our firm recently won a project from a corporate client. The 'client' sent out an RFQ to a selected list of firms (10 or so). They reviewed each firm's qualifications and created a short-list of 3 firms. They interviewed each of the firms (the interviews in this case were held at each of the firm's offices, and they lasted 4 hours each). After the interviews they checked references (thoroughly) and called back a few times over the course of a week or 2 with various questions. ...
"they" were an administrative board - CEO, CFO, COO, director of this and that etc. 7 people in total, representing the interests of their foundation. The project is 125,000 sqft. headquarters for the foundation/company. In this case, the client didn't have a "go-between" or client rep that helped them, as you say. other corporate clients of ours have an in house "client-rep" that is the go-between...
Very helpful, AP, thanks. Are there consulting firms that do this sort of work as well? And how would this client have arrived at the list of architects that they came up with?
how would this client have arrived at the list of architects that they came up with?
if you mean for the RFQ...
this particular client has a number of healthcare bldgs in this city, and has worked with a few of the local firms over the course of 20 + years. my guess - they started with those firms and perhaps added a few of the other well known practices in the area.
we typically deal with client representatives that are full-time employees of the client. the consultant thing you describe above certainly exists (I have no direct experience with it). I asked a couple of more experienced co-workers that have dealt with the consultant-client-rep, and the consensus seems to be that they are a pain to deal with for a number of reasons. ...Actually, there was a thread on here earlier this year about "Project management" companies... maybe not the same thing, but you might wanna use the search feature to dig that one up...
you're correct. most suits don't know anything about choosing an architect which is why most of them end up picking the onel architect that they actually know...that is, an old fraternity pal, or maybe someone from the country club...america tends to be very clubby in this regard.
the interesting aspect of the RFQ way of selection is that an architect is awarded the commission not on a design, but via portfolio experience, selection interview and perhaps old boys network.
for an euro angle on this, most significant projects are awarded via competitions. especially in germany (where i worked for 2 years on competitions).
naturally the plus is that competitions gives younger offices a chance (however slim) to win commissions and win them via good design.
the negative is that an office has to handle that maybe half of its staff are working on non-fee generating competitions. that puts a big financial strain on the offices, and (in germany esp) a big psychological strain on the competition staff - looooong hours.
as to the question who is choosing? - competition juries comprise of reps from the client, relevant building specialists, cost consultants, and architects. the higher profile the competition - the bigger the names are in the jury.
ah yes. how does the client choose the architect? it depends on the client and the industry. seems as though (at least in my experience in TX in residential work) that most work comes in through either clients cold-calling or referral work. some work will come in through homes tours, exhibitions, or awards, but not much. i think with larger projects it's mostly who you play golf with or whose name on the job sign will sell the most condos.
virtually no meaningful competitions in TX or really in the US. i had always wanted to have a law that all public projects in TX would have to be issued via competition, but there are too many hack architects devoid of design talent who would lose work. probably the AIA would campaign against it.
A developer has a friend who's an architect. I guess because they no longer want to be friends, the developer will hire the architect. Over the next months they slowly build a powerful unfriendship.
They person with the $$$ chooses the architect. My firm was set to work on a certain project which was controlled by a mid-sized board. We master planned and were reasonably into schematics when one of the board members announced that he would donate $$$$$$$$ (and yes, that is the appropriate number of dollar signs) to the project if his new son-in-law's firm got the job instead. I doubt there was even a discussion about it before the switch was made.
when i worked for a hotel/condo developer we often chose the architect based on their experience with the product type in the area we were building. When building any for-sale or for-rent product type the timing of entry is key and you need an architect who knows how to wade through the local entitlements and permitting issues. it's easy to burn through $5k per day on construction loan interest at the end of the job and you can't be held up getting CofO because the architect didn't do all their homework
regarding competitions in the US - although rare, i had the distinct unpleasure to work on such a public project. the architect was completely unqualified and it severely hurt the project. when it came time for ca they had the "lost puppy dog" look on their face whenever they had shop drawings to review. just because they could draw a curtain wall on their plans didn't mean they had any actual idea of how it was built. great designers, shitty builders
Who decides on the architect?
I assume that there are competitions for very large projects, but who sits on the selection committees and how do they decide who to go with?
I can't imagine a bunch of suits from company X would know the first thing about choosing an appropriate architect, so who helps them?
What about for residential work?
How do developers decide who to use?
the wife
our firm recently won a project from a corporate client. The 'client' sent out an RFQ to a selected list of firms (10 or so). They reviewed each firm's qualifications and created a short-list of 3 firms. They interviewed each of the firms (the interviews in this case were held at each of the firm's offices, and they lasted 4 hours each). After the interviews they checked references (thoroughly) and called back a few times over the course of a week or 2 with various questions. ...
"they" were an administrative board - CEO, CFO, COO, director of this and that etc. 7 people in total, representing the interests of their foundation. The project is 125,000 sqft. headquarters for the foundation/company. In this case, the client didn't have a "go-between" or client rep that helped them, as you say. other corporate clients of ours have an in house "client-rep" that is the go-between...
hope this helps.
Very helpful, AP, thanks. Are there consulting firms that do this sort of work as well? And how would this client have arrived at the list of architects that they came up with?
if you mean for the RFQ...
this particular client has a number of healthcare bldgs in this city, and has worked with a few of the local firms over the course of 20 + years. my guess - they started with those firms and perhaps added a few of the other well known practices in the area.
we typically deal with client representatives that are full-time employees of the client. the consultant thing you describe above certainly exists (I have no direct experience with it). I asked a couple of more experienced co-workers that have dealt with the consultant-client-rep, and the consensus seems to be that they are a pain to deal with for a number of reasons. ...Actually, there was a thread on here earlier this year about "Project management" companies... maybe not the same thing, but you might wanna use the search feature to dig that one up...
you're correct. most suits don't know anything about choosing an architect which is why most of them end up picking the onel architect that they actually know...that is, an old fraternity pal, or maybe someone from the country club...america tends to be very clubby in this regard.
the interesting aspect of the RFQ way of selection is that an architect is awarded the commission not on a design, but via portfolio experience, selection interview and perhaps old boys network.
for an euro angle on this, most significant projects are awarded via competitions. especially in germany (where i worked for 2 years on competitions).
naturally the plus is that competitions gives younger offices a chance (however slim) to win commissions and win them via good design.
the negative is that an office has to handle that maybe half of its staff are working on non-fee generating competitions. that puts a big financial strain on the offices, and (in germany esp) a big psychological strain on the competition staff - looooong hours.
as to the question who is choosing? - competition juries comprise of reps from the client, relevant building specialists, cost consultants, and architects. the higher profile the competition - the bigger the names are in the jury.
ah yes. how does the client choose the architect? it depends on the client and the industry. seems as though (at least in my experience in TX in residential work) that most work comes in through either clients cold-calling or referral work. some work will come in through homes tours, exhibitions, or awards, but not much. i think with larger projects it's mostly who you play golf with or whose name on the job sign will sell the most condos.
virtually no meaningful competitions in TX or really in the US. i had always wanted to have a law that all public projects in TX would have to be issued via competition, but there are too many hack architects devoid of design talent who would lose work. probably the AIA would campaign against it.
A developer has a friend who's an architect. I guess because they no longer want to be friends, the developer will hire the architect. Over the next months they slowly build a powerful unfriendship.
They person with the $$$ chooses the architect. My firm was set to work on a certain project which was controlled by a mid-sized board. We master planned and were reasonably into schematics when one of the board members announced that he would donate $$$$$$$$ (and yes, that is the appropriate number of dollar signs) to the project if his new son-in-law's firm got the job instead. I doubt there was even a discussion about it before the switch was made.
sad but true...money makes the world go 'around...
when i worked for a hotel/condo developer we often chose the architect based on their experience with the product type in the area we were building. When building any for-sale or for-rent product type the timing of entry is key and you need an architect who knows how to wade through the local entitlements and permitting issues. it's easy to burn through $5k per day on construction loan interest at the end of the job and you can't be held up getting CofO because the architect didn't do all their homework
regarding competitions in the US - although rare, i had the distinct unpleasure to work on such a public project. the architect was completely unqualified and it severely hurt the project. when it came time for ca they had the "lost puppy dog" look on their face whenever they had shop drawings to review. just because they could draw a curtain wall on their plans didn't mean they had any actual idea of how it was built. great designers, shitty builders
apparently, you haven't had much face time with the suits.
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