Take a small design firm for example. The firm does mostly smaller, high-end design projects (residential and commercial alike) for a wide range of clients. The firm gets a chance to do a skyscraper in a major city. (Lets assume for sake of argument that they win a competition and are selected to complete the project). What kind of things do you need to do to transform your practice from a 10-15 person firm into an office that can successfully lead the design and development of a skyscraper?
Resources are an obvious problem. The firm only did projects in CAD, now it needs to learn Revit and get an entire team on board with design standards. People in this office have big egos, and big egos like to work their own way, manage their files their own way. What /who do you need to change this?
How many full-time workers/what skill levels are needed to execute a project like this? Can a practice slip back into small, high-end design work after finishing CDs for such a large project? Is the more laid-back, small-firm culture destroyed after these types of projects? Does corporate culture necessarily take over?
This is just a fun scenario for me, and I would love to hear you guys' thoughts on the matter. The way Zaha burst onto the scene or other firms like BIG or Diller Scofidio amazes me, and I really wonder what those periods of growth feel like to the people in the firm while those changes are undergoing.
SpatialSojourner
Jan 30, 17 9:44 pm
The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm.
DeTwan
Jan 30, 17 9:48 pm
The record keeper as they say.....bumbumbuh
s=r*(theta)
Jan 31, 17 10:05 am
"The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm."
zonker
Jan 31, 17 12:46 pm
on big projects, you're always are going to have your "Donald Trumps" BIM managers - Ive worked for a few - they usually get fired for trying to second guess the P.A.s
won and done williams
Jan 31, 17 1:11 pm
"The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm."
This is probably right, but in terms of actual FTEs, a design principal, project manager, 1-2 project architects, and 4-5 interns could probably create the Architectural drawing set. I would still probably partner with a larger firm/AOR, but not because you need more manpower (more for liability reasons).
poop876
Jan 31, 17 2:14 pm
won,
yes, they could, but when! Last skyscraper I worked on, we had a staff of 30. So many things go into that!
s=r*(theta)
Jan 31, 17 5:26 pm
5 interns turnt loose on a skyscraper drawing set?! hahahaha, tell the client that and good luck wit the 500 RFI's and $2 million in change orders
GabrielleBovard
Mar 2, 17 6:49 pm
I don't think you need to change the big egos, per se. They have their place in the industry, right? But that's why setting up worksharing with good worksets is important. You have your central model and anyone who dares to trespass into another designer's realm will have to check out a workset--which isn't going to be released by the supposedly egotistical owner! In any case, I would suggest two or three really skilled Revit users for the bulk of the work. It would be helpful to have an intern or someone else handle creating templates or components, if possible. As for culture, I believe it can absolutely go back nicely to small high-end work if everyone on the team is passionate about that. Skyscrapers are great--but exhausting--and some of those smaller projects really have a lot more heart. I think we all dream of doing both really well and having opportunities for different challenges here and there too.
natematt
Mar 2, 17 11:43 pm
S=r. I'm guessing he means interns in the sense that anyone unlicensed is an intern. Which given a good distribution of experience and computer skills would be fairly reasonable.
s=r*(theta)
Mar 3, 17 11:35 am
In our office, we typically call those w/ architecture degrees & no license but at least 5yrs exp., assistant pm's or architect assistants.
bowling_ball
Mar 3, 17 7:32 pm
I don't know what qualifies as a sky scraper, but I've got a 15 storey building under construction right now, about 75% complete. The entire architectural team consisted of me (intern, now licensed), the principal (keeping client happy), and a drafting tech for revit. It's a dumb building, but it can be done with
bowling_ball
Mar 3, 17 7:40 pm
... With fewer resources than you think if the entire team is on the same page.
bowling_ball
Mar 3, 17 7:40 pm
Btw the mobile interface on the forums is total bullshit.
archanonymous
Mar 4, 17 11:30 am
All you need is time... One skilled PA could draw an entire tower in Revit, its just a slower process, although incredibly efficient compared to having a bunch of people learning Revit at the same time.
Also, partner with a big firm or a design-builder.
randomised
Mar 6, 17 5:50 am
It depends, worked on a 200 room hotel where we did everything in BIM. The structural and other engineers and the builder worked everything out in Revit, we exchanged and integrated IFC models in ArchiCAD.
The in-house team after winning design competition was:
one project leader (didn't draw anything, no BIM-experience at all),
two project architects (day to day project lead of general design and drawings, first BIM-project for one, second BIM-project for the other),
one technical architect (facade and technical details, first BIM-project, worked 2D only),
one architect (general design and drawings, prior BIM-experience),
one junior architect (general design and some drawings, first job and first BIM-project),
one building engineer (technical details and in-house BIM-manager),
two interns (renders, form studies, prior BIM-experience)
It was the first project in the office with BIM-only from start to finish and it was messy: project leader took considerable time off, one project architect had a burn-out, the other switched projects and because the lack of in-house coordination our BIM-model was quite messy and imprecise in the end, the 2D drawing set was okay though. The project is currently under construction and looking good, I left before the ground breaking ceremony.
s=r*(theta)
Mar 6, 17 11:50 am
I cant really speak to the bim part of the project but, I really would not consider a 200 room hotel "massive". Ive been part of a team with 4 & 5 people and crank out several 140, 175, multifamily projects, team was (1) Project arch, (1) pm (2) Project assistants
randomised
Mar 7, 17 3:26 am
We didn't 'crank out' anything but actually designed it all, so maybe that has something to do with it :)
s=r*(theta)
Mar 7, 17 10:54 am
Every morning I get up I thank God Im not easily offendable, then I thank him for a paycheck for cranking out projects
:-D
randomised
Mar 8, 17 3:57 am
Congrats! :-)
Hemichromis
Mar 6, 17 8:58 pm
Clarity of communication, skill and determination I would imagine.
Take a small design firm for example. The firm does mostly smaller, high-end design projects (residential and commercial alike) for a wide range of clients. The firm gets a chance to do a skyscraper in a major city. (Lets assume for sake of argument that they win a competition and are selected to complete the project). What kind of things do you need to do to transform your practice from a 10-15 person firm into an office that can successfully lead the design and development of a skyscraper?
Resources are an obvious problem. The firm only did projects in CAD, now it needs to learn Revit and get an entire team on board with design standards. People in this office have big egos, and big egos like to work their own way, manage their files their own way. What /who do you need to change this?
How many full-time workers/what skill levels are needed to execute a project like this? Can a practice slip back into small, high-end design work after finishing CDs for such a large project? Is the more laid-back, small-firm culture destroyed after these types of projects? Does corporate culture necessarily take over?
This is just a fun scenario for me, and I would love to hear you guys' thoughts on the matter. The way Zaha burst onto the scene or other firms like BIG or Diller Scofidio amazes me, and I really wonder what those periods of growth feel like to the people in the firm while those changes are undergoing.
The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm.
The record keeper as they say.....bumbumbuh
"The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm."
on big projects, you're always are going to have your "Donald Trumps" BIM managers - Ive worked for a few - they usually get fired for trying to second guess the P.A.s
"The small design firm usually partners with a larger firm."
This is probably right, but in terms of actual FTEs, a design principal, project manager, 1-2 project architects, and 4-5 interns could probably create the Architectural drawing set. I would still probably partner with a larger firm/AOR, but not because you need more manpower (more for liability reasons).
won,
yes, they could, but when! Last skyscraper I worked on, we had a staff of 30. So many things go into that!
5 interns turnt loose on a skyscraper drawing set?! hahahaha, tell the client that and good luck wit the 500 RFI's and $2 million in change orders
I don't think you need to change the big egos, per se. They have their place in the industry, right? But that's why setting up worksharing with good worksets is important. You have your central model and anyone who dares to trespass into another designer's realm will have to check out a workset--which isn't going to be released by the supposedly egotistical owner! In any case, I would suggest two or three really skilled Revit users for the bulk of the work. It would be helpful to have an intern or someone else handle creating templates or components, if possible. As for culture, I believe it can absolutely go back nicely to small high-end work if everyone on the team is passionate about that. Skyscrapers are great--but exhausting--and some of those smaller projects really have a lot more heart. I think we all dream of doing both really well and having opportunities for different challenges here and there too.
S=r. I'm guessing he means interns in the sense that anyone unlicensed is an intern. Which given a good distribution of experience and computer skills would be fairly reasonable.
In our office, we typically call those w/ architecture degrees & no license but at least 5yrs exp., assistant pm's or architect assistants.
I don't know what qualifies as a sky scraper, but I've got a 15 storey building under construction right now, about 75% complete. The entire architectural team consisted of me (intern, now licensed), the principal (keeping client happy), and a drafting tech for revit. It's a dumb building, but it can be done with
... With fewer resources than you think if the entire team is on the same page.
Btw the mobile interface on the forums is total bullshit.
All you need is time... One skilled PA could draw an entire tower in Revit, its just a slower process, although incredibly efficient compared to having a bunch of people learning Revit at the same time.
Also, partner with a big firm or a design-builder.
It depends, worked on a 200 room hotel where we did everything in BIM. The structural and other engineers and the builder worked everything out in Revit, we exchanged and integrated IFC models in ArchiCAD.
The in-house team after winning design competition was:
It was the first project in the office with BIM-only from start to finish and it was messy: project leader took considerable time off, one project architect had a burn-out, the other switched projects and because the lack of in-house coordination our BIM-model was quite messy and imprecise in the end, the 2D drawing set was okay though. The project is currently under construction and looking good, I left before the ground breaking ceremony.
I cant really speak to the bim part of the project but, I really would not consider a 200 room hotel "massive". Ive been part of a team with 4 & 5 people and crank out several 140, 175, multifamily projects, team was (1) Project arch, (1) pm (2) Project assistants
We didn't 'crank out' anything but actually designed it all, so maybe that has something to do with it :)
Every morning I get up I thank God Im not easily offendable, then I thank him for a paycheck for cranking out projects :-D
Congrats! :-)
Clarity of communication, skill and determination I would imagine.
^ Plagiarized from https://medium.com/continuous-delivery/architecting-for-continuous-delivery-77890e139ef6#.rkvdi5l3f