Just as the title asks. It's a pretty silly question, I guess, but I'm applying to architecture schools as of current so I've really starting getting into the field, more than I was before anyways, and I'm just so curious on why it's so common. Is 3 a magic number? Is it just a big coincidence? Is there some contract you sign in blood at your licensing exam that promises that you will work for an architecture firm whose name is 3 letters long? Am I only gonna know in my 5th year by being pulled into a pitch-black room in the campus catacombs? I've just gotta know, LOL
Everyday Architect
Jan 10, 23 6:08 pm
Because that's how many it takes to make a company...
Kinsbergen
Jan 11, 23 8:27 am
I am wondering in this picture who is the wife and who is the affair girlfriend.
Non Sequitur
Jan 10, 23 6:13 pm
pro tip, if your campus has catacombs, you can be certain you’ll need to pass some sort of bloodletting ceremony before they let you escape…. I mean, let you graduate.
Everyday Architect
Jan 10, 23 6:17 pm
Good tip
lavenderlasagna
Jan 11, 23 7:34 pm
That's where I come in.
Step 1) I get into architecture school Step 2) I become an architect Step 3) My alma mater hires me for renovations Step 4) I uproot the entire campus to put a catacomb maze underneath it Step 5) I put an evil spirit in the catacombs to haunt architecture majors and chain them to firms that happen to have 3 letter acronyms Step 6) I put the campus back where it should be Step 7) Profit
Everyday Architect
Jan 10, 23 6:17 pm
We should make the rest of this thread names of firms with more than 3 letters ...
MVRDV
NBBJ
RTKL
WRNS
VMDO
GGLO
SERA
b3tadine[sutures]
Jan 11, 23 6:13 am
You forgot one WKRP
Everyday Architect
Jan 11, 23 11:38 am
I'm sure there are lots of others. It wasn't meant to be all-encompassing. Hoping on the wisdom of the crowd to fill it out.
x-jla
Jan 11, 23 4:21 pm
Don’t forget SANAA
luvu
Jan 13, 23 2:47 am
SANAA Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates 2 founders.. no worries
x-jla
Jan 17, 23 9:15 am
2 founders, 5 letters
monosierra
Jan 11, 23 8:37 am
3 founders in some cases. 3 is an easy number of aconym letters to remember too - rolls off the tongue.
Non Sequitur
Jan 11, 23 10:28 am
Firm naming took its peak with DBA. It's been a steady nose dive ever since.
Chad Miller
Jan 11, 23 7:05 pm
How can that owner not see the cock and balls? HOW!?
deltar
Jan 12, 23 10:55 am
There is absolutely no way that wasn't intentional.
Chad Miller
Jan 12, 23 11:01 am
I'd think so but I know a few people who met the owner of the firm a decade ago. Dick didn't seem to be in on the joke. Then again it could all be a Kaufman esk type long joke.
deltar
Jan 12, 23 4:09 pm
I know that the unwritten rule in graphic design is to hide a CnB wherever you possibly can but to be so blatant with it is wild.
Richard Balkins
Jan 12, 23 4:57 pm
It's very memorable. Ironically, if I got licensed, I could do something along the same line. Of course, it would be intentional while feigning "I don't know what you're talking about".... lol.
Non Sequitur
Jan 13, 23 7:55 am
“Dick Balks, architect superstar” has a good right to it Rick. Trade mark that shit. I’ll buy a t-shirt.
Wood Guy
Jan 11, 23 11:21 am
I'm sure reasons vary, but one of them is that for a successful firm, you need a principal who is good at design, one who is good at sales, and one who is good at managing a business. Sometimes a single person excels at two or all three, but more often people find their niche and team up with others who excel in complimentary areas.
monosierra
Jan 11, 23 4:24 pm
Great insight! The midcentury titans all followed this template.
quizzical
Jan 21, 23 9:31 pm
This is the 3-legged stool approach. However, it’s in my experience it generally involves a principal highly skilled in design/marketing, a principal highly skilled in project delivery, and a principal highly skilled in busines management.
natematt
Jan 11, 23 2:04 pm
Because otherwise it's awkward when you're the name of the company and you die and people who worked for you keep using your name...
gibbost
Jan 11, 23 3:13 pm
As WG points out above, it often comes down to the dynamic of a winning team. The three-legged stool analogy comes to mind. A leadership group of three allows for a good balance of ideas and leveraging of strengths. With two, you can imagine a scenario where it feels like its 'my idea vs yours'. With three principals, you always have that sense of majority vote that allows comfort in making hard or impactful decisions.
x-jla
Jan 11, 23 4:24 pm
I stay away from the acronym thing whenever possible. Tempting because it looks cool for logos, but Feels cold and forgettable to me.
gibbost
Jan 11, 23 4:47 pm
That's an interesting point. Our firm has been around nearly 40 years. For most of those, we've been known as a three-letter acronym--the two founding members plus the letter A (architects). We recently rebranded and went back to using the full names. Biz cards, drawing titleblocks, letterhead--all of it now carries the full name. As we expanded into regional territories beyond our home town, we realized that the three letter designation felt corporate and lacking in personality--like we could just as easily have been a law firm. To avoid that, we embraced the names--which has brought a renewed sense of identity to the organization.
Wood Guy
Jan 11, 23 4:57 pm
Funny, I always figured your screen name was a version of an acronym for your business.
monosierra
Jan 12, 23 4:35 pm
Sometimes firms change their names after their founder passes - and it becomes impersonal. I think Polshek became Ennead and Meier became the monosyllabic MeierPartners for a very different reason.
midlander
Jan 11, 23 5:52 pm
some states (nevada was one) require that the business name includes only partners licensed to practice in that state. this is impractical for national firms where only the principal in charge on specific projects would get licensed in certain states. and especially for firms like SOM where the founding partners are deceased.
my former office rebranded for this reason after taking a project out of state - our founding partner was long deceased.
lavenderlasagna
Jan 11, 23 7:44 pm
That's actually really interesting. I would've never thought!
Richard Balkins
Jan 12, 23 2:46 pm
Thank goodness, in Oregon and Washington, firms don't have to be too rigidly fixed to having business names that require only partners licensed in those states. Yes, if you name your firm based on the founders or firm leadership names, you have some rules to follow regarding that but may flexible. If I got licensed or an architect or two joined the business, we'd have to make some arrangements for complying with Oregon laws for Oregon firm registration. Washington, less so but just a little filing paperwork. It would be pretty straight forward but form needs not be jus an 3-4 letters. Sure, in a logo, I might be able to represent my business name with 3 letters but the business itself is operating in the fully spelled-out name.
nonneutral
Jan 16, 23 6:58 pm
Because they're all copying OMA and don't have the courage to be more original.
Chad Miller
Jan 16, 23 7:00 pm
No one would copy anything from OMA. If you're going to copy at least copy something good. ;)
Dan Blather
Jan 19, 23 12:56 pm
A trend I see (on the outside, as a planner, looking in) is firm naming inspired by late 2000s/early 2010s ultra lounges. Names like:
flow
oxygen
liquid
wave
clear
aqua
loft
fresh
zen
All lowercase, of course. "inspire" the ultra lounge, or "inspire a+la+p" the firm? Both fit.
Another related trend: names that could be mistaken for Las Vegas nightclubs. Light, Tao, XS, Omnia, Hakkasan, Apex, Zouk, etc.
Just as the title asks. It's a pretty silly question, I guess, but I'm applying to architecture schools as of current so I've really starting getting into the field, more than I was before anyways, and I'm just so curious on why it's so common. Is 3 a magic number? Is it just a big coincidence? Is there some contract you sign in blood at your licensing exam that promises that you will work for an architecture firm whose name is 3 letters long? Am I only gonna know in my 5th year by being pulled into a pitch-black room in the campus catacombs? I've just gotta know, LOL
Because that's how many it takes to make a company...
I am wondering in this picture who is the wife and who is the affair girlfriend.
pro tip, if your campus has catacombs, you can be certain you’ll need to pass some sort of bloodletting ceremony before they let you escape…. I mean, let you graduate.
Good tip
That's where I come in. Step 1) I get into architecture school Step 2) I become an architect Step 3) My alma mater hires me for renovations Step 4) I uproot the entire campus to put a catacomb maze underneath it Step 5) I put an evil spirit in the catacombs to haunt architecture majors and chain them to firms that happen to have 3 letter acronyms Step 6) I put the campus back where it should be Step 7) Profit
We should make the rest of this thread names of firms with more than 3 letters ...
MVRDV
NBBJ
RTKL
WRNS
VMDO
GGLO
SERA
You forgot one WKRP
I'm sure there are lots of others. It wasn't meant to be all-encompassing. Hoping on the wisdom of the crowd to fill it out.
Don’t forget SANAA
SANAA Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates
2 founders..
no worries
2 founders, 5 letters
3 founders in some cases. 3 is an easy number of aconym letters to remember too - rolls off the tongue.
Firm naming took its peak with DBA. It's been a steady nose dive ever since.
How can that owner not see the cock and balls? HOW!?
There is absolutely no way that wasn't intentional.
I'd think so but I know a few people who met the owner of the firm a decade ago. Dick didn't seem to be in on the joke. Then again it could all be a Kaufman esk type long joke.
I know that the unwritten rule in graphic design is to hide a CnB wherever you possibly can but to be so blatant with it is wild.
It's very memorable. Ironically, if I got licensed, I could do something along the same line. Of course, it would be intentional while feigning "I don't know what you're talking about".... lol.
“Dick Balks, architect superstar” has a good right to it Rick. Trade mark that shit. I’ll buy a t-shirt.
I'm sure reasons vary, but one of them is that for a successful firm, you need a principal who is good at design, one who is good at sales, and one who is good at managing a business. Sometimes a single person excels at two or all three, but more often people find their niche and team up with others who excel in complimentary areas.
Great insight! The midcentury titans all followed this template.
This is the 3-legged stool approach. However, it’s in my experience it generally involves a principal highly skilled in design/marketing, a principal highly skilled in project delivery, and a principal highly skilled in busines management.
Because otherwise it's awkward when you're the name of the company and you die and people who worked for you keep using your name...
As WG points out above, it often comes down to the dynamic of a winning team. The three-legged stool analogy comes to mind. A leadership group of three allows for a good balance of ideas and leveraging of strengths. With two, you can imagine a scenario where it feels like its 'my idea vs yours'. With three principals, you always have that sense of majority vote that allows comfort in making hard or impactful decisions.
I stay away from the acronym thing whenever possible. Tempting because it looks cool for logos, but Feels cold and forgettable to me.
That's an interesting point. Our firm has been around nearly 40 years. For most of those, we've been known as a three-letter acronym--the two founding members plus the letter A (architects). We recently rebranded and went back to using the full names. Biz cards, drawing titleblocks, letterhead--all of it now carries the full name. As we expanded into regional territories beyond our home town, we realized that the three letter designation felt corporate and lacking in personality--like we could just as easily have been a law firm. To avoid that, we embraced the names--which has brought a renewed sense of identity to the organization.
Funny, I always figured your screen name was a version of an acronym for your business.
Sometimes firms change their names after their founder passes - and it becomes impersonal. I think Polshek became Ennead and Meier became the monosyllabic MeierPartners for a very different reason.
some states (nevada was one) require that the business name includes only partners licensed to practice in that state. this is impractical for national firms where only the principal in charge on specific projects would get licensed in certain states. and especially for firms like SOM where the founding partners are deceased.
my former office rebranded for this reason after taking a project out of state - our founding partner was long deceased.
That's actually really interesting. I would've never thought!
Thank goodness, in Oregon and Washington, firms don't have to be too rigidly fixed to having business names that require only partners licensed in those states. Yes, if you name your firm based on the founders or firm leadership names, you have some rules to follow regarding that but may flexible. If I got licensed or an architect or two joined the business, we'd have to make some arrangements for complying with Oregon laws for Oregon firm registration. Washington, less so but just a little filing paperwork. It would be pretty straight forward but form needs not be jus an 3-4 letters. Sure, in a logo, I might be able to represent my business name with 3 letters but the business itself is operating in the fully spelled-out name.
Because they're all copying OMA and don't have the courage to be more original.
No one would copy anything from OMA. If you're going to copy at least copy something good. ;)
A trend I see (on the outside, as a planner, looking in) is firm naming inspired by late 2000s/early 2010s ultra lounges. Names like:
All lowercase, of course. "inspire" the ultra lounge, or "inspire a+la+p" the firm? Both fit.
Another related trend: names that could be mistaken for Las Vegas nightclubs. Light, Tao, XS, Omnia, Hakkasan, Apex, Zouk, etc.
3 is a magic number.