NCARB Competency Standard #6: Create design solutions that address project requirements.
NCARB Competency Standard #6: Create design solutions that address project requirements.
Isn't the point of design to meet project requirements?
This might be the most basic competency of all of them. Your client, or you, have a goal for what you want to achieve for a project. Create a design solution that meets that goal. However, within the seeming simplicity of this competency lies the real challenge.
#6: Create design solutions that address project requirements.
At the point of initial licensure, architects with this competency can …
• Apply design principles, applicable codes and regulations, and knowledge of materials, systems, and constructability to achieve programmatic requirements and goals for the site and building.
• Evaluate design for conformance with a project’s program, including the client’s objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Analyze cost estimates for conformance with proposed design solution and project budget in order to advise clients about alternatives for managing initial and long-term project costs.
It's not just about creating design solutions that address project requirements. But what are the project requirements?
What can you do right now?
Maybe you learned good design principles in school that now you're applying to the real world. How you apply your knowledge of materials systems and constructability is a huge portion of design.
Start by taking a critical look at previous project. Did the selected materials and systems support the design and program goals? Which materials and design elements could be taken away without compromising the programmatic goals?
To evaluate a design for conformance with the project program, including the client's objectives and regulatory requirements, its about taking a step back to really study the design and ask, did it meet what we intended to do, or did we go off on a tangent somewhere?
The third bullet point is perhaps the toughest one. New professionals rarely get opportunities to analyze cost estimates for conformance with proposed design solution and project budget.
How do you advise clients about alternatives for managing initial and long term project costs, I found so many clients have come to me with a much bigger intention than what their wallet had. How do you advise a client in that circumstance and with prices going up for construction and labor astronomically?
Talk to your senior architects, your mentors, your firm principals, to learn more about the relationship between design and cost.
This is a valuable skill that all architects should have, but NCARB believes that this is a competency that you should have at initial licensure.
Be intentional with the experiences you get as a new architecture professional to help you better understand the relationships between design, programming, and cost. Ask your supervisor or firm principal if they had a project where the program was much more than the budget allowed. Did they cut back on some of the scope? Did they cut back on some of the quality? How did they adjust the budget to meet the scope, or how did they adjust the scope to meet the budget? ______________________________________________________
I'm David Clarke, Experienced Architect and Founder of Architects' Accelerator. I help architecture firm owners build a greater likelihood of success and profitability by implementing training and mentoring systems that increase quality and staff competency--stronger and more effective teams, so they don't have to waste time searching for qualified candidates to hire. I help new architecture professionals accelerate their path through the NCARB Architectural Experience Program (AXP) and gain the confidence they need to become effective architectural project team leaders in just 6 weeks. Contact me to learn more: [email protected] Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwclarke/ Join Architects' Accelerator to get effective strategies directly to your email inbox every week: https://architectsaccelerator.com/join Sign up for targeted training to advance your knowledge and skills to take the lead on projects: https://architectsaccelerator.com/courses
