James Petty Aia

Architect & Developer: A Guide to Self-Initiating Projects

The traditional role of the architect is far too passive and uncertain. The profession has positioned itself to sit by the phone until we are called upon and commissioned to do work. Architects have long been charged with creating a better-built environment, but it is the developers who dictate what is actually built in our cities. The decisions made by developers before architects are engaged in a project dictate later success. When all of the initial programming, market studies, and cost estimates are based on market averages, it is unsurprising when the final products in our cities are nothing more than average. In the end, architects have devalued their role to the pencil of the developer's vision. By combining Architect & Developer, you can command a greater sense of control, faster decision making, an efficient process, and the potential for a much better profit. The largest hurdle to becoming an architect as developer is that first project. An entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to take risk is required. What developers do is not difficult, you need only have an appetite for risk.I sat down with over a dozen separate architects who are self-initiating their work. Some were doing this as a side hustle while holding down a nine-to-five job, some were small studios that were dipping their toes into the development game, and some were full-blown Architects & Developers. I wanted to absorb what they have learned throughout the process and consolidate the information into a digestible format. Architect & Developer includes one-on-one interviews from: DDGMike Benkert, AIAWC StudioBarrett DesignGuerrilla DevelopmentThe UP StudioOJTAlloy, LLCFind more information at architectanddeveloper.co