An.Other.Archy

As the profession moves towards ever more integrated design processes, it has become incumbent upon the new members of the profession, fresh from their successful collegiate studies, to present themselves to architect employers with an ever increasing list of already-owned and developed skills.

Back in the old days, when drawings were produced by hand – pencil or pen upon vellum or film – the freshly minted architectural graduate could be assured of at least a couple of years of laboring over the smallest details, interior and exterior elevations, plans, or sections. This had the benefit of exposing the candidate, slowly, to all the ins and outs of basic building design as they worked to help a team assemble a set of drawings. Most components of the drawing sets, including all the details, were redrawn for each project. This systematically forced repetition would help instill an understanding of the system or materials contained within the details on the young architect-to-be, while he or she perfected their line technique and lettering “hand”.

Then came sticky back reproduced standard details and things like pin-bar assembly of final drawings. Suddenly the focus of the labor was to select the correct, already drawn details to install on a sheet, see to it that they were copied, and then assembled on the correct sheet. Less time was spent (less was available) actually reviewing the detail for content and accuracy, as the basic drawing effort was already completed. The opportunity to learn about the content and reasoning behind the detail was reduced. Only the most diligent intern spent any time reviewing all of the content for accuracy and personal understanding.

Now computers and design programs allow us to produce even more quantity in less time, with the sticky back detail replaced by “x-refed” details and geometry. The amount of time spent reviewing the contents of the details is even more constricted, and the opportunity to learn how things work is even more compressed.

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