The least sexy part of an Architect's job

hey guys welcome back to the channel if you're new here my name is dammy and i'm a licensed architect in beautiful vancouver bc today's episode is a part of a new series i'm starting called mundane mondays where i talk about the more practical the less sexy the slightly more mundane aspects of the job that will nevertheless make up a very big part of your day-to-day as an architect and are also aspects of the job that you will probably not learn about in school because they don't want to scare you away however these are aspects of the job that i personally enjoy very much and are probably one of the aspects that give me the most pride in being an architect [Music] so i made a video a couple weeks ago where i listed all the different requirements that you need to become an architect including the amount of hours you need to fill in certain categories i got a question asking if i could elaborate on the engineering systems coordination category but i felt like it would be hard to give you an explanation without giving you an overview of how we actually work with engineers so in this video i'm going to give you a brief description of what each of the consultants do and when and how to coordinate with them and what your responsibilities are the architect is usually responsible for the selection design and coordination of these building systems including the engineering systems the main ones are structural mechanical electrical and building envelope but that doesn't mean that you have to know everything about all of these systems you just have to be familiar with the performance and how it impacts the overall function of the building the engineers they're always there to help you so there's the structural engineers they'll calculate things like the typical bay framing maximum depth of the members minimum ceiling clearances they'll coordinate items that will have to be embedded into the structures like light fixtures conduits or junction boxes they'll calculate requirements for fire ratings they'll give you provisions for special equipment and typical mechanical equipment they'll review the availability of materials and they'll also respond to defined programming areas mechanical engineers they're going to be looking at things like natural ventilation whether you want to use a central or individual heating systems the size of the ac and heating equipment special hvac systems wall and roof construction the associated r values energy analysis and modeling glazing requirements and window coverings room temperature and humidity levels they're going to be looking at the approximate size of the mechanical equipment plumbing fixtures and controls water and waste removal features like noise control vibration dampers any owner requirements or operations requirements and an energy management strategy for electrical consultants they're going to be looking at the anticipated load and allowances for future expansion they're going to be looking at requirements for incoming services and space requirements for vaults or substations distribution of power and how much voltage you're going to be using location of electrical closets communications rooms bus duct risers requirements for embedded circuits light fixture selection requirements for ceiling systems also selecting the light fixtures which will be a nice design aspect for them switching controls for energy efficiency telecommunications and data systems fire alarm systems public address systems intercoms sometimes we could get a special lighting consultant your responsibility is to coordinate all these different systems typically how that happens is you send them your architectural drawings and after a couple of weeks they'll send you their drawings that are based off of your drawings and you basically mark it up and redline them for any conflicts or if you have any questions or concerns you send that to them so i mentioned earlier that it is not your job to know everything about these systems your job is really just to check for the form for example if you have an exposed ceiling all the duct work is going to be visible so did they pick out the ones that look nice that work with the rest of the design are they laid out in a nice way for example if you look at the pompidou center the mechanical systems are a really essential part of the overall design of the building so project like that was done with very intentional tight integration with the engineers then you have to look out for the location is it placed in a location that works with the rest of the design so for example when the electrical engineer is putting together his drawings he's not aware of all the mechanical ducts that are going into the space so it's your job to see if there's any conflicts if there's any ducts running into the lights and make note of that and lastly you're not responsible for any calculations unless you're doing a passive house building you might have to do the calculations for that but even that like you would typically have an energy and an envelope consultant the consultants are responsible and liable for making sure that the systems they're proposing works with the needs of the space they're also responsible for making sure that the systems that they're proposing meet all the building code and the other regulations actually you're supposed to get this in writing saying that they're going to be in compliance with all the different codes depending on the project engineers are brought in at different phases of the project sometimes during schematic design sometimes during design development if they're brought in during schematic design the architect would have already determined the spatial requirements the circulation the massing the impact of the sun or shade or snow or rain on the building if the engineer is brought in during the concept phase it means that they're really helping you develop those structural mechanical electrical concepts for the building so if you have a really big cantilever in your building it will be wise to consult a structural engineer before you move too far ahead with the design because it'll have an impact on your ceiling height where those structural members have to be which will eventually have an impact on the design so as you're designing you should work with a structural engineer to make sure that what you're designing is feasible earlier you bring them on the less work it could be down the road and they could also help you reduce the construction costs but if it's a pretty simple project then it's not really worth getting the client to pay for another consultant so early on so it's really dependent on the project sometimes the engineers are brought on even before the schematic design phase in the feasibility phase where the client is trying to get an understanding of how much the project is going to cost to see if it's even worth starting the project i was on a project where we were designing a canopy in a site near a ravine and it was on a very steep slope and so we got the structural engineer involved very very early on in the project and he was able to tell us what kind of system we needed to use for a site like this using this we were able to get an estimate for the cost actually ended up being a little bit too expensive for the client so we actually unfortunately didn't end up moving forward with the project but that's a much better scenario than doing all this work and then later on getting them involved and later on finding out that it's too expensive to build because the client would have already spent all this money on your fees so your job as the architect and the consultant is to help the client get an understanding of how much it's going to cost and the feasibility of the project the next stage is design development and so you continue having the meetings that you've been having or in some projects the engineers could be brought on at this stage and you just continue collecting information from the clients and the consultants this is typically where you would start doing your coordination because this is probably when you would put in your building permit and to put in a building permit you need a written confirmation from all these consultants saying that yes i have designed in a way that abides to the regulation and code of the jurisdiction and then in the construction document stage you continue to check and review the consultant's drawings but in much much much more detail than in the previous phase this is also when you would prepare your final specs for all the different systems the lighting fixtures you would know exactly which lighting fixture you're gonna get if you have a error handling unit then the mechanical engineers supposed to specify exactly what brand what size we're going to be getting on the project you would also do a more detailed cost estimate for this phase it's a lot of revising and reviewing drawings and you would also at the end of the phase typically submit it to the client for review and then there's the bidding and negotiations phase in most projects where the contractors they bid on the project you would start this phase with a site meeting where you invite all the people who are going to be bidding on the project and sometimes even the consultants come on board and you'd describe all the details of the job it gives the contractors an opportunity to ask questions before they submit a bid this is when you review shop drawings which are drawings that the manufacturer will have of a specific product contractors might suggest an alternative product to the product that you had specified so if there is a um i don't know special ceiling that you wanted to use but it's not available in vancouver bc then the contractor would ask for an alternate and ask oh can we use this very similar other product that's from l.a so you compare the two products and you let them know if that's okay or not and then the next phase is the construction phase also known as the construction admin phase during this time you're going to cite regularly checking upon the progress of the job you're putting together reports to send to the client and you're basically going there making sure that everything has been built to the way that you had drawn it and specified it there's a lot of paperwork involved if the contractor wants to change one little detail they have to send you a written notice sometimes even with the drawings asking if it would be okay to do that especially if it's gonna add cost to the project then that's another process so yeah there's a lot of paperwork during this phase but it's also a very fun aspect of the job because every week every two weeks you are seeing this thing that you had drawn up get built in real life and then typically at the end of the month there's this thing called a progress claim where the contractor basically lists all the progress they've made like oh we put in the glazing oh we put in the floor and then they'll say okay like we completed uh 80 of the job so can you pay us for this much and so you are supposed to review their progress on site and you're supposed to recommend to the client um okay like it's actually true it's been done to 80 and then the client can pay the contractor and so this is the same with the consultants you send the progress claims to the electrical consultant or the mechanical consultant and then they'll be able to tell the client whether the progress is what they really say it is and then the last phase is the project closeout or the project takeover and then in this phase you do a final walkthrough make sure there's no deficiencies make sure there's no scratches on the walls in that case the client can withhold payment from the contractor so that they're forced to finish the job and then you will have to prepare record drawings if uh it was a part of your contract well that was a really long video but i hope you guys found that information helpful and i hope that you guys got a little sense of what coordination is and what this part of the job is like if you found this video helpful please give me a thumbs up and if you haven't already subscribe and check out my other videos i have some other interesting videos that are not as dry as this you

Channel: DamiLee

Views: 26,238

Keywords: architecture, architecture school, architecture student, architect, life of an architect, structural engineer, electrical engineer, how to be an architect, day in the life of an architect, coordination, what do architects do, how do architects work with engineers, how do architects coordinate with engineers, mechanical engineer, civil engineer, building scientist, building envelope engineer

Id: oD3KU3fhQgM

Length: 14min 57sec (897 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021