5 Things that Architects can learn from Doctors and Lawyers

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It's no secret that Architecture is generally thought of as a noble profession.  Along with the idea that you get to create buildings out of thin air is also the responsibility of maintaining a professional license.  Many people consider being an Architect as being on par with Doctors and Lawyers when it comes to stature and salary.  Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.  For years Architects have been engaging in deplorable behavior and the profession has suffered.  During the most recent recession, Architecture had one of the highest unemployment rates among all service professions.  In 2011, the New York Times said that Architecture graduates had the highest unemployment rate above any other field.  Doctors and Lawyers weren't even in the top 50.  So what can we learn from these other professions?  Here's a few of my own observations:</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1- Architects need to specialize - If you were drafting a contract to buy a company, you would hire a corporate attorney.  If you were getting a divorce, you would hire a divorce attorney.  It's pretty simple.  Each of these areas of practice have specific skill sets that require attention to details.  Architecture is no different.  Designing a hospital is completely different than designing a fast food restaurant.  Unfortunately, most Architects will take any job that comes their way regardless of their skill set.  This results in more competition (which lowers overall wages) and lower quality buildings.   If Architects focused on a smaller group of practice areas then they could afford to focus on quality and details.  The best Architects of our time are the ones who are really good at a select group of building types. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2- Architects should focus on regional practice - You won't see many doctors travelling from state to state to do surgeries.  It's not to say that they couldn't (they would have to get licensed by the board of each state).  It's mostly because they don't have to.  They charge enough money for their skills to stay within a fixed region.  Many doctors have affiliations with one or two hospitals that allow them to conduct business on their turf.  They don't have affiliations with 40 hospitals or try to make money on volume.  Architects who become known in a certain region or area tend to become a known entity and therefore have a large referral base.  Trying to practice in too many states or regions often results in producing generic buildings that have no sense of place and therefore devalue local real estate.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3- Architects should refer projects to other Architects - At one point or another everyone has gotten a referral from a doctor to go to a specialist.  Imagine if you specialized in designing pool houses and every time another Architect had a pool house in their project, they called you up?  It would never happen in the Architecture profession.  But it happens every day in the legal and medical professions.   Many of the best firms often partner with other firms that specialize or are local to a project instead of trying to do everything themselves.  Instead of cutting our fees to win every job, we could be sharing the work and raising the wages for everyone.  Which leads me to my next issue.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4- Architects should not be lowering their fees to get work - Recently my dentist told me that I needed a crown and it would be $1200.  I called another dentist and they told me it was also $1200.  Having a pricing standard ensures both a quality of care and guarantee of wage.  My dentist drives a new Mercedes while I have a 6 year old pick up truck.  I think they have the right idea.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">5- Architects should be stand their ground with clients - I don't think there is a doctor around that would let a patient operate on themselves.  Most court cases I've seen have the lawyers doing the talking while the client sits by and watches.  Unfortunately in Architecture, many of our clients want to drive.  And of course we let them in the spirit of collaboration.  And while that can be productive in some situations, the bottom line is that you are the licensed professional and it's your name on the line.  At some point Architects need to stand up for themselves and take the reigns back on a project.   If we never do this as a profession, we will continue to end up with developer driven buildings that devalue our communities.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The unfortunate part about all this is that it will take a uniform effort to make the profession better.  It's all or nothing when it comes to reform that works.  This kind of thing would be perfect for the AIA to work on.  After all, if Architects are specializing in certain areas (and referring work they aren't good at) it means they are doing better work.  And if they are doing better work, then the values in communities start to rise.  If the values in communities start to rise it means that people have more assets.  If people have more assets, they can spend more.  If they can spend more then we can charge more for our services.  And if we can charge more for our services then we can take on fewer projects and do better work.  It's a circle that Doctors and Lawyers know well.  So why don't Architects do it?</span>

5 Things that Architects can learn from Doctors and Lawyers

It's no secret that Architecture is generally thought of as a noble profession.  Along with the idea that you get to create buildings ou...

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Our new cover

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our new cover is a photograph by Patrick Reynolds of architect Sir Miles Warren's amazing home and garden, Ohinetahi, on Banks Peninsula. The home was substantially damaged in the September 2010 Canterbury earthquake, but has now been rebuilt in a slightly different form. You can read Finlay Macdonald's in-depth interview with Sir Miles about his home and Christchurch's post-quake future in the magazine, on newsstands Monday June 4. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7aHw4P-16Uu1IZYHKuUVKm7vvaxKlLOmbynsEDgWjYGdbZIxy8cMJM62J8w6_9Quc2pZ6T7emIjLUGq3dc6HmAhxmcY7KXWdi6hlk-UgFLdRMS7XF-lYud4M6aj7nWl_UUhz9-HIBKf5/s1600/HOME+New+Zealand+cover+June+July+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7aHw4P-16Uu1IZYHKuUVKm7vvaxKlLOmbynsEDgWjYGdbZIxy8cMJM62J8w6_9Quc2pZ6T7emIjLUGq3dc6HmAhxmcY7KXWdi6hlk-UgFLdRMS7XF-lYud4M6aj7nWl_UUhz9-HIBKf5/s400/HOME+New+Zealand+cover+June+July+2012.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Other exhilarating, beautiful, drool-worthy content in this issue includes:</span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our 2012 furniture and homeware Design Awards winner and finalists.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Auckland architect Jack McKinney's remarkable villa transformation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A new Queenstown getaway by Pete Ritchie and Bronwen Kerr of Kerr Ritchie Architects.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A major feature on architect Ian Athfield by Julia Gatley, coinciding with the upcoming launch of Julia's new book on Athfield Architects, as well as lavish coverage of Ath's remarkable, crumbling, inspiring Wellington home by Patrick Reynolds.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">New Zealand architect William Tozer's sleek, gritty design for a new apartment in an old London factory building. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> A fantastic encampment-style holiday home on Waiheke Island by Fearon Hay Architects.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Much more, including interviews with Pete Bossley, Tanu Gago, Katie Lockhart, Martin Brown and others...</span></li></ul>

Our new cover

Our new cover is a photograph by Patrick Reynolds of architect Sir Miles Warren's amazing home and garden, Ohinetahi, on Banks Peninsula...

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Our Design Awards winner

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMNc2ZpfB76omrzwUGpo0UwRzpDSCbctEOnX5vsaW8-BlYQF53-kVyMZ1I1OvTBx_fiQ-ecBPetLZDODSsBXFA3F-RrVkQMC0kUIUsBlIPSdLaBHdRosI7joNFyrX-f3ucimKFXMg7bTA/s1600/Faceture+vases+by+Phil+Cuttance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266px" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMNc2ZpfB76omrzwUGpo0UwRzpDSCbctEOnX5vsaW8-BlYQF53-kVyMZ1I1OvTBx_fiQ-ecBPetLZDODSsBXFA3F-RrVkQMC0kUIUsBlIPSdLaBHdRosI7joNFyrX-f3ucimKFXMg7bTA/s400/Faceture+vases+by+Phil+Cuttance.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Congratulations to Phil Cuttance, whose 'Faceture' vases are the winner of our 2012 Design Awards. </span></div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Our awards recognise excellence in New Zealand furniture and homeware design. This year's judge, Christian Rasmussen of Denmark's Fritz Hansen, praised Phil's creations for the way they blur the boundaries between digital and hand-made objects by creating an interplay between craftsmanship and technology. "They feel like something special that I haven't seen before," Christian said when he examined the vases on a recent visit to Auckland. (In the image above, the vases sit on a 'Gallons' table by Holly Beals, one of our 2012 Design Awards finalists. The photograph is by Toaki Okano, styled by Alicia Menzies and Juliette Wanty). </span></div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The vases are made from water-based resin using a polypropylene mould. You can see Phil make them on a machine he created in the short film below. Our congratulations to Phil and the other finalists in our 2012 Design Awards.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/35912908?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can see full coverage of the awards in our June/July issue, on newsstands from Monday June 4. </span></div></div></div>

Our Design Awards winner

Congratulations to Phil Cuttance, whose 'Faceture' vases are the winner of our 2012 Design Awards. Our awards recognise excellence i...

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