Architectual warning

[silverhammer]

Hey this is how it works in Oregon

If you are not a licenced architect you can not say architectual anything
a good friend of mine who is a educated licenced designer ran an ad saying architectual drawings
all of her other stuff, web site etc said architectual drawings

the "architect union ? society? one nasty person in particular" came after her like pit bulls on speed

she had to go to court, she lost in mediation, change all of her ads
change her phone numbers ( stating that her ad would mislead peole to belive she was an architect and take work form licenced architects.

she never ever put her self out as an architect
she told everyone she was a desinger doing architectual drawings

I only bring this up because many of us advertise
some of us are now advertising nationaly with web sites
ive seen many say architectual drawings
many of you I consider "friends"
dont want to see you step on toes or spend the money she did over one word

dont know how your state works
check your laws befor eyou end up in court

If you are a licenced architect and you agree with this , I am sorry if I am steping on your toes. I do not mean to offend
just rying to protect your "earned title" and other cheiftalkers

[mthd]

The English stole the word from the Greeks, so who gave them th e legal right to use the Greek word. Think of your own word in English for Architect maybe "Construction Planing Administrator" or something like that. The only People who should have the title "Architect "are Greeks who are "Chief BuildingTechnicians" as the Greek word seems to indicate. We who are residential house designers are not Architects in the true sense of the word unless we supervise the consruction of the house from begining to end of the project being paid a fee or pecentage for supervising the contruction of the job. Then you would be called a residential Architect. And as I was thinking last night if we were to be called Residential Architectural Technicians for preparing the initial documentation and we formed a society we would be all called RATs. Instead of the self gloryfying term "Architect" that people use who are lacking in self esteem so they try to defend and illegaly establish a Greek word for themselves, How Moronic.

Hope you found this funny ?

[George Russas]

I guess when the builder requests "Architectural drawaings" I will have to tell him that I can only supply "Designerables".

Some people have nothing to do but bother others.

George

[jwrjr]

My opinion has always been that "architectural drawings" were a type of drawing; not unique to architects. I agree one shouldn't misrepresent themselves or otherwise imply that they are an architect if they are not. But it borders on the ridiculous that we designers cannot refer to the "type" of drawings we do. I mean they are not "artistic" drawings, they are in fact architectural type drawings.

Take it lightly. Its just an opinion about the play on words and the pretentious society we live in.

[cgirerd]

Here are some terms that people use in our area that don't include the word "architectural." The drawings are usually called "Construction Documents" by both architects and other types of designers or drafters, or sometimes more casually as "Working Drawings". Sometimes "Design Documents" if you wanted to focus more on the design than on the construction part...

Too bad for your friend, Silverhammer. Like a lot of people, she probably just wasn't aware of all the laws about the term "architect" and "architectural" but it's that way in all the states that I know of. Similar to the kind of laws that say you can't just call yourself a doctor or lawyer...

I am a licensed architect, by the way. Just as an aside, for those of you who may not know what we go through to be called "Architect"... Architects usually have a 5 year Bachelor of Architecture degree, then they "apprentice" for 3 or more years, at which point they are eligible to take a tough series of over 40 hours of exams. And in a lot of states, more all the time now, architects are required to take continuing education courses of so many hours per year to keep up to date on architectural practices.

Christina

[mcqueenhomes]

I'm OK with "residential designer" and "construction documents" in fact, I think they have a specific connotation that enhances our image as "non-architects". Astoundlingly few houses are designed by architects. Most architects design schoolhouses, churchhouses, offices, and factories.

But how does this apply to someone who does "architectural rendering" which would often preclude even being the designer of the building, as a person who services architects?

If they prosecuted that, the architects would then be eating their own vendors! That's gotta be great for business! (NOT!) A public relations masterpiece! (NOT!)

[silverhammer]

so how does Chief architect get away with using the word architect
and hey
im native american
what about the word "chief"

[Tommy Blair]

This is actually a very good question. Are we not to disclose that we are using "Chief Architect" in out websites because of the use of the word Architect?

Tommy

[mthd]

Well done Silverhammer as Native American you could take over the word "Chief".

And Geogre as I am of Greek decent living in Australia this topic was debated here in court and i beleive they eventualy found nothing wrong with calling us "Architectural Technicians" or "Building Designers" but they do kcik up if we are as described as architects as a pink pages advertiser for phone numbers decided to put name under Architects for a bonus without me knowing and yes a local Architect called me, and I had to explain that the pink pages did it without my permission. We can advertise as "Architectural Drafting" here in Australia and they cant touch us maybe you could look into this verdict to check it it might be of help to you over there.

Regards Manuel.

[ALDrafting]

Speaking of architect and the whole issue. I read an interesting articile in this months issue of Residential Architect
Just thought it might interest some of you since we are on this subject. Frankly I feel a little left out, like the "residential designer" or "architectural designer" can't do it, because we are not "architects". No offensence to the "architects" out there. I had a 30 year registered architect that I work with for 3 yrs, tell me one day. "Its not what you are called, or what you have hanging n the wall, its what you know, and the knowledge you have to make the job complete."

Any way -- check out the articile

http://www.residentialarchitect.com/...1',00.html

David

[pole creations]

6 entries found for ARCHITECTURE.
ar·chi·tec·ture https://secure.reference.com/premium...3DARCHITECTURE( P ) Pronunciation Key (ärk-tkchr)
n.
1. The art and science of designing and erecting buildings.
2. Buildings and other large structures: the low, brick-and-adobe architecture of the Southwest.
3. A style and method of design and construction: Byzantine architecture.
4. Orderly arrangement of parts; structure: the architecture of the federal bureaucracy; the architecture of a novel.
5. Computer Science. The overall design or structure of a computer system, including the hardware and the software required to run it, especially the internal structure of the microprocessor.



Architecture seems like a pretty broad field to me ----lets not get too precious

cheers zac

[jwrjr]

That was my point, exactly. I'm not knocking architects or the schooling they go through. And as someone said above, "you cant call yourself a doctor or lawyer" or what have you without being one. Very true. But I dont think anyone here was trying to pass themselves off as an architect.

I guess you'd better not EVER do CPR on anyone or you'd be passing yourself off as doctor. Come on people. Architects need to lighten up a little. No offense to the architects but it does get a bit obsurd sometimes.

As a side note to this discussion, architects are major overkill on the average house, anyway. As a builder, I see people every week who foolishly spend thousands of dollars on an architect for a 1200 square foot box of a house. What "architecture" is needed???????? A monkey could build it. And on top of that, there are more "Architects" around here that don't seem to know their A** from a hole in the ground. We get plans from "Architects" all the time that don't work, they have faulty info, the plans simply don't work in reality, etc., etc., etc. I have 3 sets on my desk right now that are incorrect. NO possible way the roof will work in reality. And another plan used recently has the valley rafter cutting right through the stairway. About 4 treads up the stairs the valley rafter hits you right in the chest. And yes I'm sure. We built the house and had to add a small dormer to get up the stairs.

Again, no offense meant to the architects here. There is most definitely a need for your services and I respect your advanced schooling. But my experience, in the last 10-12 years of building, has shown that us designers are more than capable of addressing a standard home without stepping on your toes. And in reality, many architects aren't any more reliable than a witch doctor.

I appreciate you architects out there and really do respect your services. But sometimes there are a few who are way too arrogant and when you show them that their design doesnt work, they ignore the **** out of you because they know it and don't want to admit their almighty work was faulty.

Just some very bad experiences with so called "architects" talking.

[Tim Schrock]

So we say we can do just as good as the licensed architect. Do we want the resposiblity (that's spelled "liability" in a lawyer's book)? In most states a "Residential Designer" can design fairly decent sized homes without being licensed. Are we wanting to go beyond that? Has anyone looked into AIBD? www.aibd.org

I for one am fairly pleased that the state will stay out of my affairs for now! Besides, we're Professional Designers, aren't we?

[mthd]

ARCHITECTURE

The art or science of building. The Bible shows a diversification of dwelling places and living habits early in human history, during the 1,656 years prior to the Flood of Noah’s day. Cain, after the murder of Abel, is spoken of as ‘taking up residence’ in a certain area, and there “he engaged in building a city.” (Ge 4:16,_17) Yet, one of his descendants, Jabal, became “the founder of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.” Another became a “forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron.” (Ge 4:20,_22) The descendants of Cain perished at least by the time of the Flood; however, constructive ability and the use of tools did not perish with them.

The outstanding building work of that pre-Flood period was done by descendants of Seth: the ark constructed by Noah and his sons. While the basic plans and dimensions were provided by God, some architectural ability must doubtless be attributed to Noah as the human director of works. The ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (133.5 m × 22.3 m × 13.4 m; 437 ft 6 in. × 72 ft 11 in. × 43 ft 9 in.). It could have had about 0.9 ha (2.2 acres) of floor space. The three floors plus the wide roof span probably required, in addition to the ‘compartment’ divisions, the use of some wooden columns and beams to support the weight, as well as to give the structure necessary stability. Although the ark was caulked with tar, there would also be need for careful fitting of the timbers to ensure a reasonably watertight construction.—Ge 6:13-16; see

[JEFFH]

I’ve been in the truss “engineering” profession fulltime since 1980. Being a truss “engineer” for truss manufacturers for over 20 years, I can tell you that I’ve seen them all! Good plans as well as bad ones. I’ve probably designed trussed roof systems for over 5,000 residential and commercial projects in 24 years. The term “engineer” is also not a legal expression in my state or yours, but I can tell you, if you call up your local truss supplier and ask for their engineering department, you’ll be talking to an unlicensed “truss designer” who works in their “engineering department”. I can also tell you that 99% of all truss plants do not have a licensed engineer on payroll!

It’s been my experience that 80% or more of the plans I have designed roofs for, drawn by “anyone”, were problematic. It blows me away to think that a licensed architect does not know how to design a roof and the mathematics involved.

Recently, I was contracted to design the trusses for a roof system for a church. I found out that a “licensed architect” had not calculated “anything”! The cost in delays for the church has been enormous. What really blows me away is that I found out that the “licensed architect” charged the church $40,000 for basically junk! I was only paid $1,500 to clean it up! Is this fair?

Not only do I design homes, I fix plans that have been drawn by licensed architects. In fact, I have more plans in my office to be fixed than I do my own “architectural” work.

Fortunately, there is an organization out there that recognizes “us”, the American Institute of Building Design, (AIBD). The way the law reads in my state, and more than likely your state too, we are not allowed to call ourselves “architects” or “engineers”. The main reason I joined AIBD was to have some type of recognition in the “architectural community” as a design professional. Not to mention that AIBD is working extremely hard to change legislature in all 50 states to have Certified Professional Building Designer’s (CPBD) stamp drawings that will be recognized by the local building departments. In fact, in July of this year, there is a national conference of AIBD in Washington DC who will meet with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) board members to discuss this exact issue.

By the way, this entire topic is why I created the new Web site, Residential Design Resources!

I highly recommend that you and even our licensed architect and engineer friends support AIBD.

Check them out at www.aibd.org