What Does an Architect Do in Practice?

What does an architect do in practice? It is an article that shows what is an architect. First, the sequence of upgrading the architect position in practice. What the architect does in the various positions he holds. These include junior, mid-career, senior-level, and managerial positions. Identifying the detailed work and activity he does in practice. And finally, his involvement in the site activity work as another path for architects’ work.

What is an architect?

An architect is an individual that received academic knowledge about the design of buildings from an aesthetic, engineering, and scientific dimensions. An individual who possesses experience in building standards, country rules, and work practice procedures.

The architect in practice upgrades gradually to various levels of positions in an architecture firm. Surely, that depends on his talent, ability, and experience at work. Following paragraphs, I will show the detailed work of every level position he gains in practice. That comes from experience in working with multinational firms in the Middle East and specifically in the Emirates. in addition, the experience I share here comes from the work with firms operating from different origins EU, the Middle East, Asia, and the USA.

What does an architect do in practice, the junior-level

A junior-level position that an architect holds immediately after graduation. He gets insights and understanding of how systems work Middle East or the EU. That means the firm’s operations and staff relations, and relations to authorities. Also, how projects get approval and the process the project passes through. The work he does in practice includes small work like draughting elevations, interior flooring works, small landscape drawings, and so on. See Figure 1, an architect doing elevation drawings.

In this level, the junior architect does various activities that include the following. He prepares, based on his academic knowledge, project drawings. Mainly small projects like townhouses and villas. Also, the architect gets experience in project specs and bill of quantities. Surely, taking control of the software used and how it works to serve the firm’s system. At this stage learns simple coordination with draughting people in the firm.

One of the important tasks in a firm is preparing presentation work. He helps other architects if he knows 3D work to prepare perspective drawings. In addition, using Adobe Photoshop to enhance drawings look and 3d works. Here also get to know printing projects, drawings on a plotter according to the firm’s style and country requirements.

What does an architect do in practice, mid-career level

Mid-career level position, he proceeds to know how to translate client requirements to design projects with senior guidance. He starts to do design development of small projects (villa) and prepares all related drawings. Also, doing 3D work using several software programs like CAD, Revit, 3dMax, and others. Surely, he coordinates the design work of small projects with junior architects and draughtsman. See figure 2, presentation work for a project plan.

In this stage, he gets to understand the management of firms, work, and people in practice. besides, he gets involved in the process of preparing drawings for large building projects. Some firms ask the architects of this position to get involved in preparing detailed drawings. These include some of the building’s elements such as windows, doors, cladding, stonework, and roofing details, and so on.

What does an architect do in practice, senior level

Senior-level position, the architect becomes the highest level of architect work and leads the project design work. Certainly, he in this position does the following activities. The first work he does is meeting clients of the ongoing projects. Also, prepare the project design framework and project design report for all stages. He develops designs for large-scale projects like buildings and other types of projects. Coordinates with other disciplines of building design through all stages.

Coordinates specs writing within the drawings with other team members (architects). He at this level becomes highly specialized in managing projects and team members. The senior-level architect prepares project architecture specs and the project bill of quantities. In addition, he reviews all project drawings and documents in all stages before submitting to authorities and clients for approval.

What does an architect do in practice, Managerial level

Managerial-level position architects do not participate in any design work or activity. Firstly, he manages the phases of the architectural design process.  I have written various articles about design management and the design manager’s work, including. The architect prepares a design management plan. In addition to firm operations. Identifies what needs to be managed. The key functions of firm management. Manages client relations within the firm.  

Sets out the firm organizational typology. Defines ways to balance a firm’s capital and ICTS. He manages team conflicts and the firm’s work well-being. Also, duties include performance review of the architect’s team. Identify the various ways to manage multiple projects. He builds the staff skills matrix of architects team. Effective meeting procedures and eliminating wasteful habits. Also, specify what design models to use in the firms.

What does an architect do in practice, the supervision work

The former paragraph relates to what does an architect do in practice in design. The other part of his work relates to the construction of buildings and structures. He supervises the work on the site to the completion phase.

The supervision includes various activities; to get full details of these activities, I have written articles about them. The introduction to site work, the supervision activities. Regulations, standards, and quality also include schedules and meetings. The architect on the site and the consultant. The site project and the projects. The architect’s responsibilities and the contractor and communication. And why do architects do supervision? The final article identifies the procedure of project handover specifically in the Middle East and the Emirates region.