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From: Mark Darrall <mdarrall@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: DESIGN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: laptop vs. desktop
Date: Thu, Apr 29, 1999, 12.14 AM
But Wayde, I have NEVER heard a leader in a firm say, "I don't care about
their technical ability---I just need people who can think!" Rather, they
all say, "Do you know Autocad? Can you measure a building? By the way, did
you say you know Autocad?"
Perhaps you are looking at the wrong firms for employment.
Of course they need people who can think critically, be flexible and
creative---and do it quickly. EVERY JOB REQUIRES THIS in this new wretched
globalization-a-go-go. But the fact of the matter is that very few folks
right out of school are going to be handed projects to design and manage on
their own. They are expected to be able to do production, because, like it
or not, that is how the building gets made. At least for now.
I'm not saying that interns are likely to get projects to design right out
of school, but they will need to make design decision along the way in the
process of production. I started in production like everybody else, (well,
not like everyone else - I worked in the profession from 1984-1992 before I
ever set foot into an architecture school). Like everyone else at the time,
I was pushing a pencil, but too, using computers for a variety of other uses
as well. I could draw quickly, but in the firms of my early career, they
were less interested in my ability to do so. They were interested in my
ability at problem solving, communication, and construction knowledge and I
chose these firms because of exactly this attitude. While it was my
abilities on the boards which got my foot in the door, it was my abilities
to overcome other more challenging issues the profession would throw at me
which got me hired. The point I have been so poorly trying to make here is
that an office can find *anybody* to draw - whatever the technique, but they
are still having a problem finding people who have the ability to do any
more, but too, they always have.. As the market forces put pressures on the
businesses of architecture, architecture will ultimately respond by trying
to hire *super-interns* to just produce, but in the long run, is will be
architecture which suffers as these students feel the need to become
competent in their technical abilities however ultimately at the expense of
their critical thinking skills. Schools feel the crunch of the profession
clamoring for more employable people, while the profession indeed shirks
their traditional roles of providing the venue by which an *Intern* gets
his/her apprenticeship completed. What do you think IDP stands for? Intern
Development is *the* role of architecture firms in hiring young
architects-to-be. If they get some work out of them during that time, all
the better.
We work exactly this way at our firm, and have been rewarded with our state
AIA design competition gold medal in 1998. The project was drawn entirely by
hand, but the competition boards were produced via the computer and a bit of
savvy graphic design. We do use visualization software to explore the
possibilities of the project's design, but ultimately, we end up hand
drawing the production sheets. BTW, we are not wanting for work, nor for
résumé's of those who want to work for us.
Wayde
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wayde tardif
architecture+graphic design
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wtardif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://wabakimi.carleton.ca/~wtardif/index.html