PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE 101

Professional practice courses often suffer from a boring reputation, but there’s nothing
dull about this updated, cornerstone edition of Professional Practice 101, which renders
accessible the art and science of contemporary architectural practice. With its unique focus
on links between design thinking and practice, this third edition brings an inspiring and fresh
perspective to the myriad issues involved in successful architectural practice. The process
of providing architectural services in today’s constantly evolving practice environment must
be just as creative, intellectually rigorous, and compelling as wrestling with design problems.

In this new edition, packed with invaluable advice from leading experts, Andrew Pressman
bridges the knowledge and experience gap between school and practice covering topics
such as:

■ Ethics, social responsibilities, and obligations to the environment

■ Design frm types, culture, and leadership
■ Financial, project, and time management
■ Service and project delivery; leveraging emerging technologies
■ Entrepreneurial business models and business development
■ Legal issues, including AIA contract document analysis
■ Collaboration and negotiating with clients and stakeholders
■ Practice-based research

Students and early-career professionals will discover the fundamentals they need to launch
their careers as well as more sophisticated strategies that will allow them to thrive as their
roles evolve and they assume increasing responsibilities.

This engaging, comprehensive primer debunks the myth that recent architecture gradu-
ates have little or no guidance to prepare them for business. Professional Practice 101 is a
learning tool that will readily deliver the knowledge and background for success in current
architectural practice.

Andrew Pressman, FAIA, an architect, Professor Emeritus at the University of New

Mexico, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, leads his own award-winning
architectural frm in Washington, DC. He has written numerous critically acclaimed books
and articles, and he holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard University Graduate School
of Design.
“This is not your grandparent’s version of a practice textbook, it is so much more…
a one stop shop for understanding the mysteries of our profession… As a warning,
once you pick up this book, you will not put it down until fnished; and then continue
to use it as a reference.”
—Thomas Fowler IV, FAIA, ACSA Distinguished Professor

Critical praise for the previous edition

“Did I say a joy to read? Yes. Pressman’s book puts soul into the effort of under-
standing a very diverse, complex, inventive profession.”
—Michael J. Crosbie, Architectural Record

“Think of this book as a design primer, providing the basics you’ll need to create the
practice you want.”
—Thomas Fisher (from the Foreword to the
Second Edition)
 PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE 101
A COMPENDIUM OF EFFECTIVE
BUSINESS STRATEGIES IN
ARCHITECTURE
Third Edition

ANDREW PRESSMAN
Third edition published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2021 Andrew Pressman

The right of Andrew Pressman to be identifed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation
without intent to infringe.

The publisher and author disclaim any liability, in whole or in part, arising from
information contained in this publication. The reader is urged to consult with
an appropriate licensed professional prior to taking any action or making any
interpretation that is within the realm of a licensed professional practice.

First edition published by John Wiley & Sons 1997

Second edition published by John Wiley & Sons 2006

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-1-138-50687-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-50688-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-14703-1 (ebk)

Typeset in Helvetica
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
This book is dedicated to
Lisa, Samantha, and Daniel—as always.

And to the memory of my father, Norman Daniel Pressman—an individual with unsurpassed
strength of character, wisdom, vision, and humor.
“Understanding architectural practice as the mechanism that realizes design—and
project management as the leadership and control of the means that make projects
happen—is as central to a successful design as form and character. Successful
practitioners master both design and practice issues to assure their designs reach
fruition.”
—Phil Bernstein, Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct,
Yale School of Architecture
CONTENTS

FOREWORD | XI
PREFACE | XIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | XV

1 ARCHITECTURE: ONE OF THE GREAT PROFESSIONS | 1

What it means to be a professional, or the courage to be a misft | 2

Linking design and practice | 4
Education, experience, and examination | 15
Designing your career | 23
Navigating the path to licensure and beyond | 28
Notes | 33

2 ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES | 35

Why bother with ethics? | 36

Code, schmode | 43
Ethical dilemmas | 53
Postscript on ethical behavior | 55
Pro bono work and community engagement | 57
Responsibilities to the natural and built environments | 62
Notes | 72

Contents | vii
3 DESIGN FIRMS | 75

Design frm typologies | 76

Firm culture | 80
Emerging technologies for emerging professionals | 86
Entrepreneurial business models | 94
The role of research in practice: building a knowledge-based approach
to design | 120
Leadership, mentorship, and succession | 130
Notes | 143

4 MANAGEMENT: FINANCIAL, PROJECT, AND TIME | 147

Essential strategic fnance | 148

Project management | 180
Designing your time | 213
Notes | 218

5 PROJECT DELIVERY STRATEGIES | 221

Primer on delivery methods | 222

Note on integrated project delivery | 230
Leveraging virtual design and construction | 234
Success strategies in design–build partnerships: keys to quality | 240
Notes | 246

6 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | 247

Principles of rainmaking to grow a practice | 249

Ten rules of marketing | 253
Guidelines for outstanding oral presentations | 255
Selling architectural services | 260
Building prose for building pros | 263
Marketing one’s self: portfolio strategies | 269
Notes | 274

viii | Contents
7 LEGAL ISSUES | 275

Business structures for design professionals | 276

Building codes, ordinances, and regulations | 278
Meeting the minimums and missing the point | 284
Contract, tort, and employment law fundamentals | 286
AIA contract documents | 290
Legal liability basics and risk management | 312
Negotiating strategies and consensus-building | 321
Notes | 323

FIGURES | 325
INDEX | 331

Contents | ix
 FOREWORD

W
ith our current global pandemic, social justice and equity challenged world,
Andy’s book is timely, and written in an uplifting manner. We need all of the
uplifting/hopeful ways of understanding our profession as we take on this rap-
idly changing world. There is an immense amount of research and knowledge assembled
in this book and the extensive discussions of ethics and needed connections between
design studios in an academic setting and professional practice support the urgency of
making these meaningful pivots in our architecture curriculums and in our profession in
response to our evolving global economy.

The book tittle is a little misleading, since the content is more comprehensive than what
appears to be only about professional practice and business strategies. This is not your
grandparents’ version of a practice textbook (or even my schooling of practice), it is so
much more. It is a holistic road map for the architecture profession or a kind of farm to fork
for becoming an architect (or maybe even a Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance-
type primer) from education to successful practice. The writing is accessible to all levels:
students, academics, professionals, and I will add clients to this list. This book should
be required reading for all students, especially freshman and high school students inter-
ested in architecture. The book is a one-stop shop for understanding the mysteries of our
profession, but goes beyond the typical opacity of describing the educational process of
architects, and does a great job in laying it out in as clear a fashion as possible. There are
a number of gems of entertainment in the book regarding humorous stories captured in
chapter interviews, where practitioners, academics, and a prominent structural engineer
are asked to offer some advice to those starting careers in architecture. Sharon Matthews’
essay entitled “Voodoo and Hearsay” (say no more—this sums up architectural education
just in the title alone) takes us though her journey of the challenges she had in learning
about the building design process and summed it up as the equivalent to learning “… frst
real magic spell … it’s everything I always imagined a book of magic would be (but) … I was
just looking in the wrong language.” And the structural engineer Mario Salvador’s “Daring

Foreword | xi
Piece of Advice to Young Architects” offers a kind of tough love four points of advice. “First,
let me emphasize that, since the entire world is a shamble. … All the schools of architecture
are in a state of confusion, mirroring the state of society … you will fnd that some of these
great truths do not apply to reality.” Salvadori ends by stating, “you should ignore all the
advice I have given you and should give all your enthusiasm, your belief in your dreams and
your patience to design architecture the way you believe architecture should be designed.”

The book’s frst three chapters are about the architecture profession, ethics/social respon-
sibilities, and design frms. These chapters provide strong arguments for why the linkages
between the academic and the professional practice of architecture are so important. I will
add, as a long-time faculty member who teaches design studios and professional practice
courses along with continuing to work within collaborative multidisciplinary student/faculty
and with industry partners on small scale design-build projects: I have observed the levels
of student motivation in a design studio go through the roof and the quality of work and
levels of experimentation are so much stronger when academic design projects are framed
with real-world constraints. So, I completely agree!

The book’s last four chapters are about management, project delivery, business develop-
ment, and legal issues. Each chapter starts with an overview primer of principles, essential
strategies, and basic structures to use, and discussions of technology work fow issues.
There are well-researched scenario-based illustrations to support the chapter topics along
with the technical information provided in an easy-to-read story narrative. One such sce-
nario that stands out is the architecture and landscape architecture frm Snøhetta, which
used the visual programming tool Grasshopper to script a response to a Swedish com-
pany’s high vibration levels due to being close to a highway. The frm’s solution not only
solved the problem but evolved into a public wave landscape that absorbed the unwanted
noise, in addition to capturing storm water runoff. There are many more compelling case
examples in this book.

As a warning, once you pick up this book, you will not put it down until fnished; and then
continue to use it as a reference. Happy reading!

Thomas Fowler IV, FAIA

ACSA Distinguished Professor and Director, Graduate Architecture Program
Cal Poly State University

xii | Foreword
 PREFACE

P
rofessional practice courses often suffer from a boring reputation, but there is noth-
ing dull about this updated, cornerstone edition of Professional Practice 101, which
renders accessible the art and science of contemporary architectural practice. With
its unique focus on links between design thinking and practice, this third edition brings an
inspiring and fresh perspective to the myriad issues involved in successful architectural
practice. The process of providing architectural services in today’s constantly evolving
practice environment must be just as creative, intellectually rigorous, and compelling as
wrestling with design problems.

Advanced students and recent graduates will not only discover the fundamentals they
need to launch their careers but also more sophisticated strategies that will be valuable
as their jobs evolve and they assume increasing responsibilities. Students should be able
to immediately apply some of the lessons contained herein to design studio projects or
related part-time or summer job activities.

Both the pragmatics and intangibles are set forth to energize readers toward design excel-
lence, meaningful practice, and professional growth. This material is woven into the pages
that follow (for example, ethics and social responsibilities, emerging technologies, frm
culture, entrepreneurial business models, practice-based research, essential strategic
fnance, business development, collaboration, a range of legal issues, and much more). It is
the thoughtful application of this knowledge in support of design excellence (however that
is defned), and a true service ethic that together defne the best in professional practice.

The major thrust of the book, then, is to capture the essence of professional architecture
and to suggest what it takes to achieve this lofty goal. I would add that the radical changes
and challenges of current practice are recognized as great opportunities to collaborate and
forge new alliances, create specialty niches, and view the development of new practice
models as a unique design problem for the reader or their frm. So, maintaining the status

PreFaCe | xiii
quo—traditional practice with business as usual—is simply insuffcient today and in the
future.

Practice in the real world is often exciting and fascinating on many dimensions. My hope
is to have translated these rewards into a textbook—to give life to the subject matter and
to demonstrate that practice is central to architectural design. Architecture students will
observe that design solutions must become more creative and innovative in response to
real-world practice constraints in order to be considered architecture. Moreover, design
schemes have the potential to be enriched when informed by the many issues of practice.
There is indeed a blurring of the design and practice dichotomy.

Some professional practice lessons are best learned in the trenches—in other words, by
actually doing a project in an offce context. But this type of learning can be optimized with
an awareness and understanding of the full spectrum of business principles, legal issues,
roles of the various stakeholders, project delivery strategies, and the responsibilities of
being a professional. Professional Practice 101 is intended to bridge the knowledge and
experience gap between school and practice by explicitly addressing these topics.

The core of this book is intended to be concise yet comprehensive. In “Supplements,”

expert contributors have distilled what they believe to be most valuable in their areas of
specialization, enriching and amplifying the themes of the text. The collective effort pro-
vides capsules of wisdom and enlivens the text with energy, pragmatism, and idealism, all
of which are tied together with my single voice and distinctive point of view. I would under-
score, however, that this is accomplished without ideological narrowness in order to foster
understanding and creative interpretations among diverse individuals.

While there is much new and updated material in the third edition, the intention is to pre-
serve the spirit and soul of previous editions—approachable, readable, digestible, and
optimistic—to hopefully make the material memorable.

One point I would like to underscore is that I am frankly weary of hearing from experienced
practitioners that many recent graduates are underprepared for business; that they are not
great business people; that they do not care about making money or acquiring work. With
this resource—and with current accreditation criteria—this condemnation does not have to
apply. The third edition of Professional Practice 101 can be seen as a learning tool that will
readily deliver the knowledge and background for success in architectural practice.

Andrew Pressman, FAIA

Washington, DC
November 2020

xiv | PreFaCe
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful once again to Francesca Ford, Senior Publisher, Routledge—this time for
boldly suggesting the idea of a third edition. Thank you, Fran.

Thanks also to Jennifer Schmidt, former Senior Editor, Architecture, who effciently navi-
gated this project through the commissioning process. Another big thank you to everyone
who assisted in production, especially Trudy Varcianna, Senior Editorial Assistant. I very
much appreciate Ann King’s skillful copy-editing, and Naomi Hill’s deft handling of produc-
tion issues.

The contributors make this book compelling, distinctive, and relevant. Sincere appreciation
and thanks are extended to all 35 of them for their generous participation and excellent
work.

Special thanks to Roger Schluntz for providing ideas for the ethical dilemmas. I am indebted
to Suzanne Harness for referring me to Tim Twomey, who wrote the wonderful essay on
the AIA General Conditions.

I wish to convey gratitude to the anonymous peer reviewers for their thoughtful criticism
and support.

I am very grateful to Tom Fowler for writing a most eloquent Foreword.

I would like to acknowledge Peter Pressman, MD for superior editorial acumen and incisive
critiques.

And of course, as always, cheers and love to Lisa, Samantha, and Daniel for providing
sage advice, inspiration, and support.

aCknowledgments | xv
1
ARCHITECTURE:
T
hese are incredibly
crucial—and in my

ONE OF THE GREAT somewhat biased

view, exciting—times for
PROFESSIONS an exploration into the
nature of professional
practice in architecture.
Dramatic changes in the
way practice has been
conducted in the past
couple of decades require
students and practitioners
alike to develop new mod-
els and ideas and build
on the old ones in order
to fourish. Some of these
recent changes (which are
discussed
in subsequent chapters) include volatile economic trends, innovations in technology, glo-
balization of architecture, new project delivery modes, the role of research in practice,
diminished responsibility and authority of architects in the construction industry, and the
rise of specialization.

But frst some basics. Get licensed! It is an important milestone to become a professional
architect, regardless of whether or not you decide to go into traditional practice. The creden-
tial can be a valuable admission ticket to numerous career tracks. Discussion in this chapter
about the three Es of architecture—education, experience, and examination—describes the
foundation for becoming an architect. And “Designing your career” illustrates how you can
apply the skills you’ve learned in school to optimize and distinguish initial work experiences.

As noted in the Preface, practice topics are linked to the design process to illustrate how
strongly design and practice are interrelated, not just to inform design decisions but to
apply design thinking to project and frm management, marketing, and so on. It will be
clear that to create beautiful and responsive projects that are proftable, architects must be
well versed in design plus the full range of practice issues. “The Ten Commandments of
Architecture” together with open letters from well-known architects and educators in this
introductory chapter epitomize how common sense, design, and practice should ideally
all intertwine to produce works of architecture. The remaining chapters are envisioned to
provide the framework for doing just that.

Critical thinking and inquiry may well begin with a rediscovery of what it really means to
be a professional architect—a concept easily eroded while striving to launch a successful
career. This concept of professional attitude is an essential guide for formulating behav-
ior—the role, expectations, and obligations of a professional—in addressing the challenges
architects now face in myriad practice situations.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PROFESSIONAL,

OR THE COURAGE TO BE A MISFIT

The essay that follows (Supplement 1.1) is intended to defne the “professional attitude”
alluded to above, and to suggest ways to implement it. Since this attitude cannot be writ-
ten into a contract or legislated, it falls upon our shoulders as professionals to enculturate
ourselves toward generating and sustaining a moral perspective. Perhaps moral imperative
is more to the point. The essay shows that this element is as important as the art and sci-
ence that an architect or any professional brings to the client and asserts the importance of
an “ancient sacred compact”1 in which another human being is embraced. The importance
of this aphorism is best captured by Bernard Lown, who has discussed how an allegiance
to the tradition of morally embracing another is not only at the heart of being a professional
but the source of courage in dealing with the “pervasive uncertainties for which technical
skill alone is inadequate.”

2 | arCHiteCtUre
SUPPLEMENT 1.1 Dr. Peter Pressman is a graduate of Northwestern University Medical
School. He writes and does research in Maine and in Southern California with The Daedalus
Foundation.

I am a doctor. I think it is a great job, not simply because it involves the feld of medicine but
because, at its best, being a doctor is being a professional. What then is a professional?
The answer is diffcult, since we have come to use the term to describe anyone who does
anything a little better than average, but, in fact, not everyone is a “real pro.” Very few among
us, even those who are credentialed members of the great professions—law, medicine, and
of course architecture—are, in fact, real pros. So, what is a professional? To paraphrase
former Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (who was struggling to defne por-
nography), “It’s diffcult to defne, but I know it when I see it.”
We can do a little better than Justice Stewart, but with the caveat that a consideration of
being a professional is ultimately a highly personal matter, and it is likely that the conception
and the way of being will be constantly modifed and perhaps reinvented over one’s profes-
sional life. Having said all this, let us begin to get at the more universally accepted founda-
tions of a profession and then work ahead to the beginning of the private and idiosyncratic
elements.
First, the classical notions of profession always encompass some large but circumscribed
body of specialized information and discipline. Mastery of this material and associated skills
requires a relatively long and standardized period of education, training, and apprenticeship,
all of which is regulated by an association of already accomplished members of the profes-
sion. Intrinsic to this classical material is the service ethic; the professional exists to serve
others who do not have a similar extraordinary background and calling. These foundation
notions are reasonable and, I suspect you will agree, not particularly provocative or illuminat-
ing. By the aforementioned description it can be argued that most of us—not everyone, but
most of us—are “real pros.”
To better articulate the meaning of being a “professional,” it is necessary to dissect the
potentials that are buried in the foundations and then project them upward in three dimen-
sions. One element of professionalism has recently been described especially well as the
“hard work of great teams” in the local setting; such teams of professionals are dedicated
to ongoing, collaborative, disciplined, and practical learning, and they are committed both
to educating the public on advances in their feld and to drawing appropriate distinctions
between what is merely intriguing or interesting and what constitutes meaningful progress.2,3
Thus professionals conduct research that improves the quality of their interventions, and
they report their fndings not only to their colleagues but also to the public.
Another dimension of being a “real” professional involves the character of the relationship
between the professional and the client or patient being served. This relationship has been
affected by waves of social change, by the stresses of the fscal environment, by the impact
of exploding technologies, and by a climate of legal and philosophical hypervigilance, yet
great potential remains inherent in it. Despite the press to further stem the already diminishing

arCHiteCtUre | 3
authority of professionals, to preserve the autonomy of those being served, and to integrate
third-party control of resources, a real professional never, ever forgets about the caring rela-
tionship he or she must develop with the one who receives professional service. This caring
relationship can still exist and contain a core of altruism, trust, and virtue.4 It may be the
combination of capacity to act in some highly expert and effcacious way in conjunction with
caring that begins to properly complete our articulation of the meaning of “professional.”5
I am suggesting that what distinguishes an “expert” from a “professional” is the sense
of urgency about helping that the professional possesses and nurtures. This sense serves
as a kind of antenna for receiving the call for assistance from our fellow human beings who
need help now.6
In sum, I highlight an essay by W. E. Gutman that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.7
Gutman describes his father, a consummate professional, who happened to be a physician:

He was incorruptible. He had no time for sophistry, no patience for equivocation, no

room for shaded areas separating right and wrong. Compassion was his guide, his
patients’ health and welfare his sole mission and reward…. [He] devoted his career
to deconstructing aphorisms. He was the magnifcent misft lesser men do not have
the courage to be.

Physician, lawyer, or architect—let us all consciously set aside some energy so that we can
strive to be a little courageous, a little misft, and real pros.

LINKING DESIGN AND PRACTICE

One of the factors that distinguishes architects from other participants in the construction
world is the conception and production of high-quality design. And one of the main issues
of practice is the full realization and delivery of that design. Thus it should be evident that
design and practice can and should be—must be—inextricably linked. This is such a cru-
cial linkage that I decided to address it in the following way.

I asked three individuals, each of whom was both a renowned educator and a practitioner,
to write an open letter to young architects, responding to the following questions:

1. What are the most signifcant practice issues that infuence the design process?
How should recent graduates view these issues to support and even enrich design
solutions?

2. What should students be thinking and doing while engaging projects in the design stu-
dio to better prepare for professional practice?

3. What advice would you give to an emerging architect to promote the transition from
design excellence in school to achieving design excellence in practice?

4 | arCHiteCtUre
The responses to the above questions often yielded valuable digressions; rather than
press the superstar practitioner-educators to stick with discrete answers to the questions,
I elected to preserve the timeless wisdom they spontaneously offered.

CHARLES GWATHMEY
The importance of design
The most signifcant practice issue that infuences the design process is your com-
mitment to the idea of discovery within the context and constraints of the problem.
Preconception and replication are the curse of an uncreative process that will ulti-
mately produce solutions that are known and unprovocative.

It is essential to view constraints as a positive reference for interrogation and inven-

tion, rather than as a limitation.

I believe the design discovery process must be holistic and composite, that one must
objectively analyze and prioritize the various elements that will impact the solution.
The design process is not a linear diagram but a composite overlay, where formal
strategies, circulation, structure, sequence, plan and section, site and orientation, and
schedule and budget are all investigated, tested, and refned concurrently. Only then
is the essential creative editing process meaningful or possible.

Students should objectively assess their passion for making the art of architecture.
This passion cannot be about money, effciency, or expediency. It can only be about
a kind of commitment to creating vital and enduring, memorable and aspiring works
that affect the perceptual and intellectual speculation of the experiencer. Design is an
insidiously conficting process, because unlike a painter or sculptor who is the crea-
tor and the executor of a private vision, the architect relies on the client/patron who
is speculating on an as-yet-unseen or unrealized vision. Therefore, the role of the
architect invariably becomes both pedagogic and psychoanalytic as well as creative,
causing continual contradictions and conficts between the ideal/idea and the reality.

Commitment to one’s ideals is a prerequisite. Compromise is an unresolvable alter-

native. Thus the student to become architect, the architect to be always student,
must commit to the idea that the creative process is as gratifying and rewarding as
the manifestation and the moments of recognition. Otherwise the rationale and the
justifcation are problematic.

My advice is to work for an architect whose work you admire, and to realize that the
time invested, though somewhat different from the school experience, is critical to the
continuity of your growth and maturation.

Also, if a design opportunity arises, no matter how small or “insignifcant,” no matter your
“lack of experience,” take it, relish it, commit to it, and most importantly, take the risk.

arCHiteCtUre | 5
 Without fulflling the obligation of risk, you will neither grow nor learn. There is no failure in a
continuous process of discovery. There is failure only in accommodation and compromise.

Mr. Gwathmey paints in broad strokes a picture of just how design and practice are not
only closely linked but at best driven by each other; they are mutually interdependent, one
unable to exist without the other. Gwathmey’s piece also makes it almost poetically clear
that creativity is demanded in all phases of professional practice and not limited to design.
When done right, design and practice may even be synergistic; that is, together they yield
a product greater than the sum of the forces that led to its development.

On a personal note, I especially appreciated Gwathmey’s caveat about seizing every

opportunity no matter how small and no matter how ill-prepared one may feel. Gwathmey
calls upon us to seize the day and make the most of it.

MARIO SALVADORI
A daring piece of advice to young architects (from a nonarchitect)
You have just obtained, after years of hard work, a degree in architecture; whether
an undergraduate or a graduate degree makes little difference either fnancially or
professionally. You have entered the most diffcult profession in the world. And you
are looking for a job, possibly in the greatest architectural offce in your town or a few
miles from it.

I am not an architect, but just an engineer (and a professor of architecture) who gave
most of his time to design architectural structures all over the world with some of the
greatest architects in the world. On the basis of this ffty years of experience, I dare
to speak to you so that you might realize what you have achieved and what you are
going to meet in your career.

First, let me emphasize that, since the entire world is a shamble and since architecture
has to do with the people alive today, your training was not, nor could it have been,
both great and sensitive. All the schools of architecture are in a state of confusion,
mirroring the state of society. You have been told some great truths by some great
teachers and as soon as you enter an architectural offce you will fnd that some of
these great truths do not apply to reality.

6 | arCHiteCtUre
 Second, let me overemphasize, if I can, that, depending on the kind of training you
have received, you may believe that architecture belongs to the feld of art and are
unaware that, out of a hundred of you, only seven will have a chance at designing
an entire building, while the other ninety-three will have minor responsibilities for the
infnite number of demands required by a building.

Third, I want you to realize that architects have to be tough because they have to fght
against the other twenty or so professionals who have something to say about archi-
tecture: owners, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, the other ten varieties of
engineers, and then the banks, the renting specialists, and so on.

Fourth, I must alert you to the fact that structural engineers will make it hard if not
impossible for you to realize your dreams and that, if you only knew a little more about
structures than what you have learned in school, you might have a chance of fghting
them. Actually, the only solid piece of advice I can give you would be to get a degree
in civil engineering with a major in structures, but I am sure that after four to six years
in a school of architecture you will not cherish my suggestion.

Last, I wish to suggest that you should ignore all the advice I have given you and
should give all your enthusiasm, your belief in your dreams and your patience to
design architecture the way you believe architecture should be designed. Remember
that the greatest architecture has always been built by daring rebels and has been
recognized a number of years after their death.

Was all your work and pain worth it? You bet it was, because the only way to be suc-
cessful in life is to believe in a dream and refuse to bow to the negative pressure that
comes against you from all corners. If you give yourself to what you believe in, you will
work for love and not for money, and when you work for love, you do not feel you are
working, you are just having a great time. If this is true for you, believe it or not, you
are bound to be successful.
It worked for me; why shouldn’t it work for you?

Professor Salvadori gives us another kind of provocative reality-check, but one wedded to
a more romantic vision. He observes that the challenges to architecture have never been
tougher and more complex, and that, in fact, the entire globe faces sobering and unprec-
edented struggles—none of which we are ever really prepared to face in the course of any
training. Salvadori seems to regard this condition as a badge of honor, perhaps even nobil-
ity. He implores us to possess a clear vision of the world, but not to be shy about boldly
pursuing our dreams. Convention may well be something to be questioned and defed in
the quest for solutions and expression of passion.

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 GEORGE ANSELEVICIUS
“I don’t want to be interesting; I want to be good.”
There are a number of reasons why young people decide to become architects and
undertake lengthy studies lasting from three-and-a-half to six years. It could be due
to an interest in making and constructing things, an interest in art and drawing, a wish
to make a better and more beautiful world, a response to the urging of parents, and
possibly because being an architect sounds intriguing and glamorous and may even
be lucrative.

Education is not just the province of schools, but a continuing life-long attitude linking
school and practice. While architects do become involved in research and in teaching,
a majority will join or establish architectural practices. These may vary greatly, from
the offces of famous signature architects to more anonymous ones (whose work is
seldom published by the elitist architectural press), as well as everything in between.
Yet it is likely that all of these offces, whatever their critics may say, pride themselves
on the design of their buildings, which is also true of most students creating designs
in their studios at schools of architecture.

Values. The design process is the heart of making architecture, professionally as well
as academically. The design of buildings is informed by values affrmed by architect or
student, by the demands of client or instructor, values within the sociocultural ambi-
ence of community, society, or school of architecture. While architects owe their best
design efforts to their clients, who pay the bills for their services, as professionals they
also owe allegiance to the users of their buildings, to the surrounding community, and,
one hopes, to the highest aspirations of society. It is well to remember that architec-
ture and the physical planning of places and spaces are not just private acts but exist
within the public domain. This poses a number of ethical demands on architects, as
the users of their buildings are often unknown, or seldom have major input into the fnal
design. There may even be conficts between client demands and user needs. Thus
architects relying on a creative force must resolve a variety of needs, hopes, dreams,
as well as contradictions. Students, on the other hand, have the luxury to respond
purely to theories, as to what they and their instructors see as “good,” be it social,
ethical, or aesthetic, and can avoid some of the inherent complexities of practice.

This brings us to the purpose of the design studio in architecture schools. While its
prescribed task is to prepare students for professional practice, it inevitably raises
a number of questions. Do studios, or should they, simulate the design activities of
professional offces? Do instructors, or should they, stand in for real-world clients?
The answers are equivocal, and as a consequence students are often torn between
reality and theory. They must decide whether their studio projects should respond to
the “real” world or purely to academic, hypothetical theories, a dichotomy that may

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not have been clarifed by their instructors. It is my view that studio projects should
be a set of rigorous and conceptual fnger exercises to prepare, inspire, and toughen
students for future full-blown performances in actual practice.

Gaps. Obviously, there are gaps and differences between practice and school.
Whether some of them are inherent may be debatable. In practice, the cost of build-
ings and the cost of providing professional services demand a hard discipline that
is generally missing or avoided in school design studios. This is generally based on
the argument that such considerations would inhibit a student’s creativity, although
some instructors introduce these issues into the studio, as they believe that realistic
constraints demand more creative solutions.

Another difference is the implied demand in design studios that a student’s project
be “creative,” a force that should assert an individual, artistic expression. While this
is also true in offces, especially those controlled by strong designers, their efforts are
the result of teamwork, which a young professional probably has not experienced in
school. Not all buildings need to dazzle; in many cases reticence may be appropriate.

The studio. Yet despite the problems and challenges, or perhaps because of them,
the design studio is one of the most exemplary teaching methods, full of emotional
rewards as well as let-downs. Student and teacher are related on a “one-to-one”
basis, and most importantly the studio demands integration and creation. This is
missing in many educational methods, where issues are never integrated but isolated
within specifc courses, avoiding ethical, social, and political considerations. Closest
in concept to the design studio is the case study method, but that approach is essen-
tially analytical, after the fact (although it may lead to creative alternatives). The word
“studio” itself brings with it a message of freedom and creativity and is even used by
larger offces when establishing smaller integrated groups that are then identifed as
studios.

The environment or “culture” of a design studio in school is rather special. It is some-

what messy, an ordered disorder, yet essentially creative. Study models, sketches,
diagrams, and computer drawings abound at various levels of completion, and stu-
dents create their own personal space within the confnes of the studio by whatever
means available. There is no hierarchy, and studios are open day and night, fran-
tic efforts during very late evenings and nights being quite fashionable. Offces, on
the other hand, must be organized for group action, and an effcient fow of work,
although sudden spurts before deadlines continue an architecture tradition.

Time is valued differently in offces than in schools. In offces, time is equated with
money, a necessary discipline. Not so in schools, where personal discipline demands
from students a control of their time to design, study, sleep, and perhaps work and
socialize within a twenty-four-hour day.

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 Transition. Clearly there has to be a transition between school and offce; both are
different worlds, both are quite real. Many students have worked in offces while going
to school, and for them the transition is easier. The transition between school and
practice can be helped by students spending their summers working for architects
and/or contractors, and by keeping a sketchbook or diary handy to document build-
ings and constructions.

Excellence. Schools and offces pay homage to the “search for design excellence.”
This has become a cliché, but like all clichés it is partially true. Still it is not clear what
it signifes. Designing is problem-solving of a specifc kind and could be described
as a plan of action to change a situation for the better. In architecture, it is too often
simply seen as a response to the visual appearance, the form of the building as it
expresses the latest fashion or the specifc visual bias of student, instructor, or profes-
sional. While architects pride themselves on having an “educated” eye, beauty will
always remain in the eye of the beholder, and there is a deep cleft between elitist and
populist perceptions. It is much more diffcult to provide a balanced evaluation as to
what beauty and design excellence in architecture mean. This is of course easier in a
building that has become reality, that can be visited, and that has users who can be
interviewed. In the school studio, one has to rely solely on drawings and models, more
diffcult to evaluate as beautiful techniques can cloud critical evaluation.

Design excellence cannot be skin-deep; it must broadly relate to context, user needs,
technical considerations, and cost, and to the important spatial and aesthetic quality
of interior and exterior. While some architectural publications make attempts to view
design excellence in a comprehensive manner, all too often it is the glitzy produc-
tions of talented photographers found in architectural publications that signify design
excellence, and magazines have as much infuence, if not more, on students’ design
efforts as their instructors.

An old-fashioned and perhaps useful bit of advice for potential architects who enter
offces with their fresh BArch or MArch degrees are two words not heard too often
among the architectural establishment: modesty and competence. These should
be watchwords for much of architecture as practiced as well as for one’s personal
behavior, yet they are usually forgotten in the design studio and in many offces, now
part of a world that values entertainment and novelty per se, and where strong egos
dominate. To be different is not a value in itself. I understand that the great architect
Mies Van der Rohe once said, “I don’t want to be interesting; I want to be good.” Even
if this statement is apocryphal, it is appropriate.

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Dean Anselevicius responds to the basic questions with a thoughtful rendition and con-
trasting of the worlds of studio and practice. His timely and persuasive essay brings to
mind qualities such as moderation, discipline, integrity, openness, awareness, and ability
to collaborate. Together with “modesty and competence,” these form a common denomi-
nator for success with all that the term implies. This denominator is built from diligent com-
mitment to academic and spiritual excellence; this is what makes “design excellence” and
professional practice possible.

the ten Commandments of architecture

Jim Childress, FAIA. (Jim is a principal of Centerbrook Architects and has won more than
60 design awards, including the American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award.)

Andrew Pressman asked me to dust off our Ten Commandments of Architecture. I have
held these beliefs in my head for decades. I fnd them more helpful than Moses in our line of
work. They have passed through three generations of architects—from Charles W. Moore,
FAIA to Bill Grover, FAIA of Moore Grover Harper to me at Centerbrook. I now pass them
on to the next generation to carry forward.

This started as part of a lecture after Centerbrook won the AIA Firm Award in 1998. The
occasion for casting them in stone was an annual visit of Professor Elizabeth Petry and
her University of Hartford architecture students. They wanted to know how to successfully
practice architecture.

Several of their initial questions touched on the fabled issue of architects’ comet-sized
egos. The word is apparently on the street. After telling them to sit down and be quiet, I
reassured them that such was not the case at Centerbrook.

I’m just kidding.

Their questions were astute and concise, including: What makes a good architect? How
do I go about getting work? I went straight to the tablet.

Thou shalt not compartmentalize: In addition to learning to design, thou should write
well, spell correctly, fgure out how to get jobs and keep clients happy, take out the trash,
make a good cup of coffee, be able to build models, master sustainability as well as the
latest technological tools. Do all this and more, except … hire a really good professional to
photograph your work. It will pay off in awards and in landing new jobs.

Don’t be disappointed when a client rejects your design: It only means another
opportunity to design. In architecture there are many solutions to the same question and
designing is what you do.

Always exceed your client’s expectations: The corollary is: establish attainable
expectations.

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Cost counts: No matter what clients may say, or how deep their pockets, cost is foremost
in the minds of them all. Make sure there is a clear, written understanding of the expected
project cost and have a plan in case the budget gets out of whack.

Problems are opportunities: Show them how good you are in a pinch.

Bad news travels fast: An unhappy client is your worst nightmare. The corollary is: satis-
fed clients become good friends and good references.

Art frst, Mammon second: Make every project an artistic success, and you will thrive. If
your frst priority is making money, you will go broke.

Go forth and collaborate: Architecture is a team sport. Surround yourself with talented
and enjoyable people, in and out of the offce. And, share the credit, it’s not all about you.

Listen: Believe it or not, people besides you have good ideas and insights. Always be
empathetic. In the end it will be your client’s building, not yours. If you want to be a star,
move to Hollywood.

Find your inner nurture: Clients are spending a lot of money; they expect something
special. Nurture everything you do with care.

If there were an eleventh commandment, it would be: Have a sense of humor.

Figure 1.1 Sketchbook pages embodying some of the “Ten Commandments” noted above (Jim
Childress, FAIA).

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voodoo and hearsay

The following (Supplement 1.2) is one of those passages flled with truth, passion, and
insight that is incredibly illuminating about the terms in which one views the practice of
architecture. Reconciling language with built form is liberating in both designing and ana-
lyzing architecture. Sharon Matthews’ eloquent and magical words have the power to
open readers’ minds.

SUPPLEMENT 1.2 Sharon Carter Matthews, AIA was Executive Director of the National
Architectural Accrediting Board from 2001 to 2007, was one of the organizers of the
Canberra Accord, and is currently a consultant for schools of architecture internationally.
She was the head of the schools of architecture at Norwich University and the Wentworth
Institute of Technology. She has held administrative positions at the Boston Architectural
College and, most recently, was Interim Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies
at Wentworth.

Of all the books you can buy about architecture, Architectural Graphic Standards8 seemed
to this beginning student of the subject both the most straightforward and, at the same
time, the most mysterious. It did not have a story; there was no beginning, no middle, and
no end. When I tried to use it, the information did not ft anywhere. It felt like random pieces
of a puzzle. Each piece made sense—like entries in an encyclopedia—but there were no
instructions on how and when to use the material. If you asked studio instructors why stu-
dents bought this big, expensive book, their answers were vague and impatient. I gave up
on it pretty quickly. Other strategies for fguring out what to do in studio design classes might
be more productive.
One possibility was to look around for students whose work was praised by critics and
copy what they were doing. Another was to fnd a “better” book. There were books that
described the life and ideas of successful architects. There were history books that told the
stories of cultures and styles. There were theory books that explored ideas about buildings.
There were books full of the manifestos of famous men. I wanted there to be a book that
would have how-to instructions for doing the magic trick. The trick of putting down some
lines on paper or building a little chipboard model that would galvanize my classmates and
instructors. If I could fnd that book, then I thought I could make buildings that would startle
and delight people in the professional world. As I remember those days now, it seems as if
I had been looking in a book for an answer to a useless question.
In my understanding at the time, that was the way people used books. If you wanted
answers to the mysteries of life and death, you read religious books. If you wanted to cook a
complicated meal, you looked in cookbooks. If you wanted to know the meaning of a word,
you looked it up in a dictionary. If you wanted to be a building magician, you needed a book
of architectural magic spells. Books on architectural theory seemed most likely to be helpful.

arCHiteCtUre | 13
All my professors read them, some even wrote them. Nowadays, reading books on theories
of architecture seems slightly less effective in the design of buildings than buying and using
voodoo dolls from New Orleans.
Many of my instructors tried to explain these various books to me. When they talked
among themselves about the books, they took each other very seriously and listened atten-
tively. Their words few around in my head but seldom stuck anywhere. Their words about
my drawings and models also seemed less than relevant. If I could just fnd the right ideas—
in words that I could translate into images—my projects would speak to them. They would
see my great ideas in the lines and in the paper. Even as I searched for the right book, I knew
there was something wrong with using a studio project as a way to illustrate a theory about
buildings, but what would the alternative be?
The history books, the theory books, the manifestos, and the professor-speak are all
about ideas about buildings. They are written and spoken in the language of ideas. Buildings
have their own language and it is not made up of words. You don’t speak it and you don’t
read it, you see it.
Only when I began to teach, and to struggle to fnd words to share with students, did I
begin to understand what it might mean to see a building in its own language. Along with
teaching, I was working in an architect’s offce and one day a client said to me as we walked
through his project, “I wish I could see this building the way you do.” Explaining what I could
see in words seemed pointless. It felt humbling. I had to admit to myself that I had learned
somehow, in school and during my internship, to see a building. The only words I had read
that came back to me at that moment were from Louis Kahn—to “draw with a trowel.”
These words that I had once deemed merely poetic I now understood as explicit instruction.
My frst real magic spell.
And then I went back to Architectural Graphic Standards, the book that gave me infor-
mation about a building in the language of a building. It includes information on the pro-
portions of materials and on systems of proportional relationships, it describes materials
and how they go together, and it shows subassemblies of buildings in ways that make
the designers’ choices clear. It is made up of many drawings and diagrams that speak the
language of building. You can see how the pieces go together. You can see what must be
there, and you can fnd the places where there is room for variety. If you have drawn what
you know and need an answer about what happens in the gaps of your understanding, you
can ask this book … a very useful question.
If you draw and model a building with a trowel and if you can see a building as a compli-
cated thought with its own vocabulary and rules of grammar, you can arrange the parts to
make the thought that is the building profound—or silly. It’s your choice. There is a book full
of the spells you need to make this happen. It’s big, it’s old, it’s arcane, it’s full of informa-
tion, it’s expensive … it’s everything I always imagined a book of magic would be. I was just
looking in the wrong language.

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EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND EXAMINATION

Until you are formally recognized as a professional—an architect—by a governmental

jurisdiction, discussions about professionalism are in danger of being moot. You must
frst demonstrate competence to independently practice architecture while protecting the
“health, safety, and welfare” (HSW) of the public. HSW is an overarching responsibility not
to be taken lightly. Minimal competence (as defned by the regulatory bodies) does not,
however, include anything about the artful qualities of design or the values associated with
being a true professional. As a foundation for providing architectural services, it is abso-
lutely essential to be well versed in the architect’s codifed responsibilities to the public on
the regulatory dimension that ensures the well-being of building inhabitants. This dimen-
sion is not separate from the other dimensions of providing architectural services; it is an
integral and essential component of shaping the design process and the built outcome.

In Supplement 1.3, Steve Schreiber describes the formal process of becoming an archi-
tect. More important, he details the rationale underlying the seemingly arbitrary obstacles
leading to registration. It will be clear that there is indeed appropriate thought and logic
behind the process of running through the hoops of an accredited architecture degree,
the Architectural Experience Program®, and the licensing exam. Standards for education,
experience, and the examination are continuously scrutinized by a variety of organizations
(to which Schreiber refers), and they evolve largely for the better with the changing nature
of professional practice and society.

I would add that individual states, provinces, and territories are empowered to establish
architectural licensing laws. Though basic registration requirements are similar, there are
some differences; it therefore behooves a licensure applicant to be aware of these differ-
ences so that a registrant can have the fexibility to acquire reciprocal registration in a juris-
diction other than their initial place of registration. So, complying with the most stringent
standards—established by either the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards
for certifcation or a particular jurisdiction for registration—enables a nimble response to the
changing circumstances of the architectural marketplace required in this mobile society.

SUPPLEMENT 1.3 Stephen Schreiber, FAIA, DPACSA is an architect and Chair of the
Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor
Schreiber has served as dean/director at the school of architecture at the University of South
Florida, and director of the architecture program at the University of New Mexico. Schreiber
was the 2005/2006 President of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
(ACSA). He was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Architects and
is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Architectural Registration
Boards.

arCHiteCtUre | 15
Architecture is one of the key professions involved in shaping the built environment and
urban space. Architectural education has the primary purposes of producing competent,
creative, critically minded, and ethical professional designers/builders who contribute to the
social, economic, and cultural development of society, nationally and globally. To achieve
those purposes, it is an interdisciplinary feld that comprises several major components:
humanities, social and physical sciences, technology, and the creative arts.
Institutionalized architecture education developed in the second half of the nineteenth
century in response to broadening objectives for higher education, increasingly complex
building systems requiring the expertise of specialized professionals, and new knowledge
from related felds. Since then, architecture programs have fourished in a wide range of
academic settings.
Regulation of the profession of architecture, including the licensing of practitioners, is
a function of each US state/territory or Canadian province/territory exercising its power to
protect the health, safety, and welfare of the people. Each jurisdiction registers architects
by its own set of requirements. The requirements are generally consistent from jurisdiction
to jurisdiction, but there are variations. The requirements to become an architect are often
described as a three-legged stool, which includes:

■ Education (usually an accredited degree)

■ Experience (structured work experience)
■ Examination (the architect registration exam)

These requirements can often be completed concurrently. For example, in many jurisdic-
tions all of the work experience can be completed before or during school, and the examina-
tions can be completed during the work experience. In some cases, examinations can be
completed during school. All jurisdictions have an education requirement that may be satis-
fed by earning a professional degree in architecture accredited by the National Architectural
Accrediting Board (NAAB) in the United States, or the Canadian Architectural Certifcation
Board (CACB) in Canada. Many registration boards requiring a professional degree in archi-
tecture from a NAAB- or CACB-accredited program also accept other education assessed
as equivalent (for example, a professional degree in architecture from a foreign institution).
Not all boards require a professional degree from an accredited program to satisfy their edu-
cation requirements. Some boards require a pre-professional degree in architecture, while
others require a Bachelor’s degree in any subject.
The entire path to licensure typically requires seven to ten years (fve to seven years in
school plus two to three years of work). The work experience years are spent as a salaried
employee in an architectural or related practice working under the supervision of registered
professionals.
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) in the United States
and the Committee of Canadian Architectural Councils (CCAC) have established standards
and criteria that most licensing boards have adopted as their standard for admission to
licensing examinations. Satisfaction of these requirements facilitates initial and subsequent
reciprocal licensure.

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Education
Architecture is recognized as a broadly based academic subject studied in its own right and
as a professional discipline that leads to licensure. In most schools of architecture, these two
concepts are richly interwoven and are refected in the degree options for students.
Architecture programs ft into one of the following categories.

■ Pre-professional architecture degree. This term refers to architecturally focused

four-year degrees that are not professional degrees (and thus cannot be accredited).
These degrees have titles such as BS in Architecture, BS in Architectural Studies, BA in
Architecture, Bachelor of Environmental Design, Bachelor of Architectural Studies, etc.
The amount of architecture work in the program varies and will determine the length of
time required to complete further professional architecture studies.

■ Professional (accredited) architecture degree. A professional architecture degree is

one that is accredited by NAAB or CACB. Accredited degrees are required by most juris-
dictions for licensure as an architect. In the United States, these degrees are either the
Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree, the Master of Architecture (MArch) degree, or
the Doctor of Architecture (DArch). In Canada, the only accredited degree is the MArch.
The BArch normally requires at least fve years. The MArch requires from one to fve years
depending on the individual student’s previous education. When the Master’s degree fol-
lows a four-year, pre-professional architecture degree, it represents the two in the term
four-plus-two program and is the fnal portion of the professional phase of the study
program. The DArch may require seven years to complete.

■ Post-professional architecture degree. This is a graduate degree offered to students

who already have a professional degree in architecture. Such degree programs are not
accredited by NAAB and CACB. The degrees may be in highly specialized areas of study
such as design theory, healthcare facilities, preservation, interior design, solar design,
etc. This type of degree can be either a Master’s degree, or, in a few cases, a PhD or
other doctorate.

■ Nonprofessional graduate architecture degree. This title refers to graduate degrees

in architecture offered to students who do not have a professional degree and wish to
pursue nonprofessional graduate work in architecture. These programs vary widely in
duration and degree title.

Professional (accredited) architecture degrees

The NAAB and the CACB are the national architecture accrediting bodies in the United States
and Canada, respectively. The board of directors of the NAAB includes representatives from
the “collaterals”: the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (faculty), the American
Institute of Architects (practitioners), the American Institute of Architecture Students (stu-
dents), and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (regulators). The CACB

arCHiteCtUre | 17
has a similar structure. The NAAB and CACB operate under similar procedures to determine
whether architecture programs meet certain minimum education criteria, including faculty
qualifcations, physical facilities, budget, curricula, course content, and program goals.
A professional degree program is accredited by the same standards whether it leads to a
Bachelor of Architecture, a Master of Architecture, or a Doctor of Architecture degree. Most
schools offer only one or two accredited architecture degrees but may have other related
degree programs. For example, a school of architecture may offer a program in historic
preservation or architectural engineering as well as the accredited professional architecture
degree program.
Every architecture program has its special features and unique philosophies. Some
schools offer many options while others have a more defned program. A single school may
offer several accredited professional degree programs—for example, it may offer both a fve-
year undergraduate degree for high school graduates, and a three-and-a-half-year graduate
degree intended for people who already have a degree in another feld.
There are several usual paths to obtaining the professional degree in architecture.

■ Bachelor of Architecture. The fve-year Bachelor of Architecture degree requires a

minimum of fve years of study (equivalent to 150 credit hours minimum). A fve-year
program provides the quickest route to satisfy the academic requirements for licen-
sure. Many Bachelor of Architecture programs begin with a concentration of architec-
ture courses in a fairly prescribed manner, although some schools begin with a general
course of instruction. Electives tend to be few and exposure to other felds limited.
Many Bachelor of Architecture programs have devised curriculum structures that
allow for considerable fexibility. The early segments of the curriculum mix pre-profes-
sional design courses with general education and often serve as a common base for
several different environmental design disciplines, such as architecture, landscape archi-
tecture, industrial design, and graphic design.
Most professional degree programs also accept transfer students at designated
break points, but transfer credit is usually evaluated on an individual course-by-course
and case-by-case basis. While the structure of some programs makes it relatively easy
for a professional school to accept transfer students from both junior colleges and other
colleges, many feeder programs cannot match the academic depth, library and faculty
resources, and extracurricular activities of the professional schools. (The CACB does not
recognize the Bachelor of Architecture.)

■ Master of Architecture (fve-and-a-half years) with no Bachelors. The fve-and-a-

half-year Master of Architecture degree path may be entered directly from high school,
requiring about 168 credits and following a curriculum that is similar to that of a Bachelor
of Architecture program. Students must be expressly accepted into the university’s grad-
uate school in order to pursue the fnal phase of this degree. Those who do not qualify for
graduate study have the option of completing a nonprofessional undergraduate degree,
with the possibility of pursuing the Master’s degree in one of the more traditional paths
at another institution.

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■ Pre-professional degree plus Master of Architecture. The pre-professional degree
plus Master of Architecture degree normally requires six years to complete (four-plus-
two). The fexibility in the program is readily apparent. At the end of four years, the student
has a college degree and may decide to continue in architecture and get the professional
Master’s degree, spend one or two years working for an architect, or change disciplines
and pursue study in other design-related felds. Or the graduate may decide at this point
to shift careers completely and/or seek an advanced degree outside the design feld.
Pre-professional programs are not professionally accredited and vary widely with respect
to title, emphasis, electives, requirements, and specifc architecture offerings. They are,
however, preparatory for advanced architectural or other environmental design felds.
For those who ultimately receive advanced degrees in design areas other than archi-
tecture or in non-architecture subjects, the four-year degree may be preferable to the
fve-year professional program in minimizing coursework and time. One other advantage
of a four-plus-two program is the potential for earning the professional degree at an
institution other than where the undergraduate work was completed.
The graduate degree component of the four-plus-two path is the professional NAAB-
or CACB-accredited degree. This degree is most appropriate for students who have a
four-year, pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture. The course of study
generally takes two years; however, at some schools up to three years is required. These
programs are designed to provide the professional education of the student as well as
an opportunity for independent and creative exploration.

■ Non-architecture degree plus Master of Architecture. The non-architecture degree

plus Master of Architecture degree requires seven to eight years of study (a four-year
undergraduate degree plus a three- or four-year Master of Architecture degree). The
immersion into architecture is quick and very intense in this program. Some schools
provide all of the education at graduate level, while others will admit degree holders
into their professional Master’s program with defciencies. This means that preparatory
undergraduate coursework must frst be successfully completed before formal admit-
tance to the graduate program.

■ Doctor of Architecture. The Doctor of Architecture is also recognized by NAAB as

a professional degree. It requires either an undergraduate baccalaureate degree or a
minimum of 120 undergraduate semester credit hours or the equivalent, and a minimum
of 90 graduate-level semester credit hours, or the equivalent in academic coursework in
professional studies and electives.

Characteristics of professional (accredited) architecture programs

Students and faculty
In a typical year, approximately 27,000 students are enrolled in NAAB- and CACB-accredited
programs. (That number has held steady for the past decade.) Another 15,000 are enrolled

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