Architect or Mad Hatter?

Have you ever thought of what an Architect’s role is exactly? Well depending on the firm and the Architect, they sometimes play different roles and need to switch their creative hat to go from a designer to, let’s say, a consultant coordinator. In this post we go through 10 “hats”.. from our experience.. the Architect wears.

THE ARCHITECT

So here is the starting point, the Architect walks into the start of the work day ready to create and design innovating architecture.

THE ARTIST

The Architect puts the Beret on to channel their creative side to begin working through the design process. Just as the things seem to be coming together, the Architect gets a call from the client…

THE THERAPIST

The client is in a panic, they are having trouble understanding some parts of the design because they are unsure of how things are going to come together. The Architect then puts the Therapist cap on to walk through the client’s concerns and helps put their doubt at ease. After hearing the client talk about things coming together the Architect realizes there needs to be some coordination in order to work out some design questions…

THE COWBOY

The Architect puts on the Cowboy hat to make a few phone calls to the different consultants in order to wrangle them together for coordination. Yeeeee-haww!

THE LAW

Returning back to the office, the Architect has a meeting with a new team member. The Architect puts the State Trooper hat on to go through the rules of the office and what is expected of them.

THE BUILDER

After meeting with the new minion, the Architect invites them to go to the job site. Once arriving, the Architect puts the Construction hat on to see the progress and make sure the design is being built according to the contract documents. After a few minutes walking around the job site the Architect calls over the General Contractor to review the budget and schedule of the project.

THE BUSINESSMAN

During the meeting with the General Contractor, the conversation about budget comes up. The Architect puts on the Bowler hat to discuss the budgeting of the project. With knowledge and experience from past projects the Architect catches some mistakes on the change orders! Good eye Architect!

THE PRESENTER

After the site visit, the Architect returns to the office for a meeting with a potential new client. Upon arriving, the Architect puts the Top hat on and with a small tilt to the side the Architect feels confident about the proposal.

THE PROFESSOR

The Architect has had a busy morning running around to meetings and speaking to clients. Now the Architect puts the professor hat on to spend time with the new minion and go through any questions they have about the construction meeting or things in general within the office. The Architect then asks for a drawing to be completed by end of day in order to review it before a conference call with a client that is abroad.

THE CRITIC

Before the day is over, the minion prints and hands the drawing that were requested. The Architect then puts the Judge’s Wig on to review the drawing and give useful feedback and also make any necessary revisions to the design.

THE TEAM PLAYER

At the end of the day the Architect puts on the Baseball Cap, high-fives everyone in the office and gives an extra thumbs-up to the new minion.

As the team leaves the office, the Architect takes off his glasses, rubs his eyes and places them down on the shelf with the line of hats ready for the next day!

So there you have it, 10 hats we see our Architect wear. If you have another hat idea, let us know!