As architects, one of our main responsibilities is to assist the client in making the best decisions for their project. In most cases this involves narrowing the field of options down from a few thousand to a handful or so of different variations that we supply to the owner. A word of warning here, if you show an owner an option that you absolutely hate, don’t be surprised when that’s the one they love. Typically, I’m not sure that the client really understands how many decisions are made in the course of a project.
Layout, function, materials, aesthetics, technology, security… The list is an ever growing one, a daunting task to be sure. As an architect, this is not only what we have been trained for throughout our education, but what we practice on a daily basis.
The combination of all these choices can have an effect on the success of a project, and the satisfaction of the owner. I had to learn that lesson the hard way, more than once.
I was reminded of of all the decisions we have to make recently when I found myself in a very different situation than what I have been accustomed to. Approximately 6 months ago I made the decision to start researching other job opportunities. Like most people it consisted of researching who was currently hiring, pouring over the various firms websites, projects, and if available the people that work there. At this point in my career, I didn’t want to just go to whatever firm needed a warm body to help get projects out the door. I’ve been fortunate to get to work on a lot of different project types thought my career, something I would like too think has helped me on my journey. After going on various interviews and meeting some truly wonderful people in this industry, I was faced with yet another decision. I had to decide between 4 different offers that all somehow ended up on my plate at the same time. This in itself was almost as stressful as the entire job hunting process. Lucky for me, there were no bad choices for me to decide upon.
In the end I chose to go with a position that potentially offers me the chance to not only work on projects of a type and scale that I have rarely had an opportunity to work on previously, but one that was going to allow me to help form the culture of an office and have a big contribution to the firms evolution into the growing world of new technologies.
I’m looking forward to some new adventures and enjoying the ride.
The Emerging Architect 