Why do I even need an architect? Isn’t hiring an architect just an unnecessary additional cost to my project?
These are just a couple of the most common questions.
The reality is that most people don't fully understand what architects do and the value we provide to our clients and their projects.
We are so much more than people who create blueprints and renderings.
To address some of the common misconceptions about architects, I’m creating a new series of blogs, where I’ll summarize how my 50+ years in the architecture profession will bring value and expertise to every project.
My career began as a draftsperson once I graduated from high school. I worked for two years prior to entering architecture school. My parents could not afford to send me to college. Hard work and dedication saw me through school while gaining valuable experience.
That experience was the beginning of understanding how and what an architect does, as an advocate for their client, adds value and ensures an elevated level of a successful project.
I began working for small firms that had excellent reputations in executing well-designed, technically competent buildings for a variety of building types. During college, I went to work for one of the largest architecture practices in the country.
The firm was not only an architecture firm, but practiced in urban design, landscape architecture, interior design and even built some of the projects they designed.
Gaining this wide variety of experience, before graduating from college, paved the path for my future as a business owner and architect. I rose to leadership positions in two of the nation’s largest firms because clients recognized that I was there for them in an utterly professional manner.
Over the next twenty plus years I worked for a variety of firms, primarily large corporate practices, whose primary aim was to create architecture that served its client’s needs.
There was always a principal-in-charge whose key role on the project was to ensure that the client’s needs were met and/or exceeded. This is where value is added—by exceeding the goals of the client’s project.
In founding my own firm in 1998, I set out to take the experiences I gained at these firms and put it to use in serving my clients. I decided early on that the goal is the client’s vision— and we add design excellence and our ability and knowledge to solving their design problem.
Integrating effective project management and technical capability delivered projects on time and at or under budget, adding value to the client’s need. I listen to what the client wants and try to understand how the user experience will drive the design of the project.
My firm has an interest in innovation and technology. This may be unusual for a small firm, but I believe integrating new forms of project delivery can only enhance the value we add to projects. The use of current software, including the initial stages of artificial intelligence (AI), leads to better efficiency in delivering our projects.
As an experienced lecturer, I have created advanced building code courses that train other architects on how to eliminate the pitfalls that affect many projects. Building permits often stunt the progress of projects to move forward quickly. The experience I bring to a project in dealing with code compliance adds value by ending what we call the
“volleyball effect” of project submission, review, revision, re-submittal, rinse, and repeat.
In the next weeks I will be creating blogs that describe how my firm adds value to a client’s project. I will explore mitigating risk, the value of design excellence (not necessarily a matter of
taste), energy efficiency and effective project management. I hope you will find the blogs useful to you. AND, if there is an opportunity to collaborate with you on your future project, I would ask you to give me a call and freely discuss what you have in mind.
About the author: Greg Burke, FAIA, NCARB is a St. Augustine, Florida based architect with more than 40 years as a licensed architect and the President of Gregory John Burke ARCHITECT, PA. He is licensed to practice in eight states. His career has touched on project types from porch additions to high rise towers. He is also a member of the Florida Board of Architecture and Interior Design