What I Do As An Architect-In-Training III
As an architect-in-training III, I am on the precipice of two different career paths. On one side is the path to Architect, granted to me upon passing six exams and earning a fancy stamp. On the other side is the path to Project Manager. No licenses required, often the same work as the architect, just more management. Frankly, both come with greater responsibilities that sound awfully boring, but I’ve made it clear that I intend to pursue the architect route. So my days are tailored towards that.
The day starts at 7:30 am if I’m working from home and 8 am if I’m in the office. I find the office to be the worst of the two places to work from, but we’re required to be there three days a week, sadly.
My work is mostly digital and done on a Dell laptop provided by my firm. They’ve chosen well, and I have yet to burn it out. The machine boots up with the same four programs each day: Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Outlook, Arc Browser, and Revit.
What my week looks like depends on the Monday morning team meeting. The team principal will run through the project document to see who is working on what. Everyone has a chance to speak about what they got on their shoulders and/or is given new work.
For the past few months, I’ve enjoyed having my list full of early-stage concept designs. My skill set is well-suited for the fast-paced, design-heavy phases. It’s one of the few times I feel that my entire brain is being used. My working style is somewhere between urgent and impatient. Design is both exciting and tiring. I love it.
Right now, the list has me splitting time between a Design Review submission and a Building Permit submittal. Two things I’m not unhappy about. It’s certainly not design-heavy, but it’s nice to give the brain a design break occasionally.
I’ve proven thus far that I can handle myself on projects and largely get to decide how I work on a project. As long as it is done on time, no one has an issue. Preferably, I will have one day on one project and another on the other. Even better is a whole week for one project. Architecture is a fickle business, however and when problems arise, they must be solved, so it’s rare I get my way.
Getting into the work, I know that the Design Review task is low intensity, and I’ll attack that first. Design Review is a city required submittal that allows the city a peak into what’s going to be built in their neighborhoods and ensuring it fits to their codes/standards. Cities have their own opinions on what gets built and how it looks. Depending on the zoning, the city code will state which materials are accepted/rejected, how much glazing is required, what colors they like, and even which styles they want.
From the architecture point of view, it’s 10% design and 90% filling out documents. Which is honestly a fair assessment of the profession as a whole.
The project is an industrial project and inheritnatly means large, unobstructed spaces with little care to aesthetics. It’s a fun challenge to work within constraints like these. Everybody appreciates architecture designed with intention. Intentionality sets apart “building” from “architecture”.
My thought-process on this project is to use a red metal panel paired with a unique roof edge line to differentiate the office from the warehouse. The simplicity of the design will ensure it doesn’t break the budget and will stand out in an area destined to be riddled with bland structures. It’s a little twist in a rather mundane project.
The design will be created in Revit and sent to D5 for renderings. D5 is a new program we’re testing out, and I’ve fallen in love with it. Its stock materials and excellent reflection settings make the renderings come alive far quicker than in Enscape or Lumion. The scatter tools are great for adding objects in large quantities quickly, too. Despite all the high end tools we have at ur dispoal, it’s still easy to make bad renderings, so I take pride in being able to create quality ones.
Upon finishing my design proposal, I package up the renders and building plans. From here, I’ll send them out to the project architect, who will send them to the client, who will send back comments/approval to the project architect, who will send them back to me. The worst part of architecture is the number of people it takes to do it.
The design work has taken me to noon, so I take a lunch break, walk my dog, and switch gears to the construction documentation phase. While concept design is rather boundless, the construction documentation phase is where I pay for any unrealistic liberties taken earlier. It’s a balance to try to do something unique and interesting without killing yourself on the backend.
Thankfully, it’s a straightforward project I had an initial hand in. When construction is finished, the project will be an office shell building. Interior spaces will be left bare for future tenants to renovate and make their own.
It’s specifically in this project stage where understanding how to use the technology, Revit specifically, is important. I’ve paid myself dividends previously by modeling the project in ways that make it easy to prepare for construction. The trick is to model “cleanly” so that when changes occur, and changes WILL occur, I am able to change without having to reset or remove information. Modeling in Revit, in particular, feels like you're making something living, not static. Every element relates to another element, which is good and bad.
The construction documents are intended to be only 75% complete before sending them off for ownership review. Each of the 35 sheets needs to be largely complete except for the details, which I’ll wait to finalize till the plans are approved. On my second monitor, I have a running list of items I’m seeing that need details, further coordination with our consultants, or tasks I need to handle.
The day comes to a close when I reach the building sections sheet. I backcheck my notes, sync my model, and shutdown the computer. One day done.