it's also a bit sad when another architect passes away and all of his knowledge slips into the abyss...but then i realize that i just moved a little bit closer to the top of the profession and i start dancing to that queen "another one bites the dust" tune as i pour another drink and celebrate my good fortune
good morning everyone. I thought I was about to start the day under a pile of shit, but that's been lifted. Our procurement manager took the heat for some misinformation, and has decided to clear it up himself. Which frees up my afternoon (the weekend feels like it is coming faster and faster, whooohooo).
Sarah email me the digits, I'll probably be giggling as much as you. And WK you are so being techno-dialled!!!
SH - I've only ever been called by Atechno and DubK and DubK doesn't really count because she is the reason I discovered Archinect in the first place. And hey giggles beats incessant, flustered quick speech that sometimes turns into stuttering.... like my first time ever speaking to Atechno. I'm sure he thought I was a total squirrel. I'm not a big fan talking on the phone, much rather text or email or... meet in person.
In other news, turns out it's just psoriasis on my eyelids. They gave me a stronger topical ointment as the Cortisone stopped being effective about a year ago. Yay me :o/
On Sarah's pregnant lady: I'm going to go with Occam's Razor and say that most likely she had intercourse with different men within a short time frame. Though a "litter" isn't really appropriate, as dogs etc. can mate with one and still have a lot of pups. Octomom is more of a litter.
But I'll take the opportunity to again mention Chimeras, or people who are really more than one, as presented on RadioLab: a woman had genetic testing done to see if she was a potential kidney donor for a family member, and it was found that she had more than one set of DNA. Doctors studied her and decided most likely she had started out as twins, but one embryo was absorbed by the other. End result was her blood had a different DNA from her liver, but the same as her kidneys, etc. So she's one body with two sets of DNA.
Bodies are funny and unpredictable. and Sarah, I appreciate you keeping us up on the interesting bits of daytime TV. Brad certainly did look snappy yesterday!
There was an awesome CSI episode involving a Chimera person. He was supposed to be twins and instead the embryos merged. But I'm not sure if real life Chimeras have skin anomalies like the character did. When photographed, it appeared that he had two skin types...looked like parchment.
Glad to hear you're getting wise counsel, DubK. Wonderman and WonderK sound like too good of a couple to end over a probably somewhat traumatic weekend.
I missed the actual segment about the woman - I went to the gym instead. Then I stopped by the store and bought a bottle of wine. Gotta keep the priorities.
is there anyway one can feel more agonizingly vulnerable than siting on toilet only to realize there are mosquitos in the room...you just know you're going to get hit...
Wow! I got techno-dialed! His voice is like butta! Two archinectors calling me in less than 24 hours. I feel so loved....plus I chatted with Strawbeary on Facebook last night. You guys are so great. All of you, even the newbies like jk.....
On another note, I'm finishing up at my on-campus job and I arrived this morning to find ants all over my workstation. WTF. I don't hate ants but I find it terribly frustrating when I'm trying to type and it's like, "no, don't you get it? I NEED that 'e'....get away!" and then "do NOT go into the murky brown water!!! I want to DRINK my coffee!!!" Thank goodness I get to leave early today.....
Puddles - That is hilarious. That reminds me of my time in Thailand. Apparently some devout Thai buddhists don't even kill mosquitoes - or maybe it was because they are so used to them. The mosquitoes were also more attracted to me - I guess they like new blood. Either way, I became the master of "getting rid of" mosquitoes.
*m not to worry I think I was equally nervous talking/meeting you. But it turned out awesome and I actually look forward to the "stressed out BSC" emails. But after much hesitation I spoke with Wonder K this morning. Unfortunately I forgot about the time zone and didn't estimate that the west coast was just waking up.
Anyway it's the second day of near continuous rain - makes me want to go home and sleep (under the desk may suffice). It doesn't help that last night I was awoken at 2am by a bat that managed to get trapped inside my bedroom
Bats in the Bedroom? Is that the same as bats in the belfry?
I just took 3 different practice tests to get teacher certification, and I scored more than 50% in all of them. Maybe its something i should really look into.
Oh I just read Wonder K's post. Thanks (heh heh butta!) - I'm surprised you could understand a word I said, not because of my accent but rather that I had the biggest smile on my face because I was actually TALKING to you... wow!
Now folks don't rush and phone-stalk people, ask first and be patient - we can casually hide under the veil of the Internet but a telephone call can seem invasive.
I don't want to poison TC but I don't necessarily want to start an instant "trolling" thread...
... but is there an actual how-to guide to running a firm? I've been looking around at literature and can't seem to find a whole lot of anything with actual Good Advice®.
Now, this is the college in me talking... but I did take a few classes in NGO, Non-profit management, Government Accounting and Program evaluation. It seems to me that architectural firms operate in a more "organizational" type capacity than most businesses do-- lack of advertising, lack of community outreach, lack of community participation, lack of events sponsorship (like events totally unrelated to architecture) and so on.
In fact, I think one of the few "image boosting" things I've seen dealing with architecture is what Sci-Arc did at Coachella.
Should I just take a stab at writing a visual "business model" essay since I'm rather detached from the industry?
hillandrock: like stone said there are also a series of books produced by the RIBA and covers about 8 different variances of organisation for running an architectural practice
h&r - my pro practice prof wrote: Architect's Essentials of Starting a Design Firm, which has a good blueprint for launching a practice.
the best bible is experience - watch, critique, and learn from the folks you work for of what works and doesn't, what fits your style of management, and then apply these lessons.
stone, thanks for answering that question, I couldn't recall that title off the top of my head. tk the one you mentioned is good too, a friend gifted me with it.
hillandrock: Architectural licensing requires a minimum 3-year internship. I leaned 95% of what I know about running a business from working in a firm for ten years (the other 5% mainly came from reading Archinect.). The books were useful for terminology and presenting some things I hadn't considered, but really, the way the profession is set up, you learn in practice.
So no, I don't think, being detached from the industry, that you should write a business model essay for us.
I guess my point is the current model doesn't seem to work [rather work well]?
And I have found maybe a dozen good explanations for the organizational theory behind firms. But from the standpoint I'm trying to analyze it, some of the factors and methodologies don't seem to make a whole lot of sense.
I know every firm is different and maybe I don't have a lot of room to talk here... but a lot of these models are archaic, out-of-context and disconnected.
I'm going to go to all Martin Luther and write an essay anyways.
har - well, you seem to have lapsed back into your provocateur role once again.
For someone who claims not to know anything about professional practice, I'm not sure why we should give any credence to your pronouncement that "it's crap" -- I hold an MBA and have practiced for 32 years -- the AHPP is not crap -- however, you actually do have to read the articles, think about what's in them and apply that guidance to your practice. You can't just "flip through it" and expect to know it all.
har - well, you seem to have lapsed back into your provocateur role once again.
For someone who claims not to know anything about professional practice, I'm not sure why we should give any credence to your pronouncement that "it's crap" -- I hold an MBA and have practiced for 32 years -- the AHPP is not crap -- however, you actually do have to read the articles, think about what's in them and apply that guidance to your practice. You can't just "flip through it" and expect to know it all.
But see, consultants and evaluators work best when there is detachment because there is no actual sentiment, opinion or ideology.
Is there knowledge?
I once worked with an amazing architectural practice consultant. He was not an architect, but he knew our profession in toto better than any practitioner I've talked to, because he had been steeped in widely variant examples of it for 20 years.
hillandrock could you quantify what you mean when you say it doesn't work? And what values are using to determine that it is archaic, out-of-context and disconnected? I'm not saying this with a defensive tone because I agree with some things, but is it possible to be a little more clear?
as far as books for the management of design firms; How Firms Succeed, A Field Guide To Design Management
now, i don't agree 100% - mainly with competitions, but i get the gist and yes can be a black hole, they can also be an exploration with future benefits - but by and large the book is a very good summary of what it takes to be profitable and looks to provide some innovative ways of creating a successful practice.
if there were any tried and true measures of how to create the penultimate architectural business model, then i sure would like to see it, but i think a lot of what needs to happen is to treat people with respect, demand respect, and simplify relationships. simplify being the key word.
har: the AHPP is a fine volume that generally isn't read very much by Architects -- and therefore isn't producing beneficial results -- because most of us really aren't that interested in the business side of practice. the old adage of "you can lead a horse to water ..." comes to mind.
for business knowledge to be effective, it has to be absorbed and then applied in practice ... architects generally don't want to do that because it take us out of our comfort zone.
to use your logic, because the whole economy is in the toilet, then every business school and every business book ever written must be "total crap".
i want to run my office like Arthur Erickson....because then I will be a successful architect, win awards, have leggy women in photos of my buildings and travel the world at my clients expense. Ya right, 10 million in debt when you should be retiring and starting up a new
office.....oh the love of architecture.
"hillandrock-- what exactly is your interest in the profession that leads you to want to fix it?"
My interest isn't necessarily a purely artistic drive-- I have probably a bigger interest in land use. Architecture does have a significant impact here... which is what brought me to architecture.
When I went through school, I wanted to do something architecture-like... without necessarily going through the rigors of architecture. It's easier to get your PE in civil engineering than it is to get an architectural license.
I'm fascinated by design architecture-- it's innovative, it has a disconnect that can be seen in a positive light and it's also a little bit selfish.
But through my school, I've been through an arts education, a history education, an arts history education, an arts studio education, civil engineering, structural engineering, public administration and urban planning. There's a lot of overlaps here but I've gotten through a lot of these programs. I've been going to a 4-year university since I was 15.
Am I an expert in architecture? BWAHAHA. Am I even a novice? no.
But here is 3 general points I'd like to address:
1. The Office
How does one define a firm? What services does a basic firm offer? What services should a basic firm offer? What services shouldn't a basic firm offer? Are firms too big? Are firms too small? Should some firms be broken up? How does a firm represent itself? What kind of verbal and non-verbal contractual obligations do firms make to their clients, to auxiliary stakeholders, to local government and to itself?
I think one thing absent from firms is a mission statement. A basic contract that all members, including principals, should agree on. Whatever the mission statement maybe, it should cover some basics-- what the firm does, what the firm doesn't do, what the firm will not participate in and what level of accountability the firm will agree on.
The mission statement will help with the second and third points.
2. Workflow (or who does what, how and why?)
How do projects go from customer to design to paycheck? What should be an agreed methodology for creating work? Who should do what? Why should they do it? Is it better to focus on strengths rather than fake it cover weakness? Does the design side have too much power? Does the document side suffer from this as w? Do customers demand too much or too little?
While I realize creativity and flexibility are paramount to an industry like this, I feel there's either redundancy or a lack of focus. This where essentially credibility and accountability ultimately suffer.
In my opinion, the lack of transparency (I realize that architecture is a business and therefore competitive and business-oriented) in the process and differences in processes lead to overall complications. While local governments, regulatory agencies and non-governmental organizations are rarely standardized, it makes it difficult to for either one to play nice.
Too much do I see architecture firms, developers and engineering firms not simply comply with regulation in the first place. Too much time and money is often spent applying for variances, zoning changes and compliance because architecture can often have no regard for the land. Not the high-art airy concept of "connection to land" taught in schools, but the legal framework of ordinances that illustrate what you can and cannot do with a piece of property.
If architects and developers built within compliance and used compliance as a design tool, overall costs would greatly be reduced. I don't necessarily know of the prevalence of this because architecture firms are private entities entitled to their privacy. But on the government side, it would suggest that the prevalence is "a lot" since planning departments often have department completely devoted to this sort of thing.
It may be awful to build "architecture" from a predetermined size and plot as it hampers artistic challenges; however, it is the difference between a 2 week permitting process and an 8 week permitting process.
And this all begs the question whether design can maintain purity with business constraints... should design departments function like colleges as separate entities? That perhaps firms should focus on meeting code, compliance and providing a skeleton for designers to fundamentally jizz all over?
And to point 3.
3. Image and Communication
If you're a notorious code violator, everyone is going to be against the firm no matter how glorious or golden your project actually is. If you say you're for sustainability and improving social conditions through architecture but have just built 5 mansions in the hills outside of Palm Springs, I'm going to have to have a hard time believing you're in it for anything other than the money.
By having a mission statement-- a contract between you, the client and the people around the project you're building-- you can avoid these pitfalls. You can refer to something that everyone who is a part of your firm agrees on. You can avoid other pitfalls by stating that you firm will in no way take part in certain projects.
Want to say your sustainable? Tell your customers you refuse to do projects that use certain materials or rely on certain development patterns. Want to say you have neutrality? Refuse projects unless the client promises not to use your designs for issues you may or may not agree on. By saying this flat out, you're more likely to land contracts from sources you may not have realized were there. When governments look for clients (and are avoiding cronies), one of the first things they look at is how and why your business is run the way that it is.
This brings me to my last point on image and communication-- Communication. Do it. Few people outside the world know what architecture really is. The general public more than likely gets their ideas and concepts from Architectural Review, Dwell and Wired-- sad but more than likely true.
Tap into new technologies-- join a social networking site, twitter, blog, update people about your projects as much as you can. Tell the public (and your customers) every little detail you can or you legally can. Even talking about your shortfalls and inaccuracies lets the public know that you're legitimate, that you're caring and that you want them to know everything you are doing for them.
And while your on this bandwagon, make architecture a little more blue collar-- throw parties, sponsor bands, give money away to worthy causes. Event promoters and social hot spots are always looking for something new. By connecting to the public on their ground, showing off your work and promoting yourself in a person-to-person manner, you're more than likely to prove your worth.
Need tax breaks? Throw local design competitions that make it easier for novices, students and hobbyists to have a chance. Every time someone in an office isn't working to make money or working pro-bono, that's a tax burden you can be shaving off. It is essentially manipulation at its finest. It works for other businesses and industries... put it to work for you.
Marketing is a great tool. From what I've understood, it is something mildly frowned upon in the architecture community. But the architects of yesteryear were masters at public exhibitions, public relations and over all masters of manipulating where their designs stood in the context of everyday life.
snook in debt and starting a new office sounds like the European model, doesn't that desrcibe Foster and Nouvel in the 80s? I remember using them as case studies during undergrad as architecture practices as subsidiaries of larger companies, we had a few local examples namely Ann Hodges who underwritten by Island Records - how cool is that?
h&r it's too late in the evening over here to really jump on your post. But generally there are some good points, some are already done (have to be done) see no.1, others may run conflict with the ethical obligations of the profession and could be point of legal contention (lower item no.3); but I think this is engaging - and might be better placed as a discussion thread, let's see what the rest of the archinect community says.
I think it's tempting to get a little defensive in response to h&r's initial comments, but that GIGANTIC post he (she?) just posted has some good points. I think the gist of what you are saying, h&r, is that a lot of architecture firms don't work and I think what we're seeing right now is that they are not going to survive. Which will be to our benefit in the long run. I think it's good to come up with some new ideas about how firms should be run and to always try new ways of doing things if the old ways don't work.
Should I read the AHPP? Probably!? But like h&r's post above, it's got a lot of words in one place and I have a short attention span. In the meantime I'm happy to go off of my experiences and gut....
har, while you are not incorrect, i can't help but cringe. if you are an outsider i suppose it is possible to stumble upon something no one has seen yet, but today you didn't make it. there are lots of assumptions in there that either are too generalised or just patently absurd to take seriously. also lots of stuff that kind of sounds like a call to superficiality rather than a useful guide to anything.
changing subject, we are now officially being mucked about in two directions. first the banks stopped financing architecture, now the government has decided to offer money to the banks that hold distressed assets....which means the banks are going to hold onto all the land that is worth less than they paid of it. WHICH MEANS OUR CLIENTS CAN'T BUY THE LAND THEY JUST MADE A BID ON. bloody hell, but we only just worked out how to get around the japanese banks and their fear of financing. why do we now have to deal with them at this level too? seriously, they are paralyzing the entire system. Now they don't actually have to make a move for a good bit of time because they have cash from the govt to cover the costs of indecision - and we are sitting in the cold again. arghhh. there goes yet another 5 million dollar project.
what do the manuals say about running a business when that happens?
h&r, you should have started a new thread on this topic. TC is a fairly tight clique (though very informed and smart about running a practice), but there are sure to be lots of folks interested in this conversation who will never find it on the 303rd page. Oh, I think you set a record for the longest post on TC.
It's not that I don't think that they necessarily don't work... I'm saying that they [Let's make up numbers to stamp out this metaphor] are operating at a 40% efficiency.
I know very little about architecture but in my 6 months of going to firms websites all over I have learned a lot about how some of them work. Albeit, it is what they are wanting to me to see, and unlike planning or NGOs, have no legal responsibility to show me more.
I think maybe architectural firms could rework their offices better to maybe hit 60% efficiency. I should have been clearer about this.
Where I suppose I draw this off is experience and watching numerous planning, contracting and real estate firms picking up architects for the stamp while dictating design and planning standards. Terrible for the practice? Sure. Good for business? Yes. Good for the community dealing with these people? Mixed.
But it seems unethical for architectural firms to do the same. I'll needed to read the AIA stuff again.
In either event, I think architectural firms should really break down their offices and look at every detail to see where things lag, where things should be left alone and where things can be reimagined aka reengineered.
Sorry for derailing TC today-- I promise I won't do it again. But I kind of wanted to address this issue I see repeating in other threads [I guess it is mildly on topic for TC] from the point of someone who has actually done program evaluation and performance review.
h&r: I agree with the group It would be a good thread to check into for those of us who have been at it for awhile. We must be doing something right cause we are busy as ever in this down economy.
The number one rule in this firm is keep the client happy cause it is more profitable to have return clients than to be out marketing to find new ones. We do have alot of return client crossing over the full spectrum of commercial and residential projects.
Thread Central
it's also a bit sad when another architect passes away and all of his knowledge slips into the abyss...but then i realize that i just moved a little bit closer to the top of the profession and i start dancing to that queen "another one bites the dust" tune as i pour another drink and celebrate my good fortune
good morning everyone. I thought I was about to start the day under a pile of shit, but that's been lifted. Our procurement manager took the heat for some misinformation, and has decided to clear it up himself. Which frees up my afternoon (the weekend feels like it is coming faster and faster, whooohooo).
Sarah email me the digits, I'll probably be giggling as much as you. And WK you are so being techno-dialled!!!
Dubk,
Awesome photo....
SH,
Can that even happen? I mean once your preggers you can't get pregnant agin can you (from someone else no less?)
SH - I've only ever been called by Atechno and DubK and DubK doesn't really count because she is the reason I discovered Archinect in the first place. And hey giggles beats incessant, flustered quick speech that sometimes turns into stuttering.... like my first time ever speaking to Atechno. I'm sure he thought I was a total squirrel. I'm not a big fan talking on the phone, much rather text or email or... meet in person.
In other news, turns out it's just psoriasis on my eyelids. They gave me a stronger topical ointment as the Cortisone stopped being effective about a year ago. Yay me :o/
Of course!
Well, I went and saw the new Terminator at a midnight premiere. I'll give it a 7/10.
8/10 if you like robots! ^_~
On Sarah's pregnant lady: I'm going to go with Occam's Razor and say that most likely she had intercourse with different men within a short time frame. Though a "litter" isn't really appropriate, as dogs etc. can mate with one and still have a lot of pups. Octomom is more of a litter.
But I'll take the opportunity to again mention Chimeras, or people who are really more than one, as presented on RadioLab: a woman had genetic testing done to see if she was a potential kidney donor for a family member, and it was found that she had more than one set of DNA. Doctors studied her and decided most likely she had started out as twins, but one embryo was absorbed by the other. End result was her blood had a different DNA from her liver, but the same as her kidneys, etc. So she's one body with two sets of DNA.
Bodies are funny and unpredictable. and Sarah, I appreciate you keeping us up on the interesting bits of daytime TV. Brad certainly did look snappy yesterday!
There was an awesome CSI episode involving a Chimera person. He was supposed to be twins and instead the embryos merged. But I'm not sure if real life Chimeras have skin anomalies like the character did. When photographed, it appeared that he had two skin types...looked like parchment.
Glad to hear you're getting wise counsel, DubK. Wonderman and WonderK sound like too good of a couple to end over a probably somewhat traumatic weekend.
Dapper, I rmemeber that episode - it was crazy.
I missed the actual segment about the woman - I went to the gym instead. Then I stopped by the store and bought a bottle of wine. Gotta keep the priorities.
is there anyway one can feel more agonizingly vulnerable than siting on toilet only to realize there are mosquitos in the room...you just know you're going to get hit...
you think mosquitos are bad? what about alligators?
Wow! I got techno-dialed! His voice is like butta! Two archinectors calling me in less than 24 hours. I feel so loved....plus I chatted with Strawbeary on Facebook last night. You guys are so great. All of you, even the newbies like jk.....
On another note, I'm finishing up at my on-campus job and I arrived this morning to find ants all over my workstation. WTF. I don't hate ants but I find it terribly frustrating when I'm trying to type and it's like, "no, don't you get it? I NEED that 'e'....get away!" and then "do NOT go into the murky brown water!!! I want to DRINK my coffee!!!" Thank goodness I get to leave early today.....
Puddles - That is hilarious. That reminds me of my time in Thailand. Apparently some devout Thai buddhists don't even kill mosquitoes - or maybe it was because they are so used to them. The mosquitoes were also more attracted to me - I guess they like new blood. Either way, I became the master of "getting rid of" mosquitoes.
Slartibartfast ,
Many Jain's also do this. The devout even wear facemasks to prevent inhaling (and thus killing) insects...
ha! kcrw is playing an espanol version of bittersweet symphony!
now its a mashup of MIA/christine agulara with bittersweet symphony - why can't MPR's DJs find any new music this cool?
oh, the first tune was by mexican institute of sound
*m not to worry I think I was equally nervous talking/meeting you. But it turned out awesome and I actually look forward to the "stressed out BSC" emails. But after much hesitation I spoke with Wonder K this morning. Unfortunately I forgot about the time zone and didn't estimate that the west coast was just waking up.
Anyway it's the second day of near continuous rain - makes me want to go home and sleep (under the desk may suffice). It doesn't help that last night I was awoken at 2am by a bat that managed to get trapped inside my bedroom
Bats in the Bedroom? Is that the same as bats in the belfry?
I just took 3 different practice tests to get teacher certification, and I scored more than 50% in all of them. Maybe its something i should really look into.
Oh I just read Wonder K's post. Thanks (heh heh butta!) - I'm surprised you could understand a word I said, not because of my accent but rather that I had the biggest smile on my face because I was actually TALKING to you... wow!
Now folks don't rush and phone-stalk people, ask first and be patient - we can casually hide under the veil of the Internet but a telephone call can seem invasive.
I don't want to poison TC but I don't necessarily want to start an instant "trolling" thread...
... but is there an actual how-to guide to running a firm? I've been looking around at literature and can't seem to find a whole lot of anything with actual Good Advice®.
Now, this is the college in me talking... but I did take a few classes in NGO, Non-profit management, Government Accounting and Program evaluation. It seems to me that architectural firms operate in a more "organizational" type capacity than most businesses do-- lack of advertising, lack of community outreach, lack of community participation, lack of events sponsorship (like events totally unrelated to architecture) and so on.
In fact, I think one of the few "image boosting" things I've seen dealing with architecture is what Sci-Arc did at Coachella.
Should I just take a stab at writing a visual "business model" essay since I'm rather detached from the industry?
har: "is there an actual how-to guide to running a firm?'
It's called The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice
Sarah you should look at teaching at a high school that offers courses in architecture combine the best of both worlds
Yeah, I flipped through that today.
No offense but it is crap. And if that is the bible of running architectural firms, it doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot of anyone good right now.
hillandrock: like stone said there are also a series of books produced by the RIBA and covers about 8 different variances of organisation for running an architectural practice
h&r - my pro practice prof wrote: Architect's Essentials of Starting a Design Firm, which has a good blueprint for launching a practice.
the best bible is experience - watch, critique, and learn from the folks you work for of what works and doesn't, what fits your style of management, and then apply these lessons.
stone, thanks for answering that question, I couldn't recall that title off the top of my head. tk the one you mentioned is good too, a friend gifted me with it.
hillandrock: Architectural licensing requires a minimum 3-year internship. I leaned 95% of what I know about running a business from working in a firm for ten years (the other 5% mainly came from reading Archinect.). The books were useful for terminology and presenting some things I hadn't considered, but really, the way the profession is set up, you learn in practice.
So no, I don't think, being detached from the industry, that you should write a business model essay for us.
I guess my point is the current model doesn't seem to work [rather work well]?
And I have found maybe a dozen good explanations for the organizational theory behind firms. But from the standpoint I'm trying to analyze it, some of the factors and methodologies don't seem to make a whole lot of sense.
I know every firm is different and maybe I don't have a lot of room to talk here... but a lot of these models are archaic, out-of-context and disconnected.
I'm going to go to all Martin Luther and write an essay anyways.
But see, consultants and evaluators work best when there is detachment because there is no actual sentiment, opinion or ideology.
har - well, you seem to have lapsed back into your provocateur role once again.
For someone who claims not to know anything about professional practice, I'm not sure why we should give any credence to your pronouncement that "it's crap" -- I hold an MBA and have practiced for 32 years -- the AHPP is not crap -- however, you actually do have to read the articles, think about what's in them and apply that guidance to your practice. You can't just "flip through it" and expect to know it all.
har - well, you seem to have lapsed back into your provocateur role once again.
For someone who claims not to know anything about professional practice, I'm not sure why we should give any credence to your pronouncement that "it's crap" -- I hold an MBA and have practiced for 32 years -- the AHPP is not crap -- however, you actually do have to read the articles, think about what's in them and apply that guidance to your practice. You can't just "flip through it" and expect to know it all.
Fine, sorry. If everything is 100% A-OKAY, why is half the board bitching about why practices fail, suck or otherwise aren't all majestic?
Is there knowledge?
I once worked with an amazing architectural practice consultant. He was not an architect, but he knew our profession in toto better than any practitioner I've talked to, because he had been steeped in widely variant examples of it for 20 years.
Let's ask this: hillandrock what exactly is your interest in the profession that leads you to want to fix it?
hillandrock could you quantify what you mean when you say it doesn't work? And what values are using to determine that it is archaic, out-of-context and disconnected? I'm not saying this with a defensive tone because I agree with some things, but is it possible to be a little more clear?
as far as books for the management of design firms; How Firms Succeed, A Field Guide To Design Management
now, i don't agree 100% - mainly with competitions, but i get the gist and yes can be a black hole, they can also be an exploration with future benefits - but by and large the book is a very good summary of what it takes to be profitable and looks to provide some innovative ways of creating a successful practice.
if there were any tried and true measures of how to create the penultimate architectural business model, then i sure would like to see it, but i think a lot of what needs to happen is to treat people with respect, demand respect, and simplify relationships. simplify being the key word.
har: the AHPP is a fine volume that generally isn't read very much by Architects -- and therefore isn't producing beneficial results -- because most of us really aren't that interested in the business side of practice. the old adage of "you can lead a horse to water ..." comes to mind.
for business knowledge to be effective, it has to be absorbed and then applied in practice ... architects generally don't want to do that because it take us out of our comfort zone.
to use your logic, because the whole economy is in the toilet, then every business school and every business book ever written must be "total crap".
i want to run my office like Arthur Erickson....because then I will be a successful architect, win awards, have leggy women in photos of my buildings and travel the world at my clients expense. Ya right, 10 million in debt when you should be retiring and starting up a new
office.....oh the love of architecture.
Well... to answer liberty bell...
"hillandrock-- what exactly is your interest in the profession that leads you to want to fix it?"
My interest isn't necessarily a purely artistic drive-- I have probably a bigger interest in land use. Architecture does have a significant impact here... which is what brought me to architecture.
When I went through school, I wanted to do something architecture-like... without necessarily going through the rigors of architecture. It's easier to get your PE in civil engineering than it is to get an architectural license.
I'm fascinated by design architecture-- it's innovative, it has a disconnect that can be seen in a positive light and it's also a little bit selfish.
But through my school, I've been through an arts education, a history education, an arts history education, an arts studio education, civil engineering, structural engineering, public administration and urban planning. There's a lot of overlaps here but I've gotten through a lot of these programs. I've been going to a 4-year university since I was 15.
Am I an expert in architecture? BWAHAHA. Am I even a novice? no.
But here is 3 general points I'd like to address:
1. The Office
How does one define a firm? What services does a basic firm offer? What services should a basic firm offer? What services shouldn't a basic firm offer? Are firms too big? Are firms too small? Should some firms be broken up? How does a firm represent itself? What kind of verbal and non-verbal contractual obligations do firms make to their clients, to auxiliary stakeholders, to local government and to itself?
I think one thing absent from firms is a mission statement. A basic contract that all members, including principals, should agree on. Whatever the mission statement maybe, it should cover some basics-- what the firm does, what the firm doesn't do, what the firm will not participate in and what level of accountability the firm will agree on.
The mission statement will help with the second and third points.
2. Workflow (or who does what, how and why?)
How do projects go from customer to design to paycheck? What should be an agreed methodology for creating work? Who should do what? Why should they do it? Is it better to focus on strengths rather than fake it cover weakness? Does the design side have too much power? Does the document side suffer from this as w? Do customers demand too much or too little?
While I realize creativity and flexibility are paramount to an industry like this, I feel there's either redundancy or a lack of focus. This where essentially credibility and accountability ultimately suffer.
In my opinion, the lack of transparency (I realize that architecture is a business and therefore competitive and business-oriented) in the process and differences in processes lead to overall complications. While local governments, regulatory agencies and non-governmental organizations are rarely standardized, it makes it difficult to for either one to play nice.
Too much do I see architecture firms, developers and engineering firms not simply comply with regulation in the first place. Too much time and money is often spent applying for variances, zoning changes and compliance because architecture can often have no regard for the land. Not the high-art airy concept of "connection to land" taught in schools, but the legal framework of ordinances that illustrate what you can and cannot do with a piece of property.
If architects and developers built within compliance and used compliance as a design tool, overall costs would greatly be reduced. I don't necessarily know of the prevalence of this because architecture firms are private entities entitled to their privacy. But on the government side, it would suggest that the prevalence is "a lot" since planning departments often have department completely devoted to this sort of thing.
It may be awful to build "architecture" from a predetermined size and plot as it hampers artistic challenges; however, it is the difference between a 2 week permitting process and an 8 week permitting process.
And this all begs the question whether design can maintain purity with business constraints... should design departments function like colleges as separate entities? That perhaps firms should focus on meeting code, compliance and providing a skeleton for designers to fundamentally jizz all over?
And to point 3.
3. Image and Communication
If you're a notorious code violator, everyone is going to be against the firm no matter how glorious or golden your project actually is. If you say you're for sustainability and improving social conditions through architecture but have just built 5 mansions in the hills outside of Palm Springs, I'm going to have to have a hard time believing you're in it for anything other than the money.
By having a mission statement-- a contract between you, the client and the people around the project you're building-- you can avoid these pitfalls. You can refer to something that everyone who is a part of your firm agrees on. You can avoid other pitfalls by stating that you firm will in no way take part in certain projects.
Want to say your sustainable? Tell your customers you refuse to do projects that use certain materials or rely on certain development patterns. Want to say you have neutrality? Refuse projects unless the client promises not to use your designs for issues you may or may not agree on. By saying this flat out, you're more likely to land contracts from sources you may not have realized were there. When governments look for clients (and are avoiding cronies), one of the first things they look at is how and why your business is run the way that it is.
This brings me to my last point on image and communication-- Communication. Do it. Few people outside the world know what architecture really is. The general public more than likely gets their ideas and concepts from Architectural Review, Dwell and Wired-- sad but more than likely true.
Tap into new technologies-- join a social networking site, twitter, blog, update people about your projects as much as you can. Tell the public (and your customers) every little detail you can or you legally can. Even talking about your shortfalls and inaccuracies lets the public know that you're legitimate, that you're caring and that you want them to know everything you are doing for them.
And while your on this bandwagon, make architecture a little more blue collar-- throw parties, sponsor bands, give money away to worthy causes. Event promoters and social hot spots are always looking for something new. By connecting to the public on their ground, showing off your work and promoting yourself in a person-to-person manner, you're more than likely to prove your worth.
Need tax breaks? Throw local design competitions that make it easier for novices, students and hobbyists to have a chance. Every time someone in an office isn't working to make money or working pro-bono, that's a tax burden you can be shaving off. It is essentially manipulation at its finest. It works for other businesses and industries... put it to work for you.
Marketing is a great tool. From what I've understood, it is something mildly frowned upon in the architecture community. But the architects of yesteryear were masters at public exhibitions, public relations and over all masters of manipulating where their designs stood in the context of everyday life.
snook in debt and starting a new office sounds like the European model, doesn't that desrcibe Foster and Nouvel in the 80s? I remember using them as case studies during undergrad as architecture practices as subsidiaries of larger companies, we had a few local examples namely Ann Hodges who underwritten by Island Records - how cool is that?
I wish Island Records would underwright ME!
h&r it's too late in the evening over here to really jump on your post. But generally there are some good points, some are already done (have to be done) see no.1, others may run conflict with the ethical obligations of the profession and could be point of legal contention (lower item no.3); but I think this is engaging - and might be better placed as a discussion thread, let's see what the rest of the archinect community says.
h&r, all naive assumptions, ALL. pro-bono won't get you tax breaks.
I think it's tempting to get a little defensive in response to h&r's initial comments, but that GIGANTIC post he (she?) just posted has some good points. I think the gist of what you are saying, h&r, is that a lot of architecture firms don't work and I think what we're seeing right now is that they are not going to survive. Which will be to our benefit in the long run. I think it's good to come up with some new ideas about how firms should be run and to always try new ways of doing things if the old ways don't work.
Should I read the AHPP? Probably!? But like h&r's post above, it's got a lot of words in one place and I have a short attention span. In the meantime I'm happy to go off of my experiences and gut....
har, while you are not incorrect, i can't help but cringe. if you are an outsider i suppose it is possible to stumble upon something no one has seen yet, but today you didn't make it. there are lots of assumptions in there that either are too generalised or just patently absurd to take seriously. also lots of stuff that kind of sounds like a call to superficiality rather than a useful guide to anything.
changing subject, we are now officially being mucked about in two directions. first the banks stopped financing architecture, now the government has decided to offer money to the banks that hold distressed assets....which means the banks are going to hold onto all the land that is worth less than they paid of it. WHICH MEANS OUR CLIENTS CAN'T BUY THE LAND THEY JUST MADE A BID ON. bloody hell, but we only just worked out how to get around the japanese banks and their fear of financing. why do we now have to deal with them at this level too? seriously, they are paralyzing the entire system. Now they don't actually have to make a move for a good bit of time because they have cash from the govt to cover the costs of indecision - and we are sitting in the cold again. arghhh. there goes yet another 5 million dollar project.
what do the manuals say about running a business when that happens?
h&r, you should have started a new thread on this topic. TC is a fairly tight clique (though very informed and smart about running a practice), but there are sure to be lots of folks interested in this conversation who will never find it on the 303rd page. Oh, I think you set a record for the longest post on TC.
It's not that I don't think that they necessarily don't work... I'm saying that they [Let's make up numbers to stamp out this metaphor] are operating at a 40% efficiency.
I know very little about architecture but in my 6 months of going to firms websites all over I have learned a lot about how some of them work. Albeit, it is what they are wanting to me to see, and unlike planning or NGOs, have no legal responsibility to show me more.
I think maybe architectural firms could rework their offices better to maybe hit 60% efficiency. I should have been clearer about this.
Where I suppose I draw this off is experience and watching numerous planning, contracting and real estate firms picking up architects for the stamp while dictating design and planning standards. Terrible for the practice? Sure. Good for business? Yes. Good for the community dealing with these people? Mixed.
But it seems unethical for architectural firms to do the same. I'll needed to read the AIA stuff again.
In either event, I think architectural firms should really break down their offices and look at every detail to see where things lag, where things should be left alone and where things can be reimagined aka reengineered.
Sorry for derailing TC today-- I promise I won't do it again. But I kind of wanted to address this issue I see repeating in other threads [I guess it is mildly on topic for TC] from the point of someone who has actually done program evaluation and performance review.
who do you bill when you twitter?
i guess that's just marked down as marketing?
h&r: I agree with the group It would be a good thread to check into for those of us who have been at it for awhile. We must be doing something right cause we are busy as ever in this down economy.
The number one rule in this firm is keep the client happy cause it is more profitable to have return clients than to be out marketing to find new ones. We do have alot of return client crossing over the full spectrum of commercial and residential projects.
My brain hurts after reading all of this serious talk. >_<
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