The Value of an Architect… An Elevator Speech   

Architects facilitate the design and construction process, and among all disciplines we have the greatest influence upon the long-term costs of a facility.

Through keen listening and awareness of a plethora of factors, we gather the critical information about a client’s needs and goals.  With our unique aptitude and training, we then synthesize the information, in all its complexity, into a design that goes beyond what the client imagined. 

Architects improve the quality of life for building occupants, improve efficiency, and strengthen the community through designs that exude craft, style, and beauty.

Skimping on design, you get what you pay for… you get a mess.

Through quality architectural design, you get a quality product… you get architecture. 

Value with a Capital V

The topic of Architect Value came up quite often during our last Vision session focused on Advocacy.  In trying to sell our Value to a client for a building project, I have often compared architectural training to that of a doctor.  Both have more schooling, both have to train as (poorly paid) interns for years.  Architects have to take multiple tests to become licensed and then we have to maintain our knowledge through continuing education credits.  Doctors certainly have to put a lot more effort, time, and investment to become an M.D., yet they are compensated quite well during the long term, six figure incomes certainly can be an extrinsic motivator.  Either profession is not easy to practice, both carry a huge amount of training, knowledge, and liability.  Ultimately, both professions host a plethora of technical knowledge and comprehend the complexities of our respective professions.  Doctors save lives, Architects add to the quality of life.

From my perspective, Architects aren’t in it just for the money (although it certainly helps), many are intrinsically motivated to make the built environment better because we entered this profession for the opportunity to do so.  We are the wearer of many hats, understand the big picture, and inevitably bring Value to our clients through our collective understanding and integration of the many elements / systems to put together a successful project.  Through doing so we bring efficiency, economy, quality, and importance to our projects that inevitably result in Value that good clients understand are critical to a successful project.  It is our job to sell this Value to clients for them to understand our impact on the final result, because without us, the void of our involvement can be quite obvious.     

Chris

The Value of Architecture

Sadly, architecture is grossly undervalued in our society today.  This stems from a misunderstanding about what architecture really is.  It is seen as a luxury; as a profession that emphasizes aesthetics and disregards pragmatics.  Good architecture, however, masterfully balances the artistic and scientific elements of a building's design.  It handles the technical, economic and aesthetic aspects of a project in such a skillful manner that the user's or visitor's experience moves to the foreground and becomes the focus.  Architecture not only supports the users' activities within it, but it strives to improve the quality of their lives.  Architecture is not only important, it's indispensable.

Why Hire an Architect?

A couple years ago I was a newly licensed architect learning to manage a project on my own. I very vividly remember a day when I presented preliminary design drawings of a new school renovations to a client who waited until I was done and then simply looked at me and said "well, I could have drawn that."

I've told this story quite a few times over the years. At first, I was just shocked (and perhaps a little annoyed) by the comment, but since then, through extensive analysis of the event and growth as a professional, this has become a bit of a moment of enlightenment for me. Of course, my client didn't mean that she could have literally drawn what I showed her. She did mean, I think, that what I had shown her was expected. I had not yet lived up to the added value she expected me to bring to the project as an Architect.

The ability to use our training and gift for envisioning spacial relationships in a way that exceeds client expectations is the value I believe an architect brings to a project. We are able to be good listeners to fully understand client needs and then we are able to use or education and passion for design to create something that meets those needs but exceeds their wildest expectations and vision for the project. We create spaces that are inspiring in addition to being functional.

My biggest fear these days is for a client to walk into their new space and reflect that it is what they expected or that it meets their needs. Conversely, I absolutely love the moment when a client walks into a space and exclaims that it is so much more than they could have ever imagined. 

Advocacy For the Profession

Since I was absent the last session, I wanted to share what would have been my presentation on advocacy.

What am I doing to advocate, here’s the 4 things I feel best describes this… Mentoring, Community Involvement, Client Interaction, Interpreting Codes/Laws

Mentoring

Mentor Program – The main goal of this program is to assist new associates in becoming a part of Hixson more quickly, by helping them get off to a faster, more productive start. I personally have 2 mentees and it’s been a humbling experience. We go out to lunch, partake in happy hour, and this gives them an open platform in which to ask me questions about the organization, work life, policies, and anything else that may be on their mind at the time.

ARE – Even though the days and nights of hardcore studying are behind me, I have made myself a resource for the interns in my office. It is not uncommon that a fellow associate will ask me to discern one of the many convoluted ARE practice questions or assist in training on the cumbersome vignette software. I enjoy doing this because I’ve been there and I know it helps to have additional support.

Community Involvement

Fundraising - Is a great way to contribute to our community. Not always does it need to be a monetary donation. Sacrificing time in some cases can be just as valuable.

Repair Affair - Is an example of time donation in which we partner with People working Cooperatively and pick a homeowner who’s disabled or elderly and give their home some much needed maintenance and repair assistance. Last year we built a new porch and stairs for a neighbor in our community. Past year’s project included a ramp for a disabled and elderly gentleman.

CANstruction – This is something near and dear to me because it’s a way to raise awareness about hunger in our community in a creative and innovative way. I have captained a team of Hixson associates for 7 years running and it has been a very gratifying experience. I know I have some fellow competitors in the audience so I’m not going to leak any info about this upcoming year’s entry, but I have to say it will defy gravity.

Client Interaction
It is our role as architects to provide a valuable service to maintain client relations. It is by this avenue we become advocates for our profession. Some people think helping clients achieve their goals is just a job, well there’s much more to it than that.
Since we sell nothing but our time, it is my job to deliver completely unbiased advice based on what is in the client’s best interest. Now I’m going to sound a bit like our CEO Wick here and say “It is our job to be advocates for our clients and help lead them in making decisions, this is how the impenetrable client loyalty bond is formed.”
A majority of our clients are inquiring about how we can make their project more sustainable or interested in obtaining LEED certification. As architects it is our job to be on the forefront of these practices and have the knowledge and skill to back up these types of decisions.

Interpreting Codes and Laws
It is my job to make sure I am informed of laws impacting our practice and doing comprehensive code reviews on each project. This can really come back and bite you if you’re not careful. I recently had a job go out in which the building official was threatening to halt construction because we did not take into consideration the flight path of a nearby airport. The issue stemmed from a tank silo, 60’ tall and within a certain distance to the airstrip which did not adhere to the FAA guidelines. I performed my standard building code summary but failed to take into consideration the small airstrip nearby and its impact. We were able to remedy this situation by placing some lights atop the silo. I got lucky.
 
When speaking with clients I often use the phrase, “In the spirit of the code….” which is my way of safeguarding certain aspects of the code that can be confusing to clients. Plus it sounds like I know what I’m talking about, and who would ever question the code.

Architects are the only design professionals who are educated, trained, and tested in integrating all essential systems that go into creating the built environment for human use and occupancy. Unfortunately, however, our elected officials don't always think along these same lines. Legislators don't necessarily need to understand the importance of architectural training — that's why it's our job to know what bills are being considered and how they are likely to affect the architectural profession.

citizen architect

At the recent Vision session dedicated to the topic of advocacy the group was provided with multiple avenues to advocate for the profession at the local, state and national levels.  The conversation was enlightening to the lobbying efforts of ArchiPAC, and clearly laid out the goals and agenda for the upcoming year.  The red button topics at the state level were identified and the AIA Cincinnati advocacy group introduced itself.  All certainly eye opening and noted.

Still, I believe the strongest venue for advocacy for the profession is as citizen architect, grounded in the local issues through community groups, school boards and local and city planning groups. What better way to advertise the architect as problem solver, as ethical, as a facilitator, with the ability to think outside the box and to the see the big picture. (Note: Andrew Goldberg highlighted these qualities as the architects’ strengths as recognized by the broader public).

Unfortunately, it seems that the academic education of the architect is heavily dedicated to theory over practice and to designing unconceivable high rises rather than community centers (at least these were the trends in my school days).  While this offers a military like training in remolding the mind of the architect to think critically I believe it is important for students to dig themselves out of the studio, on occasion.  Lead by the success and publicity of the Rural Studio many architecture schools have added programs that address local and community issues.  So I do think that academia has evolved.

Anyways, local involvement and activity outside the office in my mind plays the strongest advocate for the profession.  This involvement promotes the strengths of the architect to the community and legitimizes the necessity of the profession.

How to give a forgettable presentation

Have you ever been to a presentation that you couldn't remember the content of a mere hour afterward? I'm sure everyone has been to at least one of these. For me, sometimes the problem is that the content of the presentation is not particularly interesting or maybe it's too basic or too advanced for me to relate to. Most often, though, the issue is that the speaker himself was not terribly interesting or memorable and didn't capture my attention or failed to hold it for more than a few minutes. In today's world of pervasive technology, I am as guilty of multitasking on my phone if I'm not enthralled with a presentation as anyone.

In December's VISION session we heard from Peggy Kennedy about making your presentation memorable by including personal elements. I certainly agree that storytelling and personal elements are very important to making a presentation, and the presenter himself, interesting. However, I also learned from Barbara Hall in the morning portion of this session that in my DiSC personality assessment that I am a high dominance personality type. That can (and does) mean that I bore easily or get distracted if a presenter is giving me too much fluff and not enough direct, hard substance. There's probably a reason I loved Dragnet re-runs and Joe Friday's "Just the facts, ma'am" approach as a kid. So, what's the best balance? For me, I love a presenter who interjects real-world experience into their presentations as a way of adding a personal element but still conveying important information and not straying too far from the facts. That's what I strive for when I give a presentation as well, so hopefully all you other personality types out there can relate!