First...you may just try lurking here a bit or searching past discussions....a bit of reading in here will give you plenty of food for thought on this topic. also, search by member and get a sense of the work people do according to where they work. also, check the salary poll and you can get sense of those type of issues by looking at firm size/managment style.

there are hundreds of pros and cons to working in one size studio or another. if we enter into a framework of polemics....a personal anecdote:

my firm has a total of 7 people employed. The boss calls us 'an atelier'...thats up for debate. so...one boss. two other registered architects, recently organized/labeled part of a three way management team with the boss. then there are 3 non-registered 'interns' with 3-6 years experience and an office manager. on a day to day level, the management situation/attitude is; you either are the boss or you aren't.

in that scale of a studio environment, i have my own project, 1.6 million dollar construction budget. not huge, not tiny residential remodels. i work on it 40+ hours a week. (although this week was 102 but thats another story) and i theoretically get a little guidance on a weekly basis from the management team. i get a lot of responsibility on a whole-project basis. i make client contacts, i sit in on all the meetings except contract stuff, i draw the details, i redline the details, i empty the trash and i change the lightbulbs.

so, i do it all...and i get to see the project through and through...i will do SD's, DD's, CD's, CAI and the As-builts. rarely do you get to do this in a mega-firm. you may do the SD's, CD's and CAI...but you'll do it just on window details. you get my drift. this isn't always the case but unless you have a small studio atmosphere within the larger firm, you can get lost and will if you don't play it right. until you get registered, in any firm, you can fall into a pattern of similar responsibility level.

also, with larger firms come larger projects. its not unusual to work on a single project every day for 4+ years...that can happen in smaller firms but rarely does the budget allow for that so you have more turnover.

instrumentOFaction:

The corporate firm require a certain approach to the type of project. Such as residential, they have deveoped their own style in mass, material use, elevation strategy. Do you this is a good way to make money? In a small fiirm, this might be different. I might open one other architect designed project into my building, I could follow his elevation treatment and produce mine. What do you think of these?

In your residential project, what is the biggest burdle you ever conquered?

Thanks,

Jlxarchitect. although i don't do residential projects, i think that perhaps i don't quite understand your question. i thought that you were asking your question from the position of a person looking for a first job...and were wondering what kind of atmosphere to expect in different size firms.
If that isn't correct, please let me know.

as to the issue of scale; yes, large firms with large projects have to approach designs differently from small firms with small projects, but in either case you still have to produce a drawing set capable of building the project. More and more, though, architects are working with builders, construction managers or general contractors in order to help relieve them of the CAI responsiblities a typical project requires. you might do some research on 'design-build' or 'fast track' projects to further your understanding of the options available to architects today.

if i look at your question regarding 'one other architect designed project into my building'....that makes me think you are trying to base the design of your own project on another architect's building. while i'm all for 'studying' other architects; their vocabulary, size, shape, orientation, location, and treatment....that's why we get a design education...but i draw the line at copying. at the least; its unethical, at the most; copyright infringment.

if you want to develop your own design philosophy of 'mass, material use, elevation strategy' then by all means, do that. that applies to any size firm or type of project.

as to the biggest hurdle in a project i've worked on... every project has its moments. i'd have to say that across the board, communication with the owner/client during the contract negotiation phase is a critical and underestimated portion of the project. architects get themselves into trouble by promising 12% fee-level services and only negotiating an 8% fee. if you don't get that right in the beginning it will taint the whole project in my experience. good luck, jlxarchitect.

"...size, shape, orientation, location, and treatment"

i didn't expect to see a Nilandism on here...(switch around location and orientation)

glick....as far as i know, the list isn't by priority.

Must you misuse the semi-colon?!

Must I? Must you be nit picky? I will try my best to curtail my use of the semi-colon in order to put Alan's mind at ease. Thanks for the grammar lesson db.

instrumentOFaction...I had him for a year, that is always the order that came out of his mouth..and it was repeated ad nauseum.

but i am sure in the bigger picture the order is not important

you sure are right about the ad nauseum, glick. I actually remembered it the same way you did, but even after having graduated years ago, i still have a list of 'Thesis Issues' tacked in my cubicle. that list has them as i posted them...i assumed my memory was flawed and used their version.

Did you ever see that list before/during thesis, glick? it had a few helpful hints in dealing with project inititiation....it became a tradition to pass it on to the next class or leave one posted on the door to studio.

i think they're helpful enough that i try to pass it along on some of my posts here...homage, perhaps.

if you had Niland for Thesis, you will know and love point #9..."Whenever Niland says that he likes any color he's being sarcastic. This goes for day-glo orange and lavender." HA HA HA!

i never saw the actual list, but i am very familiar with the day-glo orange. i have not heard of the lavender however... but can easily picture it. i think the list may have been lost in translation from the BArch to MArch phase change. do you have a copy you can send my way?

Glick....PM sent.

Where are u guys from? It sounds an alumi thread. Interesting...