Definition

Architect - Master Builder "person skilled in the art of building, one who plans and designs buildings and supervises their construction," https://www.etymonline.com/​

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Architect as a professional title

The title "Architect" is earned within the building industry by individuals who go through a certain amount of training in school and/or under the supervision of a licensed architect. Architects are licensed within one or more jurisdictions (US states) to practice.

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"Do I need an Architect?"

If you are designing and permitting a single family home, the answer is no, though you may want one! If you are doing a commercial project, the answer is yes!

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An Architect's purpose

As the definition(s) suggest, Architects are experts in their craft and professionals within the building industry. The subtext is far more existential. Architects are first environmentalists concerned with the value that an environment maintains for people and life as a whole. Architects are charged with the design of buildings and buildings exist, after all, to harbor life.

 

An Architect's process:

Creating good architecture (architecture that maximizes its life-giving purpose) is a nuanced process that has to keep up with this rapidly changing world. Architects are first visionaries who are able to imagine a place (your project) which does not yet exist. This imagining is carried out via the process of "design" using a variety of visualization tools (originally pencil and paper) to document the process. 

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Design

The design process is broken up unto three general phases, the Conceptual phase, the Design Development phase, and the Construction Documentation phase. During the Conceptual phase, Architects must itemize (and internalize) the many parameters and constraints that influence the project and then translate those into physical shape and space using sketching, physical, and digital modeling tools.  During the Design Development Phase, project parameters and spatial and relationships are further analyzed, translated and synthesized into a model/drawings. During this phase project partners are also brought in as necessary to coordinate systems, i.e., MEP systems, landscape design, sustainability systems, etc. During the Construction Documentation phase, Architects document via specifications lists and to-scale drawing plans exactly what materials and systems are included in the project and what their relationships are to each-other, all consultant design work is incorporated into a "Permit" \ "Construction" set of drawings and documents called the "Construction Documents" that are submitted to the local jurisdiction for "review" and ultimately "permit approval".

 

Construction Contract Administration

After permits are approved it is time for a "general contractor" to contract with the project owner to complete construction of the design. An architect's role during this last phase of the project is to "observe" the process of construction. This is carried out via correspondences with the contractor as work proceeds. The contractor shares with the architect "submittals" for approval of the many products that are incorporated into the building and submits "Requests for Information" (RFIs) when clarification is needed.

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Architecture and energy (Building Science)

Architects are required by the state to maintain a log of continuing education to keep their license to "practice". In an ever complicating world, with climate volatility rising, technology and AI challenging our very understanding of reality, and while buildings account for nearly one third of the energy consumed by humanity (22 quadrillion BTUs annually in the US alone) architects must continually educate themselves, seeking solutions that render our buildings as net positive energy producers and our built environment as a life giving system for all organisms, because biodiversity is essential for resilience, happiness, abundance.

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Network

No one architect can do this alone. Our built environment is vast and disjointed, building science and tech is a complex and ever evolving industry. To keep up with changing technology, to synthesize knowledge, to elevate practice toward an inspiring, sustainable, diverse, life giving architecture of the future, architects need to band together. We need to share our knowledge and collectively work toward this common goal to create a sustainable construction industry that produces high functioning, life harboring places for all. Enter the Archicosm