On Sunday, February 25th, I went to a lecture by Marc Gee, a principal architect for the NYC firm, Gluck+. This lecture was meant to be the kickoff for the first school hosted career day that I would attend. I was excited for the fair, and upon seeing who the keynote speaker would be the excitement grew. I had decided to attend the lecture because the description intrigued me:
““... GLUCK+, an architecture, construction, and development firm in New York City. The practice is committed to crafting bold and conceptually unique architecture, with most work constructed by the firm’s unique Architect Led Design Build (ALDB) approach. Consistently recognized through national and international design awards and publications, GLUCK+ has been featured in Architectural Record’s “The New Master Builders,” by The Architect’s Newspaper with “Inside Architecture’s One-Stop Shop,” and named by Fast Company in 2014 as one of “The World’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in Architecture,” “for taking control of the entire building process.”””
For years, when people have asked me what I want to do with my degree upon graduation I have answered that I would one day like to run my own, small, architecture design firm. However, I thought I had quite the original twist to this familiar goal of architecture students. I came up with the idea of an all-in-one firm. All design and construction services would be in house- from landscape architecture to interiors and general contractors. I knew that this was availiable at larger firms such as Gensler and SOM but I thought it should be an industry standard for all projects, even those as small as single family residential and small business (which is what I am interested in). I believed that approaching every project holistically, with all parts and processes being considered, led to a higher quality and more dynamic product. These questions and ideas were formulated in my mind from studying some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings at a young age. I still believe this today and am constantly thinking of how to make this a financially viable business model.
Prior to reading the description for this lecture, I had never heard of a firm whose practice was so in line with my own vision, thus my intrigue.
I had never heard of ALDB, but it seemed to be right up my alley. I immediately cancelled the plans I had for that evening and busted out some studio work so that I would have time to attend.
Almost everything Mr. Gee said struck a chord with me, and I took careful notes:
The very first thing that struck me was that this wasn’t quite so much of an original idea on my part. However, once the lecture was over and I got back to my computer I started doing some research.
Just googling the term “architect-led design-build” revealed that Gluck+ was one of very few firms engaging in the practice. In fact, it became clear to me that they had pioneered it. While their design work wasn't my style this aspect of their process was inspiring and I began to wonder why more firms weren’t approaching the design-build process in this way.
Again, reaffirming my ideas about a “one-stop shop”, ALDB seemed to be the perfect solution for clients who oftentimes have to deal with an architect who designs and then hands the project off to a general contractor.
One of the disadvantanges of this traditional method is that the relationship between designers and builders is rather adversarial. Architects often place little stock in the intelligence of builders, and builders don't have high regard for the common sense of architects. With ALDB there seems to be more of a partnership between the two fields, with a greater mutual respect. I believe that this goes a long way to a more well-thought-out concept and better overall product.
This process requires the architect to become a sort of “Master Builder”, a concept I have always thought held great merit. The architect must gain at least a rudimentary understanding of mechanical systems and the work of the other trades that are involved in realizing the designs.
One of the key ways that Gluck+ has implemented this way of thinking is to create “trade sets”- sets of drawings that detail out each process of construction, utilizing computer modeling to facilitate communication between the various teams.
So all of this information begs the question:
““What kind of architect do you want to be?””
Attending this lecture has led me to want to investigate ALDB further- its applications, economics, advantages, and drawbacks- to ultimately discover why more firms aren’t practicing in this seemingly logical way.
I firmly believe that the architecture industry needs to break down the wall between itself and the construction industry. Otherwise, design-build projects are really build-design with the construction companies leading the way and ultimately possibly producing an inferior end result for the client. I believe that architects have the knowledge to design spaces and construction workers have the knowledge to build buildings, and without both working together no project will ever reach its full potential.
In addition to continuing research on this topic (and writing more about it in the future) I have decided that adding a minor in Building Construction (BC) is a necessary step to achieving my future goals. Starting fall of 2018 I will be studying BC in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech and, hopefully, learning more about how to make my designs a reality.