3 Things They Don't Teach in Architecture School

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As a student, with a brand-new architectural degree, it is an exciting moment when you begin your journey through the work world. However, as some of you may know, not everything in an architecture school of design prepares you for what is to come in the real world.
Here are some examples of tasks I didn't know I would have to learn to do at an architectural firm:

1. As-built drawings

For any remodel it is important to know what the site is actually like. Construction drawings, even if they are available, are not always accurate as many additions may have happened. This means that it is necessary to measure and draw out every door, wall and detail of the space or the building. In my first weeks on the job, I quickly had to learn how to accurately measure out a site with a tape measuring tool, and then create a drawing from the measurements, definitely something I didn’t learn in grad school. This is a drawing I created and it shows how crazy an old building can be:

2. Architecture is not just design

When making drawings of an existing building, even before any design for the renovations begin, I didn't know I had to consider a demolition plan, an as-built plan and making sure the building is up to code.

3. Knowing the code is everything.

Figuring out how codes impact the project is important to know before any decisions get made. This might involve searching in three or more different places to figure out a code. Whether it's a zoning code or a clearance requirement. For example, how many parking spaces does a school need with certain occupancy? Another one might be what clearances does an ADA accessible bathroom require?

There is much more, but I've come to realize that I have already learned so much right from the beginning of my first professional job that I was never taught in school.

1.28.16

 Marilyn C

(Im)patience and the (im)perfect project

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One of the best moments for both client and architect is right after signing the contract and meeting for the first time to look at the initial designs for a project.

Hopes and dreams are starting their journey to reality. It’s incandescent. And phase one, design development, has begun.

At our studio, design development is the process of getting client feedback on a design presentation, incorporating that into the drawings and models, adding ideas or details and then presenting the result in the next meeting. It’s an iterative process. Over time (weeks or months, depending on the scale of the project, the detail and the decisiveness of the client) the project becomes clearer and clearer. Eventually, there is something that is concrete enough it can move into the construction drawing phase and go out to bid.

My next favorite moment is the beginning of the third phase when actual construction begins. Now those first hopes and dreams are turning into something you can touch. Another moment when a champagne toast would be in keeping with the festive air.

What very few clients realize—and even fewer architects articulate—is that construction also brings with it some hard truths and difficult decisions. It’s very easy to get impatient over the amount of time a project is taking because, after all, contractors are the ultimate optimists and perhaps not the best judge of realistic construction timelines. It is also easy to become discouraged as mistakes are made or problems arise and that initial perfect dream of a project vanishes under the burden of shipping hold-ups, sub-contractor drama and other dilemmas and delays.

Welcome to the imperfect project.
It’s real now.

Just like life, or marriage or parenthood. Nothing is perfect—but that can be a difficult dream to relinquish at the best of times.

We do try to raise this idea of the inevitability of the imperfect project before construction begins so that, as tempers rise and patience wears thin, we can remind our clients that this, too, is part of the process.

Perhaps it is luck, or perhaps it is inevitable, but we do find that once the project is finished, after a few months or a year has passed, what is left is the joy and satisfaction of having persevered and stuck it out to see the dream come to reality. Client or architect, that accomplishment is no small feat.
So let’s raise a glass to the (im)perfect project and the (im)patience that will get us there.

12.2.15

Catherine Holliss

Making the Cut: 3 Tips for Turning an Internship into a Job

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I came into Sander Architects the summer of 2009 after my fourth year of Architecture school in San Luis Obispo. I built models in the office all summer and up at school for a few months as well. I was called back in to do some part-time modeling around March, 2011, and I’ve stayed on as a draftsperson and project manager ever since. Here are my tips for turning my internship into a full time gig.

1. Be Good

When you come into an office for an internship, you will probably not be doing the most glamorous work, but whatever task comes your way, make sure you knock it out of the park. In my case, I was building models. It’s certainly not everyone’s favorite, but I think it’s kind of fun to see how drawings come to life three dimensionally. I worked my butt off building a myriad of models, and I did a great job. (I built hundreds of tiny seats for the concert hall, just to give you an idea.) My work early on got me called back into the office later. If you show your ability to excel at one thing, it gives people a reason to believe you’ll be great in other areas, as well.

2. Stay In Touch

Even though my internship ended around November, I was always sure to keep in touch. I would come back into the office every time I came home from school. After graduation, I hoped I would have a job waiting for me, but there wasn’t a spot for me in the office. I still maintained contact with Whitney and Cath, checking in every few months, enough to stay on their radar without bugging the hell out of them. When they needed some models built, I was the guy. Then, a spot in the office opened up and I transitioned into full time. It was about 18 months between the end of my first internship and the beginning of my full time job, and if I hadn’t kept myself in the loop at that time, I might not be where I am today.

3. Be Ready

Before I came back into the office I was working part time coaching volleyball and doing odd jobs. I kept my design skills sharp, working on T-shirts and keeping up to date with architecture blogs and competitions. I also learned the office’s drafting software, so I was able to assimilate easily when a job was available.

Adam Licht,

Associate

Sander Architects, LLC

Hybrid Construction: Confessions of an iMac Luddite

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I have a challenge to make. It's time for prefabricated architecture to live up to its potential. The prefabricated building should be measured by three completely reasonable yardsticks:
- Economical cost to build and use
- Sustainably created 
- Superior design/aesthetic quality

Prefab designers and companies should be able to achieve results that satisfy these three requirements at once. Especially given that the designers have, in theory, forever to improve their models. Yet it's arguable that no prefabricated product now available has yet been able to satisfy all three criteria in the same structure. Sadly, most achieve excellence in only one criterion. 

 

- Prefab residences are at or (well) above standard construction costs in every section of the country.

- Factories are not centrally located, for the most part, and require long distances of travel to most construction sites. And the steel required by shipping stresses is often far greater than the house alone would require.

- Aesthetically many prefab residential models are sufficient but hardly superior designs.
Into this unsettled landscape over the last ten years, Sander Architects has introduced our Hybrid Construction process. This process, we believe, achieves excellence in all three criteria above. To wit:

- Our houses regularly cost under $200/SF. One, in rural Oregon, came in at $130/Sf.

- The shells of these houses are created by light-gauge metal building fabricators using recycled steel. SInce this technology is over a hundred years old, fabricators can be found near any likely building site across the country and in most of the developed world.

 

- Our buildings have won the Dedalo MInosse International Prize for Architecture three times, various AIA awards, and the Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Prize. They have also been extensively published in over thirty design-based books. 
In essence, we have solved the new technology riddle by leveraging the efficiencies of one of the oldest and most mature industries in the world. This circumvents the achilles heel of most prefabricated endeavors: startup and tooling costs. These companies are ready to provide buildings of any size or orientation, provided one knows and understands the nature of these elegant, simple structures. We may draw beautiful structures with our iMACs, but we fully embrace the century-old technology of the prefabricated, light-gauge metal building. Why mess with a good thing?