms got started when their principals decided to stop knocking on architectural offices's doors, and started looking for project opportunities on their own.

No money, no problem. Today's online freeware is proven to be a great deal. Why pay when you can get it for free? It helps them connect to clients and their own team from each of their satellite 'offices'. Sure not all features will be available, and that's the price of free. International competitions are helping them gain visibility and experience. Small and government projects provide them with a source of income. A new book project is in the process. And a design co-op has been established and helps them network and seek more project opportunities.

I like that positiveness. But are these new practice models? We have heard of freeware, co-ops, satellite offices, competitions... What we don't get to hear much of is a positive attitude in the midst of the economic slowdown that directly affects architects and designers. For that, I appreciate the article.

It could be that after all architecture can be recession-proof... at least some.

PD: another article on similar subject.

The Firm of the Future

This article was posted in the AIA Ohio Winter e-newsletter 2009.

Given the current landscape of the construction industry, the future stands with a question mark for many of us. It was no surprise that the AIA Columbus Annual Meeting focused on the big picture ahead. Raymond Kogan AIA, keynote speaker at the event, talked about the trends of the future that are shaping our design firms. Being more aware of the industry and the world trends is only the 1^st step. Are we ready?

• Mega-regions are emerging, and the value of construction will follow the population growth. Current trends in US demographics suggest cities will only get larger, and populations will become increasingly diverse (U.S. Census Bureau Population Projections). The west coast and southern US will see most of these changes. This increase in urban population density will result in the necessity for increased capacity in sectors such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and redevelopment & re-purposing building.

• On the technology side, BIM will become even more widely adopted by architecture firms. Engineering firms and consultants will follow suit. However, the BIM adoption will first be driven by contractors and owners, says Kogan. Also, technology will continue to widen the existing gap between the technically proficient , and the not-so-proficient. In addition to these technological changes, BIM will also bring changes in project management. The Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach will become a more generalized practice across the US, promoting collaboration and lean systems among team players.

• Our projects will go beyond the traditional services. And thus, firms will become more of a ‘one-stop shop’; addressing more needs of stakeholders than in the past. We will do more than design and offer front-end/back-end services. With all these new deliverables, project management will continue to be a critical success factor. At this time, PMs will require broader and different sets of skills.

• In the future, our staff will face skills and leadership shortages. Considering all current demographic projections, in the next 15 years the older population will increase by 47%, while the younger crowd will decrease by 6%. Other factors will also drive this labor shortage. Factors such as, the current recession, retention & reward challenges, compensation, and the lifestyle priorities of the younger generation will come into play. What can we do about this? Kogan suggests developing training and leadership programs, mentoring employees’ careers, and being flexible with our workforce schedules.

• Sustainability will be soon mainstream, not a trend or an option. Consumers are choosing green companies and making changes in their lifestyles (April 2008 Gallop Poll). Clients are becoming committed to LEED certification . Even our own industry is moving to ‘greener’ pastures. First, the AIA adopted the 2030 challenge: calling for a minimum 50% carbon reduction for new construction beginning immediately, and 10% reductions in the following years. And as of January 2010, all licensed architects will be required to meet the new sustainable design L.U. requirements.

We are witnessing and industry that is changing… One that is consolidating and expanding, and moving progressively and proactively. Kogan suggests thinking in wider and longer terms to have successful design firms in the years to come. We must look at our future and start planning ahead of time. After all — in Darwin’s terms — the recipe for survival is exactly that: being responsive to change.

Renzo Piano

Yesterday I ran into a group picture with Renzo Piano. Nothing glamorous or professional, simply a group picture. Something about him gave me the impression of a very approachable down-to-earth person.
On that note, I have to say that those talented and intelligent people, who are aware of their abilities, are easier to work with when they are not contemptuous to others. As a professional coach would write, one must take care not to be a victim of their 0wn success. I'm sure the ones around the intelligent and talented appreciate that.

Calling All Women

A new article in the AIA Archiblog has been posted by a SCAD professor. Calling All Women byAlexis Gregory refers to stats collected by an independent study, and also by Clemson University. She presents the raising percentages of women attending architecture schools, and their small presence in the profession. This comes as no surprise to those of us who are working in the field. Gregory also explains what she believes are the reasons for the low numbers, and the obstacles female architects have to overcome.

To play devil's advocate, statistics give us the ability to turn hypotheses into the theses we want them to be. This would allow anyone to make apparent correlations from partially related subjects. What's more, perhaps women do join architecture schools with the ultimate goal of becoming care takers of their families. A male-dominated industry would have little to do with their career paths of choice. However, - I must admit - comments left by women in the industry have a bitter taste of reality.

The BIM Race: Architects v. Contractors

Without a doubt, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the way of the future in the construction and design world.
If you have had the chance to work with BIM for a few years, and then tried to get something done in ADT or AutoCAD, I bet you wondered how the heck you made it work before the BIM revolution.
Professionals in the industry, like Raymond Kogan, suggest that the big push for BIM will be coming (if it isn't already) from the owners and the contractors side. This is leaving architects and designers as the trend followers. Why could that be? Aren't designers the ones to be on the avant-garde?

I have seen contractors modeling projects at owners' request, and using programs like Naviswork, capable of combining 3D project information from a variety of programs and disciplines.
But anyone can use Naviswork, piece all the pieces of the puzzle together, and have it to use at the contruction site. Why would the contractor be taking over this additional service? Contractors must be selling it as a key piece to their well-coordinated time-critical performance. In an industry where money is tight and time is precious, clients must love this high-tech approach and see the value.
On the other hand, what happened to the architect's role as the big orchestrator of all contructions? what happened to the A201 Contract Document where the architect acts as the owner's agent? And the engineering part of a project is contracted by the architect's consultants. Can't the architect take charge of the overall 3D modeling of the project too?
BIM has been a hard pill to swallow for some architecture firm managers who see the learning curve as an additional expense. Learning a new computer program doesn't go on without its bumps and delays. Contractors saw the bigger picture and the dollar signs first, and have been jumping on the BIM wagon faster. So for now, they are winning the BIM race. Maybe the newest delivery model: Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) will even out the road for architects in the future.

Quote of the Day

'Everything in this world is based on Performance.'

Andrew Wommack Ministries TV Broadcast

Glad to know Wommack would be interested in Lean. Things are more interesting when you find multi-discipline applications.

Marketing Architecture

Is everything Marketing? For the absolute-haters, no. But having good marketing skills can be just as, if not more, important than having good design skills in the current economic times. What exactly is Marketing? I will copy/paste the American Marketing Association definition:
“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of process for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

Are architects marketing-smart?

Architects may have found it rather intuitive, something to be learned as one practices the profession. But I would suggest deeper studies. Architectural Practice classes are just the tip of the iceberg. In the book Blink, Malcomn Gladwell writes that a person has 2 seconds before jumping to a conclusion. Misleading or not, it is a judgement upon which the subsequence client decisions will be based. When all we have is a website, a handshake, a voice machine, an attire, a business card, or a few pages to respond to a RFQ (request for qualifications) or a RFP (request for proposals), we have the equivalent of Malcolmn Gladwell's 2 seconds to make the correct first impression on a client. Our design skills might not even come into play when being judged; instead, our marketing skills do. Are we portraying our business the way we want it, are we selling effectively? Is our professional persona portraying the quality and type of work we are after?

In the current economic disaster, we have few architectural firms hiring or investing. Those that are, are looking for marketing leaders who would help them win projects, or saving their cash flow for marketing pursuits. In one way or another, we recognize the importance of marketing as the essential piece of the architectural work. As such, we should analyze our current efforts in this deparment, and come out stronger than before, as the savvy architectural marketers we should be.

Time to Lean Ourselves

By now, Lean is a well-established practice. If you’ve been in this profession for some time, you probably first heard of it in Construction Management. And for a few years now, Lean has been buzzing around next to the word Healthcare. But if you haven’t heard of it yet, Lean dates back to the 1950’s. That’s when Taiichi Ohno set a number of management practices for the Toyota Production System.
Since then, Lean thinking has been focusing on one idea: producing services that the costumers need, when they need them, and in the amount that they are needed. And to get there, Lean advocates look at the production process and the building quality very carefully.
For construction managers, the Lean approach can mean success. Every step of the construction chain is measured, studied, and improved. At the end, they have a product delivered on time, when the customer needs it. In healthcare, the application of Lean is similar. The healthcare service process is carefully studied and improved. For the patients, this can be safe, timely and affordable care. For the health care providers, this means reduced stress and increased effectiveness and job satisfaction. For the health care organizations this translates to reduced risk and costs, and increased profits.
Now architectural designers are also thinking in Lean terms. They are applying the Lean principles to functionality and programming as it relates to early planning and schematic design. However, what about ourselves? The practice of architecture falls under the Service Industry too. We have customers and a service to sell. With ABI numbers looking down, we are all looking at different ways to cut costs. It might be time for a new business model.

We have seen quality control, checklists, IPD, BIM, and general management business practices put in place. We have grown into this traditional practice, and we are passionate about this profession. All things considered, we are proud of our work. But there is always room for improvement. We knew that when we were pulling overnighters in our college studios. This time around, the delivery chain model under which we have been operating can use an upgrade. The operations and processes that get our projects out the door can use some of the Lean principles. They can be redefined, and with that we can be changing our industry. Is it time for new thinking?