The $300,000/Year Architect

Could building information modelling (BIM)shake up not only design and deliveryprocesses, but also be set to redefine theconstruction hierarchy? Could it shift thearchitect’s position from near the bottom of thecurrent food chain to one nearer the top? Urs Gauchat, Professor and Dean of the Schoolof Architecture at the New Jersey Institute ofTechnology, outlines the architect’s place in acomplex future where there is an increasingdemand for buildings but a demise in availablematerials and conventional energy sources.

The idea of the architect as choreographerwho makes traditional approaches to danceneeds to be expanded to allow for form-giving based on parametric design and non-traditional ideas. At this point architectureno longer needs to be restricted to anextrapolation or interpolation of historicalprecedents. With information modelling,architects can simultaneously be much moreconnected to design while understandingconstruction, and bringing together designand making like never before.

The impact of building information modelling (BIM) andintegrated project delivery (IPD) is likely to create moreopportunities and more pitfalls than the CAD revolutionhas managed to over the last 25 years. It is not yetevident whether BIM will lift architects to new heights orwhether it will lead to further marginalisation. UnlikeCAD, its transformative power on the profession will be farswifter and thus more consequential.

This positive trend will provide the context for BIM forat least the next 25 years. The increase in buildingvolume will be driven by the rapidly expanding economiesof China and India, and by an unprecedented rate ofconstruction elsewhere. Even given the financial outlookin the US and around the globe at the time of writing, therate of construction will, over the coming years, beunprecedented. Currently, all of the buildings in the US

account for approximately 230 billion square feet (21.4 billionsquare metres). It is anticipated that by 2030 there will be aneed for an additional 106 billion square feet (9.8 billionsquare metres) of new construction as well as 97 billion squarefeet (9 billion square metres) of reconstruction.1 This is theequivalent of 90 per cent of all buildings in the US today.

Similar unprecedented rates of growth are predictedthroughout the world. The worldwide need for building willcreate a scarcity of resources that will bring about radicallydifferent building design and delivery methods. The materials,methods and techniques employed now will have to evolve inresponse to finite commodities such as iron, ore, coal andbauxite. In addition, staggering amounts of energy will beconsumed in the production of building materials such ascement, glass, steel and aluminium. Other building materials,including plastics, are petroleum based.

Despite the present economic woes, the long-term prognosis for construction remains positive. The long-term trajectory is, of course, subject to cyclical moves in the economy. Nevertheless, the long-term prospectsare driven by strong underlying fundamentals and, despite economic fluctuations, will continue to trendupwards. Data from Arthur C Nelson, Toward A New Metropolis: The Opportunity to Rebuild America, TheBrookings Institution (Washington DC), 2004. Graphic based on Appendix Tables, pp 26–41.

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Buildings are already responsible for approximatelyhalf of the world’s CO2 emissions, as well asdisproportionate amounts of energy, water, refuse andpollution. All these factors will add to the pressure todevelop new approaches and innovations that conservenot only energy, but also finite materials in themanufacture, construction, operation and recycling ofbuildings. This new context will sorely test the ability ofthe architectural profession to adapt and adjust to a newbusiness climate, and BIM will be one of the keys to thisnecessary metamorphosis of design and construction.

BIM not only provides the possibility of seamlesscommunication between all the participants in the buildingprocess, but also holds the promise of real-time links tovarious live databases. This, in turn, will have a significantimpact on the decision-making process as design projectsare developed, with informed decision-making processesleading to more highly informed design proposals.

The present design and building process can be seenas a Darwinian food chain. At the top of the food chainare investors, private equity firms, hedge funds andfinancial institutions. Somewhat lower down, yet still nearthe top, are developers and owners. Still lower are

contractors, owners’ representatives and construction managers,followed by architects, engineers and allied professionals. Near thebottom of the food chain are construction workers and others engagedin manual labour. By enhancing the architect’s ability to create value,BIM could radically change the profession and wrench it from itspresent trajectory of marginalisation, eventually opening the way forarchitects to move further up the food chain.

Parallel DevelopmentsA parallel, but equally relevant, development is the quiet revolutionthat has taken place in the real-estate business. This is due to a radicalshift in the nature of building clients and sponsors. The days whenaristocratic and benevolent patrons were the major sponsors ofarchitecture are now in the distant past. Also waning are individualentrepreneurs with edifice complexes. These traditional clients areincreasingly being displaced by private equity firms, hedge funds, real-estate investment trusts (REITs) and other financial institutions. Tothese new entities, real estate is just another financial vehicle: they aredriven by sophisticated analyses rather than ego or pride of ownership;they are shrewd and constantly compare real-estate investments withalternative and potentially more productive uses of capital. Theirinvestment strategies centre around three major variables: yield, safetyand liquidity. Recently, returns on investments in commodities have

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Building Development Information Model, New York, 2008Building information modelling (BIM) platforms such as Revit and Digital Project allow a 3-D virtualcomputer model to be linked to any variety of databases used for the scheduling of components orthe costing of those components. BIM can dramatically expand decision making and informationflow, an approach that produces a much higher degree of accountability and predictability, and alsoraises the question of who is in charge of the process, who owns the virtual model, who is takingthe risk and who reaps the rewards. The chart here, developed by SOM, illustrates this point.

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SHoP Architects, Architectural PracticeRisk and Reward, New York, 2007The Darwinian food chain in terms ofreward compared with the intellectualcontribution to the design and buildingprocess. BIM could finally open the way forarchitects to move further up the food chain.Those lower on the food chain, includingarchitects, have traditionally been seen asnon-essential to the construction processand therefore easily replaced.

By enhancing the architect’s ability to create value bylinking decisions made during the design phases toconstruction and assembly operations during theconstruction phases, BIM has the potential to radicallychange the profession and to wrench it from itspresent trajectory of marginalisation. Architects maythen be able to re-establish themselves as central tothe construction process.

been promising, and consequently large amounts of capital has shiftedto commodities from less liquid and lower-yield investments such asreal estate. Capital reallocations such as this are triggered by mega-trends as well as local economic fluctuations. Since capital does nothave any allegiance to sector nor location, it will inevitably seek to findthe highest return with the least amount of risk.

Given this situation, what is the role of information models and IPD?BIM makes it possible to see the effects of decisions in terms of cost,energy efficiency, material availability and other project expenditures.It is therefore of particular interest to this new kind of client. The factthat a building can be run and tested via an electronic model is akin toBoeing creating a virtual 777 and testing all the systems electronicallyprior to it going into full-scale production.2 BIM removes uncertaintyand therefore reduces risk. Owners, financial institutions and investorsalike have a pathological dislike for unknowns and concomitant risks,thus the added value provided by architects using BIM justifies higherfees and even their possible participation in the economics of buildingdevelopment projects.

Information Models in Design PracticeIt is important to keep in mind that BIM is merely a tool, albeit atransformative one. Therefore, contrary to a common misconception,BIM should have no negative impact on the quality of design. Indeed,the ability to do cost and benefit analyses during the design processshould encourage more daring and unconventional design as alternativeand far-fetched solutions can be evaluated on an equitable basis.

Many view BIM primarily as a software program. This is based onthe assumption that ‘CAD jockeys’ would merely be replaced by ‘BIMjockeys’. Instead, the use of BIM to its full potential will require veryhigh levels of skill, experience and judgement. The traditionaldraughtsman or junior architect of yore is not in a position tosimultaneously design and evaluate a myriad interlocking decisions.The integration of design decisions, cost implications andconstruction feasibility requires an inordinate ability and a highlyelevated level of responsibility. The activities of such an architectcan be compared to piloting a modern commercial jet instead of asingle-engine private plane. This new professional will have a muchgreater impact on the quality of design, constructability and cost.Individuals capable of performing such a complex and demandingrole are rare and will therefore be sought after. The added economicvalue they can provide should elevate their salaries to the equivalentsof those of top lawyers and doctors.

The impending changes have some interesting effects on the natureof practice. Architectural practice is in the process of bifurcating intothe adherents to traditional models and those who take advantage oftechnological change. The technologically more advanced firms, suchas those represented here, are likely to grow further and further apartfrom the pack; they will be capable of providing much higher and morecomprehensive levels of service and raising the expectations of clients.It is likely that it will become increasingly difficult for traditional firmsto compete. In other words, the penalty for resisting change willincrease dramatically over time.

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Another aspect of the educational equation is the changingnature of architecture students. Millennials (that is, studentsborn between 1980 and 2000) have different qualifications andinterests compared to previous generations of students. Butmore importantly their brains seem to be wired differently – theresult of exposure of their brains to digital information duringthe early developmental stages and during periods of particularlyactive synapse formation.3

A changing professional landscape will require changingemphases in architectural education. New imperatives will bringdifferent professional attributes to the fore and displace manytime-honoured skills, attitudes and knowledge. Despite the mostfar-sighted and informed goals, each institution is operatingunder many real or imagined constraints. The education of thecomplete professional of tomorrow must emphasise someattributes that depart markedly from the past, for example:

• Judgement is probably the most important yet elusivecharacteristic of a complete professional. With almost infiniteamounts of information, judgement is needed to discernwhich information is relevant and which is extraneous.

• Teamwork will be required to design and implement complexbuilding projects. Increasing time pressures and economicrealities make it imperative that teams have access to thenecessary expertise to make informed decisions. The mostchallenging aspect of teamwork, however, is to foster ratherthan inhibit creative design and design excellence. Teamworkimplies neither consensus nor collective decision making.Instead, design teams require inspired leadership to avoidbeing mired in mediocrity.

Information Models in Architectural EducationJust as the profession is likely to bifurcate, so too will thearchitectural schools: into the more traditionalestablishments that will continue to foist an educationalprogramme on students that was modelled on theteachers’ own educational experiences, and the moreprogressive schools that are able to make the necessaryinvestments and faculty adjustments to educate a newbreed of architects. These two trajectories are also likelyto grow further and further apart. For each school the keyquestion is how to position itself vis-à-vis other schoolsand vis-à-vis a changing profession.

In principle, much of traditional education inarchitecture was based on an emulative model that haschanged little since the Beaux Arts period. It waspredicated on the idea of an apprenticeship to a master. Astudent’s education was based on building blocks ofknowledge from authoritative sources taught by authoritativefigures. The challenge of architectural education today ishow to produce a new kind of professional with distinctlydifferent skills sets, attitudes and knowledge.

The current conundrum in architectural education pitsthe traditional pedagogical framework, which relies heavilyon personal visual judgements, theories of compositionand proportion, against parametric design, which combinesperformative criteria with algorithm-driven design.Parametric design offers solutions that can neither beimagined nor judged by today’s subjective-aestheticstandards. BIM has a place in both of these approaches,though it is more integral to parametric design.

BIM has for some time played a significant role in non-building applications, and other markets have beenahead of the building design and construction industry in taking advantage of information modelling. It hasallowed engineers and scientists to simulate conditions to virtually fly planes and run refineries prior toconstruction. Going beyond depiction, information models, such as this fuselage of a Boeing 777, are operativeand bring a new level of sophistication and informed decision making to design and building.

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• Technical skills are also essential components of acomplete professional. BIM and IPD are among thecritical techniques that will enable the next stage inthe evolution of the profession. The need tocommunicate effectively using different BIM platformswill place increasing emphasis on interoperability andagreement on common standards.

• Intimate knowledge of the design and building deliveryprocess is needed in order to be the most effectiveparticipant. Particularly in the US, the currentconstellation of professional roles and contractualrelationships are a preamble to conflict and acrimony.A realignment of interests in which all participantsshare in the success or failure of a project provides amore effective and profitable modus operandi. As theboundaries between professional roles become furthereroded, a full realisation of the potential of IPD willresult in more productive and profitable collaborations.

• General education must not be marginalised. Arudimentary understanding of business principles,psychology, social science and traditional liberal artsprovides an effective remedy against the myopia ofmany professionals. Architectural education must notgive in to pressures to trade off general education infavour of professional subject matter. Muchprofessional knowledge ages quickly, whereas goodgeneral education will always provide a soundframework for lifelong learning. Moreover, a generaleducation provides an excellent opportunity to honeskills in communication and reasoning.

Curriculum of the School of Architecture at the NewJersey Institute of Technology. Instead of a traditionalframework of dispersed ‘technical’ courses such asstructural fundamentals or environmental andenclosure systems, the school recently implemented aseries of eight building systems courses that seek toexpose relationships in the design and coordination ofbuilding systems (plumbing, structural, mechanical andso on) within an architectural context. Coupled withspecific design problems consistent with the studyyear, the content imparted can be more successfullylinked through information modelling to become thecommon platform for studio and systems courses. It isdesigned to reflect the needs of the profession 15years hence, and is intended to foster the keyattributes of the complete professional of tomorrow.

• Talent comes in many forms. In complex buildings there is acontinual give and take between team members, who use theirrespective talents. Although the designer is still first amongequals, he or she may no longer necessarily lead the designprocess. Complementary expertise and a range of talents are theprerequisites to a successful design solution.

The way in which these attributes are addressed in the education ofan architect will vary from school to school. In each case, a closecollaboration between the profession and the school will ensure thatthe respective educational model is properly calibrated. Changes inthe profession must be the result of collaboration betweeneducational institutions and architectural firms; they are dependenton each other and can thrive only through constant give and take.

It is crucial that educational models be developed thatunleash the creative impact of inspired design using the fullarsenal of new techniques. Architecture is at an excitingcrossroads. Both the profession and education need to workclosely together in the pending metamorphosis to ensure thatarchitecture will have the best days ahead of it, rather thanbehind it. What an exhilarating prospect. 4

Notes1. Arthur C Nelson, ‘Toward A New Metropolis: The Opportunity to Rebuild America’,Brookings Institution Report, 2004.2. Guy Norris and Mark Wagner, Boeing Jetliners, Zenith Imprint – MBI Publishing(Minneapolis), 1996, p 21.3. Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain,HarperCollins (New York), 2007.

Text © 2009 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: pp 33, 37 © Urs Gauchat/NJIT; p 34 ©Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill; p 35 © SHoP Architects; p 36 © Barry Minor