As for this pre-qual list. What's the point of getting on this so called pre-qual list when they won't select you because you don't have 50+ employees or something crazy requirement like that. (Note: 50+ isn't meant to designate an exact number but symbolically referring to some designated staff amount. How do one even apply to be on it. That's a good question, though.

Spend $100,000 to apply?

The system had been built to support 'firms' not sole-proprietors. It was leagues of large architectural firms that contrived this QBS system in the first place. 

Excuse me E_I,

Architects like John Wicks didn't have a bunch of employees and he designed most of the buildings in Astoria other than the pre-20th century buildings in Astoria. He did most of that himself. There wasn't this whole idea that you had to think in a group committee fashion. 

If you can't design as an individual entire buildings then maybe the whole licensing isn't worth a....

Howard Roark knew what he was doing. He could design buildings himself. He didn't need a corporate team to group think (design by committee) buildings. 

jla-x,

Yes, I know that.

E_I,

While a lot of things have changed but a lot of it is still basically the same.

I'd say that you're no John Wicks. 

E_I,

What do you want me to do, resurrect them. I have personally seen his drawings, blueprints, etc. You assume that you have to have dozens of people to do the work. Maybe instead of trying to use some strange structural system that has never been done before, you might have it figured out without a lot of rethinking everything. You are as inefficient as congress. How many senators does it take to screw in a light bulb. 

How many architects does it take to calculate a beam and size it. You know by rule of thumb that if the live load per sq.ft. is 50 psf. uniformally distributed live load, tributary width of 10' and a span of 15', you need an 8 x 12 but going up to 10 x 14 of #2 or better grade or even 12x16. This would be adequate for spanning most floor spans. When you have extra length spans, using steel girders is not unusual. Spans over 20 something feet becomes increasingly impractical with solid hewn  dimensional members for the most part as there is a certain point that they are cut to. Then you go into pre-engineered solutions of steel beams. 

At some point, you don't need to constantly recalculate the stuff for every project unless there is a demanding difference. School buildings are basically using the same structural systems as commercial buildings. Architects like John Wicks didn't necessarily try to use weird unproven structural systems for most projects. You don't design by committee. You don't get 50 different people's opinion because the truth with designing is, everyone has their opinion. You end up with hodge podge and inconsistency of a design language used throughout the building or even a group of buildings. 

The art of architecture is a personal expression. When multiple people are designing a project, then you have too many personal expressions of each person and not a singular coherent voice.

Maybe you are not taught in architecture school or in architectural internship these days to be an independent thinker. 

Architects in those days were certainly more independent thinkers and independent minded. I can tell you that from many sources including those directly from the times all essentially confirms what I said about being a sole-practitioner. 

We have to remember that QBS selection process didn't exist back then. People sought out their local resources as that built the local economy. Local architects. Local builders. Local economy. You also have to remember that engineers were not prevalent like they are these days. Engineers were mostly located in big cities as buildings were not their domain. Even structural engineers were not typically involved unless you got into trusses. Trusses being commonly in the engineers domain from railroads and bridge engineering. 

John Wicks wasn't a "firm". He was his own sole-practice. It wasn't until his daughter Ebba Wicks (Brown - married last name) became an architect and joined the practice. Ebba may have helped in making out the blueprints copies (cyanotype prints) from the original before going off to architecture school. In the early days, she aided in that process but when it came down to designing, she didn't get into that stage until after she went into architecture school.

One convention of the days was when drawings were prepared by a draftsman, you'll see "drafted by: firstname lastname"  and the architect's name (eventually.... architect's stamp as well). 

I have seen a number of his projects and at no point is there any indication of draftsmen in those days. I think the only time he pulled in draftsman was around 1923-1928. He didn't have large drafting teams. During the peak load in the office, he may have had one draftsman on board.

Most of the schools in the area, he designed himself. He had the ability and the skills to draft building plans. He didn't need 50 people. He might have had a draftsman for a relatively brief period of extraordinarily high load of projects at once. 

The idea of big architectural firms of several architects and large drafting teams was not the way things were. In some cases in the big cities, that maybe. However, outside the big city firm offices, architects in small communities did a lot of the work of designing buildings themselves or were small practices consisting of 2-5 individuals. 

There is a lot of sources out there if you just look for them that supports what I just said.

The reason you don't see a lot of sole-practitioners doing schools is because of the insurance companies. The architecture profession has its balls in hands of insurance companies.

no_form,

You are a walking plagiarist. Every word you speak or write is plagiarizing someone else.

The same with every line you draw.

E_I,

There are limited first hand sources on John Wicks but I can tell you he didn't have a big architectural office. He did he work himself. In the pre-1920s, he was a sole-practitioner.

1920s, he may have called on draftsmen to aid in preparation of the plans for so many projects at once but he primarily did his own work. Most of the aiding would be in the preparations of blueprint copies.

The biggest reason architects these days are hesitant on doing large projects by themselves is the insurance companies. These insurance companies have the contemporary architectural profession by their balls.

That's the biggest #1 reason.

Ecclesiastes 1:9King James Version (KJV)

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A9&version=KJV

Here you go no_form.

E_I,

It maybe a reality of today but not something that couldn't be changed. Don't be dependent on them and they have no control over you. 

You either accept things as they are or you don't.

I have worked on schools before. We did it with a small team (not 50 people), it wasn't anything crazy or fancy. The design was straightforward, but it still took a team. How many schools have you worked on recently?

How are they constructed differently? I can probably do a schematic design in about 1-2 maybe 3 weeks once I have a project program including spatial-function requirements. That may take a little bit of time. I can probably design in 4 weeks after that some DD level drawings. Then it is just 3 months or so to prepare CDs that would meet the building codes requirements of the building.... (we know the BD would not accept it without an architect stamp but still... lets assume we didn't have the architect licensing laws but all the provisions of the law applies. It could be a 6-9 months of Pre-design/Design phase by myself. 

Legally, I can only do this in a hypothetical scenario. You're an "intern" so you didn't do the project yourself. Legally, you can't work on projects that's required to have an architect's stamp on it, entirely by yourself until you are licensed. You know that.

You know there are laws to follow. Even for me. 

E_I,

If I have to explain it for you then you have a serious problem.

Dangermouse,

Some of you like to writer too much. Be verbose or whatever. Add to that, asshole, architects spent time EVERY work day at each job site for projects under construction at the same time. They spent time being there to communicate to the builders. The builders actually know what they were doing as well. 

If you have to explain every damn little detail to a builder with experience, you are going to have these 100+ sheet sets. There is some things like being there. I'm sure firms working on projects out of their area will likely be more verbose because they don't want to be at the job site.

The original CD set was efficient communication.

These encyclopedia sets you guys are issuing, the builders are not going to use or read through. They don't have time for that on a job site. It takes like 16 hours a day for months just to read all that shit. Are you going to tell me some guy framing a fucking roof rafter is going to read through a 1000 sheet set of plans and 10 volumes of specifications (each of which is 1000+ pages each). Fuck you. That isn't going to happen.

Olaf, 

Since you are a real person and probably a computer anyway, so why would I trust words from you about the past when I can trust the actual source from that time or for example people who knew John Wicks. Any better than that, you have to be from that time frame or for example be John Wicks reincarnate.

where do i buy me some 12x16's

Just to answer:

http://apacheforestproducts.com/products.php?page=timberproducts

That's just one source.