Attention to detail
When designing and building a new home or office, both the architects and builders need to pay attention to detail. The architect needs to make sure when they are generating the details on how the structure goes together, that they are making sure that the structure is going to be energy efficient and durable. Therefore architects and contractors really need to pay attention to the details.
The majority of architects that you talk to are passionate about design. It permeates every aspect of our lives. However as I move forward into my career, I am finding I pay more attention to the details. Now I have an appreciation for design, it is just not my strong point. I find it more satisfying to be working on building and wall sections. Taking what the designer has come up with and generating the details to make it reality and really focusing on the details that will help to insure that the building will be durable and energy efficient.
With that said, I plan on starting a new series of posts titled “Attention to detail”. These posts, if you have been following the blog at all, at no surprise will be focusing on energy efficiency and durability. I will be bringing the attention to small details that can make a big difference in the energy efficiency and durability of a building over its lifetime.
LEED Credentialing – Update
In a previous post (here) I talk about the new LEED Credentialing system and how my opinion of the LEED AP designation has changed over the past 5 years since I took the exam. Over at Real Life LEED, the author tries to explain if there are any real benefits to existing LEED AP’s to upgrading to the new LEED AP+ which sparked a good discussion on his comment board.
So please, venture over to Real Life LEED and read his latest post.
Do Legacy LEED APs Really Benefit By Upgrading to the 2009 System?
NCARB raising the ARE fees in October
So my return to blogging is not starting off on the right foot. I must have a lot of pent up anger that I do not know about. Well anyways it was announced a couple of months ago that the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB) is going to be raising the exam fee beginning October 1st of 2009. They are raising the fee from $170 to $210. Only $40? Those of you not in the profession may be asking why are you bitching about $40. Well multiply that by 7. That brings the grand total of the Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) to $1,470. That is more than the bar exam that lawyers have to take. And in most cases they make much more money than architects. And what make this number even more difficult to swallow is that most architectural firms do not reimburse their employees for taking the exams, let along giving them the time off needed to take the exams that range from 2-6 hours in length.
The attached blog post from the Architectural Record (NCARB Increasing Test Fees), gives some incite into why NCARB is raising their fees. However this is not a good thing for the profession. Already the trend for most architecture graduates is to never obtain their architectural registration that would allow them to legally practice architecture on their own. As long as they are working for an architectural firm they see no need. However this is resulting in less people getting registered every year.