On coordinating services
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
I met today with a client who wants to build a multi-story parking structure in Culver City. A highly successful, highly educated individual, this man wanted to know if he could save time and money by making calls to steel fabricators and structural engineers over the course of the project. I told him that he is welcome to do any and all of these things, of course, but there were some compelling reasons to allow me as his architect to make these calls.
The architect is responsible for coordinating all elements of a project. When it comes to structural engineering, the architect must do more than just review the engineer’s work; he must direct the engineer as to how the structural design should best be approached. In my case (as an architect) I have the expertise to actually perform the structural calculations if required, and I usually create the structural design for the project before turning it over to the engineer to review, adjust and do the calculations. This approach ensures that I get the design that I originally intended, with the most efficiently engineered building possible. All too often when an architect leaves everything up to their engineer, the building comes back “over-engineered” and over-expensive.
The drawing at left is actually part of a second dwelling unit in Venice that we designed, and yes, these are our drawings that we send to the engineer. No confusion possible. In the case of this building — of which 71% of it cantilevers over parking spaces — after the engineering calculations came back, I adjusted the structural design slightly and saved over 2 tons of steel without compromising the project at all.
This is the kind of coordination that we do.
When speaking with a fabricator for a project, for me it is not just a simple phone call. Often I will have a dialogue that leads to a refinement in the project that results in cost-savings and improved project viability. These are the sort of things that are not possible if the client makes the calls on our behalf. It can actually cost the client more money if they do so, by not allowing for the possibility of improving the project’s efficiency. This is what architects do.
