N U J U M A
I B R A H I M
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE M A N U A L
IBRAHIM, NUJUMA
CONTENTS
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TYPICAL PROJECT SCHEDULE DIAGRAM design phases concept development schematic design design development bid construction documents construction administration
13 CODE OF CONDUCT critical essay
19
LECTURES
34
INTERVIEWS
introduction contracts technicality owning a practice glass mas studio city design
emi day raquel morales and sue kim jill kurth and eric zachrison beyond design michael prince rodrigo buelvas
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PROJECT SCHEDULE
TYPICAL PROJECT SCHEDULE DIAGRAM
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1 2 3 4 5 6
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Concept Schematic Design Design Development Bid Construction Documents Construction Administration
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Concept Development Meet with client Develop the program Site analysis Feasibility Studies
‘This Best Practice introduces first-time clients to the common services of architectural design and the process of design-bid-build.’
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PROJECT SCHEDULE
Schematic Design
Develop projects goals Finalize program Main scheme Spacial Relations Cost estimates
‘This phase produces a final schematic design, to which the owner agrees after consultation and discussions with the architect.’ Deliverables: Site plan, floor plan(s), sections, an elevation, and other illustrative materials; computer images, renderings, or models.
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Design Development
Finalized schematic design Sub-consultants introduced Lays out building systems Material Selections Documents issued for bid
This phase lays out mechanical, electrical, plumbing, structural, and architectural details. The DD phase often ends with a formal presentation to, and approval by, the owner.
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PROJECT SCHEDULE
Bid
Bids submitted Selection made
The bid document set often includes an advertisement for bids, instructions to bidders, the bid form, bid documents, the owner-contractor agreement, labor and material payment bond, and any other sections necessary for successful price bids.
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Construction Documents
Produce detailed drawings Final estimate of project costs CD submitted for permitting Quality control
The construction document phase produces a set of drawings that include all information required for the contractor to price and build the project.
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PROJECT SCHEDULE
Construction administration
Process shop drawings On site observation Submit recorded documents Punching
CA services begin with the initial contract for construction and terminate when the final certificate of payment is issued.
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CODES OF CONDUCT critical essay
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JOHN SYVERTSEN SENIOR PRINCIPAL, CANNON DESIGN
As a practitioner with great experience and achievement John presents himself with such an authentic manner. He was always polite and always made enough time to have even a short conversation on his busiest days. The few short encounters I had with him revealed such modesty and a sense of great work ethic. I became curious as to what his values and attitude towards the profession were.
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CODES OF CONDUCT
Cannon II | Obligation to the Public Members should embrace the spirit and letter of the law governing their professional affairs and should promote and serve the public interest in their personal and professional activities. E.S 2.2 Public Interest Services: Members should render public interest professional services, including pro bono services, and encourages their employees to render such services. Pro bono services are those rendered without expecting compensation, including those rendered for those indigent persons, after disasters, or in other emergencies. Cannon VI | Obligation to the Environment Member should promote sustainable design and development principles in their professional activities. As a practicing architect John shares his concern with the codes of conducts. The codes of ethics and professional conducts are written to monitor against violation rather than to inspire positivity in your actions. They should not prescribe how to practice by setting limits but aspirations. Obligation to the Public is an important moral and it is one that he focused on a lot with his open hand studio. Re reading the codes it is apparent that John had an issue with the phrasing of the statements. He agrees that one should do pro bono work and should also encourage it. He believes the term indigenous, used in E.S 2.2, is an unfortunate term. It shies away from the real point that there is a social injustice issue that would include and embrace a much larger population than those that are considered indigenous. As professionals, we need to provide a service to people that need them, would benefit from them and would not have access to those services without us.
‘Pro bono doesn’t mean for free it means for good and why wouldn’t we have all of our work be for good?’
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The statement suggests that it is good work to do but it peripheries it. It does not say public interest is something that is integral to our work. ‘I find the way that this is phrased unfortunate. It kind of misses the point.’ We as designers have a responsibility to address issues of injustice. It is most likely that the statement was written when pro bono was still controversial. It is difficult to separate the environmental responsibility from the work. It has been integrated into our teaching systems and practice. According to John I find this distinction difficult to make because as a student I am fairly new to the profession. As recent as five years ago sustainable practice was not integral to the service we provide. It was very separated from the main stream of practice. It resulted in doing things that we never did before which is a cost that did not exist and there for it was seen as added cost. It is only a matter of time before that concern diminishes. ‘Energy models four years ago no one was going to pay for but you can’t model without it today.’ Similar to the public interest section when these things were written they were on the periphery of practice. Even though today environmental obligations are a given John feels strongly about the statement being a part of the codes of ethics and professional conduct. ‘A lot of codes of ethics go without saying now so it could be somewhere down the road that they go away because they become so integral.’ However, obligation to the environment, one that will remain for an extended period of time because even though we may be making progress we are not keeping up with the problem. ‘We are losing badly.’ As of now we do not have the capability to reverse the damage so all the focus has shifted to resilience. It is not how we stop it; it is how we cope with it. Many organizations use public and environmental interest work to attract positive attention; it is good for their business. They forget the real reason we have a responsibility to both. Which raises the question as designers why do we not have a Hippocratic Oath? Emerging professionals like me should initiate a movement to have a Hippocratic Oath for designers.
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CODES OF CONDUCT
What are some real world examples of violation of ethics? I don’t think I can name real world examples. ‘There are categories of examples that are centered around those driven by selfish purposes, including cutting corners to save dollars, doing less; incomplete work. When the quality of the work delivered to the client is compromised over the quality of work delivered to the public and its impact on the city is violated. Those are things that happen in the real world and the court of law spends time mitigating those kinds of examples. Ethical violation has to be tied to intention and not mistake. If you screw up on a design for the building and it collapses that is not necessarily a violation of ethics, ‘I could just be dumb.’ An unethical act occurs when one is being lazy and is under designing.
. ‘When you make a decision you think can endanger somebody.’ When a violation has occurred John strongly suggests that it be handled directly, ‘You have an ethical responsibility to handle an unethical situation.’ John left me with a great example of how one dealt with an ethical problem: A graduate student was working on an analysis of the structural system for a renowned building designed by a well-known structural engineer. In the course of the analysis the student found a structural weakness in the bracing. This was about the same time that a hurricane was expected to hit New York and remarkably the analysis was about potential impact of high winds on the building. The engineer was informed and he had a horrible experience when he realized that the student might be right therefore contemplated suicide. Instead he called and explained to the owner the situation. They were able to vacate the building and get everyone out of harm’s way. The moral of the story was that he went face to face with the owner and took responsibility for his work when he could have easily ignored it. Together, the client and the engineer went through a ridiculously expensive experience where they burrowed holes in numerous cores to fix the problem.
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LECTURE NOTES AND RESPONSES introduction contracts technicality owning a practice glass mas studio city design
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INTRODUCTION RANDY GUILLOT CANNON DESIGN
Things to keep in mind as you enter the professional setting:
• Building meaningful relationships through hard work • Communication is key • Seek out mentors with different skills and different talents • Your client is you design partner but assume they don’t understand anything • Don’t expect the outcome, set yourself up for discovery • Promote your strengths • There is always more than one right answer
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LECTURES
RESPONSE
This lecture was a great start to the semester. Randy talked about the process of becoming a professional and shared, what he thought, where some key points to keep in mind. The lecture was an in-depth discussion about design in education versus design in the early profession. The lecture was dense with information aimed to guide us through the semester and the upcoming years. He was quiet frank about the level of frustration involved in this profession.
‘As you practice let your passion for design overcome the frustration and use it as motivation.’ At this point the best thing to do was to listen and absorb. I felt like so much of what people were saying was theoretical and the application of what was being said will slowly reveal itself during the course of the semester. It was important to be attentive and patient.
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CONTRACTS DREW RANIERI SCB
The contract includes work product, fee, schedule, scope of work, risk/liability (what you are doing, what you are not doing) Fee is the total of time and material To estimate the fee you need to know the number of people working in each phase and the number of hours they contribute relative to the phase of the project. No less than 2 times the hourly pay of employees BIM has changes the way we work; they are blurring the lines Contracts reduce risk The logic of contracts is to outline the benefits and losses for both parties.
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LECTURES
RESPONSE
As a student the business and politics involved in the profession are always ambiguous. This lecture successfully conveyed the importance of contracts to communicate clearly and efficiently the agreement between the client and the designer. The contract is an important tool used to define and clearly communicate, to all parties involved, the terms of the projects. The different disciplines involved work in different languages. A contract will help set the ground rules and minimize miscommunication. Throughout the lecture we discussed the components that make up the contract. One of the things this lecture clarified for me was the fee. To get the fee for a project you must know who will be working in each phase of the project and the number of hours they will be putting in. For example: As a principal of a firm you will be working on numerous projects simultaneously. Therefore you get paid 6 times the number of projects you are working on multiplied by your hourly wage.
‘Keep the project at a distant and keep in mind it is not yours. That way you will be able to keep their best interest at heart.’ PROPRACTICE MANUAL | 23
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TECHNICALITY GEOFF WALTERS CANNON DESIGN
3 areas of focus: design, technical, management/businesses Collaboration and integration is bringing practical concerns of the design together. As the world become a more complex place it requires an increase in knowledge and amount of process put into the design Even though you have consultants as a designer you must have a foundational understanding in all areas to generate the collaboration with the different consultants Architecture 2030 – building performance of ‘NET ZERO’ Buildings consume 40% of the United States energy consumption. Sustainable design has a profound impact on the industry and is transforming the profession Core trends – energy and material Emerging trends – design in health resilience to climate change Technicality cannot be an afterthought, It should be integrated into the design process. Buildings now compete at a market place based on performance Building concept takes climate environments into consideration Mechanical engineer predicts the final output of the building
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RESPONSE
Architectural practice can be divided into three focuses: design, technical and management/business. An equal concentration should be maintained on all three sections to have an efficient design process. This lecture mainly discussed the technical sector of the practice. The impact that humans have on the changing climate is undeniable. Buildings are the major source of global demand for energy and materials. They consume 40 percent of the United States energy consumption. As architects and designers we have the capability to change the impact of building on the environment. Architecture 2030 is a challenge asking the architecture and building community lower their energy consumption by 60% today, 70% by 2015 80% but 2020 and so forth until they get to carbon-neutral in 2030. This idea of moving towards net zero is will be in full motion and have a major influence on our practice in the near future. It is important that students and emerging professionals are fully aware of the 2030 as they will need to incorporate it into their work. As we have realized our responsibility to the environment the technical aspect of our designs should not be an after thoughts that is plugged into the developed project rather initiated and integrated from the concept phase of the project.
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OWNING A PRACTICE CHIP VON WEISE VWA
• Project management basics: Client proposal, Job number and project data entered, Set up computer files, Generate project goals and board, Edit/write project checklist • Project manager need to review everything before it is sent out of the office. • Building the client relationship is very important. • Communication between the designer and the client is critical in order for the client to understand the architect’s vision. • The client is paying the bill, Your job is to meet the client’s needs • If a client is upset, as an employee do not take matters into your own hands.
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RESPONSE
As a successful business owner Chip centered his lecture on the factors that govern the success of your firm. He emphasized on the importance of the relationship between the client and the architect and engaging the client in the design process. Ultimately a designer’s main goal is to meet the needs of the clients where s/he personally agrees with it. Therefore developing a dialogue that allows the client to understand the design process means that the client is more likely to be onboard with the designer’s vision. Chip also spoke about the importance of realizing financial and technical limitation that can alter the design. This is the reality of the profession and a designer must learn to adapt in such situations. As the director of as small firm your basic responsibilities are similar that of a Project manager at a larger firm, such as Cannon. Your objectives are mainly geared towards the management side of the practice. In education, you can only have an theoretical understanding on management. I believe it takes practice and experience to learn the how to manage and run your own practice. Currently, I don’t envision running my own practice in the future. I am however eager to learn all the pieces that are involved in the design industry. This can relate back to the Carl’s lecture on in depth understanding and using that as a tool. This lecture gave me a better understanding of architecture service at a small scale. Moving forward I can use this information along with previous and future lessons to pursue a career path that caters to my interests.
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GLASS CARL D’SILVA JAHN
Crown glass • Cylinder glass • Low E glass controls solar heat gain without creating the glare that solar reflective does • Float glass process: batching, melting, finning, and forming. • Float glass type: clear, low iron, tinted • Glass can be strengthened by chemical or physical treatments • Tempered glass is four times the strength of untreated glass • Glass technology advancement: 1934 – heat absorbing glass to minimize heat into the building • 1938 – tempered glass • 1963 – float glass • 1975 – Solar reflective • 1995 – Low E, it has a purplish color • Laminated used for safety due to its high strength • Laminated does not shatter off its place it absorbs al of sound and can be used for overhead glazing • Coating is on the #2 surface • Low E reduces the amount of infrared • Low iron is for pure aesthetics • Glass manufacturer: ‘viracon.com’ categorizes by performance • Façade types: window wall and framed curtain wall • Window wall: infill panels – can be sustainable • Framed curtain wall systems: stick, unit panel, unit and mullion • Manufactured modules
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RESPONSE
The lecture was concentrated on glass as a building material. Carl talked about the production process, its application and assembly methods. The lecture covered the different treatments applied to glass in order to heighten and modify specific physical properties. These treatments included heating, laminating and coating. Carl concluded the study of glass as a building material by showing us a few case studies from Jahn Murphy projects. The depth and detailed understanding Carl has on such a simple material was surprising. Not because it was expected but because it revealed the impact such knowledge can have on your design. I now understand the importance of material development throughout the design process. The production, fabrication and assembly of a material can either enhance or detract from your design. For students, it’s a common tendency for materials to be an afterthought. In previous years I was always astound and curious as to how people were able to come up with such innovative ideas. This lecture has illustrated how thorough understanding of a material can provide you with tools you need to ‘think outside the box’. Personally this lecture has helped me to develop an interest for materials that I felt I lacked as in interior designer. Moving forward, I will make an effort to incorporate materials in my design process as I further my understanding of materials.
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MAS STUDIO IKER GIL MAS STUDIO
•Two types of projects: client finds service and service find client • Mass studio does projects that they think is important and try to find a client for it or publish it in the book • Having mass context has been able to instigate the growth into different aspects of design and more • It’s been a vehicle to channel his curiosity in photography and graphic design • It’s about opening people’s eyes and minds to things they don’t see • Iker works with individuals or series of people that have a good stance in the main aspect of the project • Once in a while you get clients that wants a project that fulfils your curiosity but why wait for that day • MAS Context - Putting together data that are unconnected to shed light on the unseen • People are experts in their field without seeing the relationship with other fields
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RESPONSE
Iker’s talk was an eye opening discussion. The pursuit of his projects are unique. Iker and his team, MAS Studio, seem to pursue projects that are derived from their personal interests. They focus their projects on topics that affect directly or indirectly the urban environment. The studio develops its work with an emphasis in research, built work publications and exhibitions. During the lecture Iker expressed the importance of following topics that were of interest to you. If you don’t pursue them you may end up waiting a very long time to come across a client who shares your interests. To me, this contradicted the notion of designing to meet your clients need. Therefore, it was difficult for me to understand the logistics behind this unique approach. MAS context is a quarterly journal created by MAS Studio. Every issue is a comprehensive view of one topic through the perspective of people from various fields. This journal has instigated the growth with clients, growth into different aspects of design and more. I always questioned why design firms invested so much time and money in projects that either did not win the competition or, in Iker’s case, could potentially not have a client. Discussions with John Syvertsen, Jill and a few others it finally made sense. Taking these risks is a marketing strategy. Similarly, the projects that never find clients find their way into MAS Context where the projects are used to enlighten people and instigate new ideas.
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DESIGN PETER ELLIS CANNON DESIGN
• Designing the merge on virtual and digital learning • Living laboratory – great natural habitat to learn from • Las Vegas – running out of water • University campuses become a 24/7 living work place •Universities should be designed like cities • Campus for the University of Texas can be used for beta testing or as a pilot for the way the city should be designed • Building will be sliced delicately to integrated into the landscape • Using the same material and varying the size unifies and makes beautiful space
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RESPONSE
University of Texas, Brownsville is in the process of determining its future campus needs and location in the aftermath of the decision to end a partnership agreement with Texas South most College. The urban and city design team, lead by Peter Ellis, won the Bid set out by Mayor Tony Martinez to keep U of T downtown. Throughout the lecture Peter discussed the master plan they designed for the U of T, Brownsville. In this project Cannon Design was given the opportunity to redefine the education system for the university. This project extends out a little further than the usual scope of work for urban planner but that was never seen as an obstacle. As city designers the team did not know to approach this matter. They were however confident in their ability to come up with a solution. It was encouraging to see that as designers we have the ability to use design thinking to solve for problems that are not necessarily connected to architecture.
‘It’s about knowing enough to figure it out.’ 60 percent of energy is reduced by using passive design. For instance, they are partnering with the sewage treatment plant in Brownsville to recycle the water. It is important to realize that collaboration between deferent fields and their expertise can help us achieve our goals efficiently. This reminds me of a discussion we had earlier in the
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INTERVIEWS emi day Raquel morales and sue Kim Jill Kurth and Eric Zachrison beyond design Michael prince rodrigo buelvas
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EMI DAY LEVEL 1 ARCHITECT CANNON DESIGN
At a young age she was keen of her environment, the way she acted behave and more importantly her surroundings. He was aware of how spaces can change. She loved that everything around her was editable, changeable. She enrolled in the architecture school in Cornell. Which Emi did not like. It was all focused on what you wanted and focused on how to fulfil your needs and impacts as an architect. She disliked fact that there was emphasis on people. This led her to New Orleans and volunteering for the clean up after hurricane Katrina. This had a big impact on her. She was able to see past the sorry and help people rise from the ashes. ‘A home is a space that is laid in with so much ambition. You can’t separate architecture from the human demolition. So this experience help solidify that architecture can make a change. So this experience help solidify that architecture can make a change. ‘Yea I want to be a doer but I have to learn to be an organizer so I moved to Boston to go to school In order to get back in the industry I volunteered, went to conferences etc to be more academic and purposeful. At a north east Sustainable energy conference they let me go to one panel, I chose high performance school and I was sold! It was random but it clicked, the fact that a school building can change the way people learned. That was the first time I thought about it that clearly’
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‘So I went back to grad school for ergonomics but that focused on the negative of what architects are doing wrong which is depressing. It did not feel like I career to her so she went to Oregon a place the embodied that sense of holistic human qualities of sustainability.’ She didn’t want to take nonsense from Cornell and people that threw money into problems without understanding what it is like to live the life the zero impact lifestyle. To her Oregon was a place that was willing to give up their luxury to figure out how to be self-sufficient. What it is like to share garden responsibilities with your neighbor. Basically, to living the ‘tribal culture where you can’t live separately from everyone else and you’re not competing with everyone else’. It’s important to realize that we all share this world together so why not talk about it and share the responsibility so that ‘we take turns going to the grocery store’. Listening to her talk she had so much energy and passion I was curious if that was lost when working in the industry. Being in Arch 1 she felt her design opinions did not matter. She did however give input at time where it was needed. Also when you working with clients you serve their needs. You don’t push your agenda at all. When you dealing with clients and they ask for specific things. We try to pull out different aspects of what their culture can be. You ask what their aspirations are and help them meet. ‘It’s the passion that go me here and it’s the passion that will fuel me moving forward. The experiences I had were immeasurably valuable to the process of asking people about their aspirations. There are useful in the workplace and my lifestyle.’ For now she is focused on learning and absorbing to help her move forward.
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What are some of your daily tasks? Her involvement with the 3rd teacher group make her work very different. She is not involved with the typical CDs that usual entry level architects would be. This was problematic for her future in becoming an architect as she lacked the hours required in some areas. Emi sent a request to Terri, her project manager to place her on varied tasks of the projects she was assigned to in order to gain experience in other areas. She main worked in the programming phase. When the project moved forward after that she is usually reassigned to a new project to help with programming, again. She does a lot of workshops that help the client figure out a solution to the needs/wants of the client. It’s mainly site analysis and synthesizing information to generate ideas. She usually does drawing to illustrate how the design ideas help resolve the problem a hand. A bit of graphic design and marketing. What do you like most about your job, and what would you change? She loves the size of the firm. The resources are endless. If you don’t know something it’s guaranteed that someone else does. With a firm so big you can’t fail. ‘The only failure is that you didn’t ask’ Wish there were more people in 3rd teacher party or more of the education department was train as third teacher. Since the number of people trained to run these workshops with the clients are limited she find herself traveling and spending most of her time running workshops.
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‘The failure in the education system for design students’ You are usually given the program at school. You sign up for the studio you like and the program you like which is never the case in real life. ‘I didn’t realize the whole element of programming that is involved in a project’ It seems like you expect to see the project all the way through. Students are unaware that as a designer you can be dropped out of a project at any time. Programs are constantly changing and you end up somewhere completely different t where you started. That the nature of a real client. What advice do you have for me? It’s important to be empathetic and humble. To have the interest in helping people to get to where they want to be. ‘Not the whole I’m an architect I am right which seems to be the tradition right now. I think it’s going to change like that because I am like that and everyone I graduated with is now like that.’ Make a website. Put your work online. Tweet. Build your momentum now as a thought leader. And Find your interests, find the specific thing that keeps in up all night. And tweet them. Talk about your ideas find that opposing ideas, talk about them and build that currency now. This how you meet people, its how they find you. Put yourself online and much as you can so that people can tweet about you.
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RAQUEL MORALES INTERIOR DESIGN, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT CANNON DESIGN
SUE KIM
INTERIOR DESIGN, COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT CANNON DESIGN
Small Vs Large Right out of school people always question the size of the firm they should try and work for. Like a lot of things there is no right answer. The size of the firm that suites you the most will depend on what your personal goals are. At a smaller firm, you learn to do a lot of different things. Your scope of work and responsibilities on a project are greater. You may have more than one job title. At a larger firm you are hired to fill a specific gap. Here you are more likely to become and expert at one thing and your tasks become repetitive for each project. Residential Vs Commercial With commercial you are exposed to many things. All projects are tailored to the client therefore with each project you learn something new due to the variety of work and exposure. With residential the learning curve is short. It is difficult to switch from a residential designer to a commercial designer because residential is more of a specialty.
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Scope of work for an interior Designer Ideally all designers will be briefed on the project from day one. However, point of introduction and hours spent on a project depends on project fee, your level of experience and the budget for the project. Typically designers are not brought onto a project until the last minute as a means of saving money. Tasks for an Interior Designer At an entry level most of your tasks will comprise of Construction Documents, documenting projects and presentation prep. As an entry level you have the ability to prove your worth to take on more tasks. Once you have demonstrated your ability to complete other jobs they will start delegating more work. First job Take anything. Do not be picky with your first job. It will teach you valuable lessons but it also teaches you more about yourself as a designer.
Structure of Firm Each firm is organized differently. What one firm considers a senior designer may not translate into the same position at a different firm. The number of levels that exist in the hierarchy depends on the size of the firm. Once you have found your place in the firm your position become almost irrelevant. Your role and title can change according to the scope and size of the project you are assigned to. ‘Do not go to grad school for interior design unless you want to teach’
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JILL KURTH
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT CANNON DESIGN City Design department at Cannon Design Previously worked as a landscape architect for Peter Ellis New Cities BA in Economics and Spanish – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign MLA in Landscape architecture – University of Colorado, Denver
What is your Job title and what roles come with it? Current Project Knowledge Manager Having job titles is a disservice in our profession because it is too constricting. A job title doesn’t really tell you anything about what that person’s role is for that project. Landscape has a broad scale both form the temporal side and the systems side.
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What does your scope of work consist of? - To participate in simultaneous conversations about different aspects of design which include infrastructure, environmental restoration, etc. - Understanding how they influence each other and how they reflect back on the greater aspiration of the client and how that translates to the ground. - The riches in a project success come from dealing with all the complexity and making sure that everyone is on the same page. - Dissemination of information and knowledge. - Client coordination. There is a Rigor involved in the service of making really good design decisions that is just about getting the right people to the table. Who evaluates your performance? There is a review process where the direct principal Peter Ellis reviews the work. Or you ask other principals that you work around to give you feedback. What do you like most about your job? ‘I like being an advocate, and enjoy being a designer. So the fact that I can do both.’ Exposure to India when working on a design for a city, made her think about how the formal qualities of design is less important. And that ultimately at the end of the day she is a design facilitator and an advocate at the same time What are some things that you would change? It a difficult profession in the sense that calibrating the transition between projects is difficult.” It may not necessarily be my job but the difficulty of the nature of the profession.” There is a lot of stress involved in terms of making sure there is a steady seam of projects. You apply to so many projects and you have to put your best foot forward all the time. They are multi-month, multi- thousands of dollars of pursuits and you have to quickly move onto the next one. ‘The best design thinking is an out of the box solution to a problem’
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What is rewarding and difficult about your job? The client’s excitement and belief in the design team to take them into an unforeseen future. ‘It’s not about building, it’s about solutions. My role is to facilitate and bring in expertise to help the client to accomplish their goal’. Having the confidence to say we don’t know but we can find the solution to your problem if you work with us. How much of your time is spent designing? Design like drawing physical solutions: over the last few years significantly dropped down to very little. Design like orchestrating solutions: Most of her time is spent orchestrating solutions. ‘Belief that the integration of policies that affect the physical decisions always bothered me that by the time the designers get there to design so many decision have been made that govern that design. Especially with public lands and urban revitalization projects they can be really political and really drawn out.’ ‘Careers are made of many different projects and nothing is guaranteed. Make the best of what you’re working with at the time. ‘ Not being able to participate in the physical construction of the projects. Not being able to see your project through to the end.
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ERIC ZACHRISON VICE PRESIDENT CANNON DESIGN
Why is the building component so key? ‘Easy, it’s a math problem’ SOM always has a key building in their master plans It’s all about the buildings. Urban planning doesn’t earn a lot of revenue in comparison. Fees for urban planning projects for 2 dozen blocks can be upwards of a million dollars but designing a building all the way through CDs can easily be 5 – 10 times that. Architecture is getting more commoditized. More and more firms are doing the same kind of work. Only 1% of buildings are actually designed. The rest are built by engineers based on past and existing buildings. 1. joint interview with jill kurth PROPRACTICE MANUAL | 46
Do clients see the importance on urban planning? Will Fees increase as they recognize the importance? Some of them. There is no way to quantify the value of what we do. It’s difficult because you can point out to heavily master planned areas that did not turn out as well as areas with no master plan. So it’s not about the fees increasing but the quantity increasing as competitors start competing with one another. It’s not about adding buildings to every project. Different way of approaching projects Depth and breadth of expertise Organizations that want to innovate and come up with new ways of operating and working – no easy task What advice do you have for me? It is good to set high standards for yourself and pursue it, but the most important thing is to be open and to be able to take risks.
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IBRAHIM, NUJUMA
MICHAEL PRINCE PRESIDENT BEYOND DESIGN
Born in Rochester, New York. Graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in Industrial Design. Worked for independent design consulting firms and corporations such as Anderson Design, Sony, Thomson/RCA. President of Beyond Design, Inc.
Beyond Design is a consultant firm that Michael started in 1996. Michael Prince has chosen not to work with his ‘competitors’. This was a bit of a surprise since most design firms are adapting a more collaborative attitude. Beyond Design does not seem to follow any design trends that most other design firms are experiencing. Michael is unacquainted with other disciplinary firms such as SOM and Cannon. This could be due to the simple fact that Beyond Design’s products are not geared towards special quality. As the president, Michael has not been able to design nor does he have the interest. Technology quickly outdated his ability to design. His frustration heightened as he witnessed young designers coming in with better digital and drawing skills.
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Projects Most of there clients are corporations that they have contacted themselves. Projects are fast paced; they can be over in a week or can last as long as a year. Some projects may not be exciting to the designers but are very valuable to the client and end users. For instance, products found in senior care departments. Product Beyond Design does not manufacture their products. They are a consulting firm; therefore, they sell there design to the client. The client will then manufacture the product on their own terms. The work environment of industrial design is very different in comparison to the other disciplines. The atmosphere at most industrial design studios seem very relax and stress free; mainly because the consequences of a failed product are not too serious. Future of Industrial Design An increasing number of industrial design professionals are moving towards the application of design thinking to solve bigger, non-design related issues. Most of the time students spend in the college of architecture and design is to train the brain to think and see things differently. They then have the opportunity to apply this new perception to help generate unique solutions. ‘As long as the client is satisfied with the outcome who did it is irrelevant.’ With this recent movement, to separate designer’s bases on specialization is needless. It is important to keep yourself informed on how other designers think and share so that we can bridge the gap between the disciplines so everyone has a thorough understanding of what other people do. Staying up to date also allows you to learn how to express an idea through various means. For instance an idea can be expressed through fashion, interior, lighting, brand, etc.
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IBRAHIM, NUJUMA
RODRIGO BUELVAS INTERIOR DESIGN SOM
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana B.F.A., Industrial Design 2002 – 2007 Savannah College of Art and Design MA, Interior Design 2008 – 2010
Initially wanted to do architecture but architecture was at a standstill in Columbia. Influenced by his uncle, Rodrigo studied industrial design. The scale of work as an industrial designer was too small for his liking. His interest in architecture resurfaced until he found the happy medium as an interior designer. His thesis focus was on residential layout and its transformation over the years. He came across a residential project that was designed from the inside out. For the particular house the rooms were designed prior to the exterior form.
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The role of interior design Designers are focused on the impact of design on people now more than ever. We have recently realized our ability and responsibility to create better working and living conditions for people. If so, would it not make sense for the interior conditions to have a greater importance than the exterior? Instead of designing spaces as a result of exterior constraints wouldn’t we first design best possible spaces that are then encompassed by a well-designed exterior shell? Like all other design the progression would not be linear. This progression would create a new challenge’ for architects; to design the building shell with the constraints created by the interior spaces. Furthermore, if ultimately the interior spaces are what influence the lives of people the importance of interior design is not yet fully recognized. What can we do? With the continually evolving design industry, how we teach practices should no longer be stagnant. It would be interesting to test the success of this new process where architecture follows interior design. Enlighten people on the importance of interior design and how interior conditions should not be an aftermath of exterior condition. I am excited to work alongside Rodrigo to make a presentation conveying our intake on the role of interior design in the industry. First presentation to be held at Virginia Tech.
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IBRAHIM, NUJUMA
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