Technical Architects vs. Design Architects

The concept of splitting our profession in a design department and a technical department - how it’s done in my office - is still alien too me. The way I was taught design is that everything depends on each other, the structure, the spaces, the form, the materials, etc. Everything ought to ‘makes sense’ to support the overall design idea – sort of like the Aristotle approach in which something is right when you can’t add or take away from it unless for the worth.

I agreed however to join the technical department in my office and have since then worked solely in construction documents and construction administration. I was determined to learn all about construction, materials and ‘real’ spaces. The design department tent to work crazy hours on mostly image production, learning more about graphics than anything else. I was determined to break the common architect’s curse; I wanted to be paid for knowledge not for labor.

The price is though at times. I crave to design and for soul mates among my colleagues. Yet the folks in the technical department don’t talk much about design – let alone read about it. So, while I make my experience I suffer from lack of inspiration. But I am still convinced that working on the technical side makes me become a stronger designer at the end.

What cheers me up is taking one of my favorite books off the shelf, browsing and picking a project I really like and studying it, the plans, sections, details and photos. (By the way the El Croquis series are still my favorite magazines because their documentation is very complete sometimes including even model images and detail drawings) Other than that I may browse to an office website whose work I like, pick a project and study it. The best treat however, is to visit one of my favorite buildings which is of course is not always possible.

What’s left? Right - blogging about it!