Tracey Hunzinker

1. In class when the Skydome was discussed, it was stated that the tax payers ended up picking up the slack in the financing because the architects went over their budget. Now obviously not all projects are going to have an unlimited bankbook to work from, so what happens to projects that go over the agreed upon price? Who has to cover the difference? Does the cause or situation surrounding the cost increase play any kind or role in who pays for it?

2. A C.P.M graph is normally done before you get to far into the planning and designing of a project, as the time allotted for the drawings and tendering have to be included. Now without the tendering faze and knowing what companies are doing the work for you, as some companies are going to take longer than others depending on the quality and the process of the work, how are you able to figure out what the time required for each task will be? Are they estimated guesses from previous projects? And if there is an error made in one of the allotted times will the C.P.M. be constantly under revision throughout the project? Or is it a case of “Written in Stone”?

Chris Defayette

1. How is finacing arranged for speculative developments? What does a real estate appraiser do?

2. What is the role of the law in real estate development? Do architects need a lawyer, what is their role in practice?

Sharif Khan

1‑ How integral is computer knowledge for this course?

2‑ How important is computer knowledge in the field of cost analysis?

Jean Brisson

1. What is the professor's opinion of 'pro bono' work? If the ultimate goal of the architect is to design buildings and bring forward solutions for the greater good of society, how can the architect compete with the politicians and developpers without selling out to in the name of mediocrity?

Between the two extremes of 'pro bono' work and 'selling out' there is a path of sustainable profitable conscious architecture; what is the professor's suggestion as to finding success along this path of professional fulfilment and financial prosperity?

In the process of gaining the favour of a client, how does the architect best introduce the issues of contract and legal details without appearing too eager?

Rick Hippolite

1: How does one know what order to place a contractor into the building process (onto a CPM chart) and how long each SHOULD take to complete the given task?

2: If contractors are NOT actually keeping up with the printed schedule... how does the architect find out about it? If a contractor is done too early are there problems related to this?

My personal Question:

In terms of virtual worlds: Should a virtual space be 1) a mimickry of the real world, or 2) a NEW type of world, completely unique from the real one. Number 2) is currently the case.Perhaps it should stay this way.

If 2) is true, then perhaps, we need new ways to look at Nimby'itism which have not yet been addressed. see pages such as: http://www.dramatispersonae.org/DesignEconomicsFrontPageTech.htm

If 1) is true, then I feel that AI can play a great part in the creation of "real" Architectural spaces. see my proposal at: (Image teaching your Avatar to think just like you so that it could create Internet spaces you would be in love with.)

Alexandre Clermont

1. What's in a name? Is there an example of a specific building project which was saved from the brink of failure by a sudden last minute change of title?

2. When building a building (ei: Corel Centre) which incorporates publicity signs in it's design, when does one know when there is too much advertising? Can there

be such a thing?

A.J. Gerth

1. What is the "safest" way for an architect to price a job? ( most effecticve way to come closest

to estimating price without worry of losing money on the job or having to greatly increase the budget)

2. What is the best way to protect your design ideas (intellectual property) from being copied

without compensation or recognition? Is a copyrighted drawing really protected or is it a weak form of protection?

Gilnar Haj Abed

1. What are the different factors of design economic and how does each influence and manipulate architecture or

any type of building?

1. Does design economics have an effect on business

(something other than architecture) and the general activity of a place? and how?

Submitted by: Melinda Hart; Melanie Micocci; Dominique Tonetti.

1. How to explore and encourage the use of alternative building materials, such as straw bale construction, where building codes prohibit or as not as accommodating?

2. Encourage renovation or recycling of buildings and/or salvaging materials from buildings that are being torn down despite labor costs?

3. Promote the use of environmentally conscious practice (ie. Construction techniques, design etc...)?

4. Making the most of the least. How to sell or explain the benefits to compact living arrangements particular to city living?

5. How to educate the public and city planners that a mix of residential and commercial is essential to a successful city or downtown core?

6. Promote design of accessible buildings that is functional and feasible. More than just to code standards.

7. How to run a successful architecture firm? What do you need to start?

8. The architect has to sell his or her firm. Would an architectural practice be better served by hiring a market strategist to better sell the project so that more attention can be devoted to design?

STEVE KENYON

1. As a young architect who plans on working for him/herself, is it adviseable to start a firm right away (after liscensing) under borrowed money, or to work for someone else until the setting is more stable?

2. Architects are generally "self employed" or work in a situation carrying no real pension arrangements. What is the best way a young architect to tackle the reality of a difficult retirement?

3. (to Mr. Firestone) ‑ As a successful player in the Real ‑ Estate / Developmet industry, would you say that architects who do small projects: (homes, renovations, small community buildings, etc.) work very hard but are not necessarily paid accordingly?

Kris Benes

1. How does one get more money out of the client in order to fund creative design?

2. How does one educate the client on appreciating creative design when your average person knows nothing about this? I mean we are talking about the same people that believe that a suburban monster with colonial columns at the entrance epitomizes good architecture?

Edward Ho

1. After the design being read by the client, what can be done to protect our copyright of the design if the client decided not to hire architect afterward?

2. In the CMP schedule, is that always true for the architects to call for the earliest start time instead of the latest start time when slack time is available?

Paolo Di Cienzo

1. Upon graduation architecture students seeking employment seem shocked, almost appalled by their starting wages. While an increase in pay is desirable, are these wages not an accurate indication of the inexperienced designer's worth to a firm?

2. The value of creativity seems faded as cost restrictions most frequently triumph over design. As architectural technologist societies demand greater responsibility and certification, how will architects demonstrate their value to the client if in the future technicians are permitted to design large scale projects(O.B.C., sect. 3) independently at competitive rates?

Chris Davis

1. The Architectural profession seems to have hit rock bottom economically over the last decade or two. Should the OAA enforce a minamum fee structure for licenced architects? Every project is radically different so how would a fee structure work? Do you think architects would embrace this idea? Has it been done before?

2. If an architect chooses to arrange a set fee, and his or her's office is efficient, they could make a greater profit than if they had chosen to be paid by the hour, or as a percentage of the building's cost. Is there any other advantages or disadvantages to a specific method of commission?

Annie Cheung

1. Ways to better intreperet the municipal zoning laws and by‑laws without misunderstanding or missing the point?

2. When there is disagreement between architect and client, how an architect maintain his or her professionalism? When and how to say no to client's requests to keep our ethics?

Emily Greenfield

1 You have often said that architects are artists before anything else, do you think there are circumstances and projects where a knowledge of the potential problems could have a very negative impact on the overall effectiveness of the design’s message?

2 Design Economics assigns many values to a project; profit, endurance, population, asthetics, people’s enjoyment etc. What is the most important value of a project? ie. Can the term design economics be used to describe improving the user appreciation value and not the economic value of a project? Do other commodities in the field outweigh money?

Mark Huang

1. The conflict between clients and architects are inevitable. Some clients do not care about the creativity, enviornmental value, urban issue, and energy saving system, etc. which tend to cost more to them. Once the cost is down, the "price" of the building per square foot will be cheap and then the potential buyer will buy each unit at low cost. Most of them are small business. How would you persuade clients about the value vs creativity vs cost if all they want is to sell the building right after it's built?

2. Where is the creativity of the building design if the cultural background, social value, and people belief plus building code completely block out every possibility of design? eg, political issue, feng‑shui, social values which money(business) is the most important value.

Amy Huddleston

1. Would it be possible for practices to do all interactions through the internet (with clients, consultants, and engineers)? Would the architect still be able to convey his / her intentions of the progect design through the computer screen?

2. Would a firm survive against today's firms that use technology to convey their designs, or would it be sufficient enough to continue their designing by hand?

Monika Durczak

1. Is the 'glamour' of architecture lost through corporate firms? Discuss the benefits and downfalls of private practive vs. corporate practice.

2. With technological advances reaching new heights, what are the potential changes coming with the new generation of architects? Discuss the possibilities (if any) and aspects of a 'school of virual architecture'.

Ramtin Attar

Architecture today consists of a complex process and it seems computer has become a dispensable tool in this process. However, still there

are small scale offices which try to avoid this technology since they believe over the course of time computers are more costly and trouble

making than traditional mediums.

I believe this would be worth while if we question the use of information technology, specifically computers, and it’s position in architectural realm.

1. Do we use computer just because they save us time and money? Or we can go one step further and take advantage from this new technology to catch up with the past thirty years and push the boundary of building industry?

Web has exposed a new landscape, nearly empty as far as it concerns architecture, to architectural realm. We can find lots of firms which have already entered this realm as a way of communication or just simply to represent themselves.

2. How can we use this new land to fill the created gap between clients , people, and architects? In addition, how can we take advantage to recover our lost reputation, not only as people who concern building industry but people who are able to make invisible visible or to create a new form of experience?

Mike Johnson's

1. With the advent of specilization of tasks and professionals, how can the architect be the master builder if he is always being asked to become specialized? How can the architect be expected to know everything of design, construction, of so many buildings if he does not become specialized?

2. It was so profoundly made apperent 30 years ago by Jane Jacobs in "Life and Death of Great American Cites" that diversity and density is needed within a city to have it work effectively. Today Zoning has pre‑planed where buildings can be placed and the space needed between buildings to maximize efficency. With this specialization of areas how can density and diversity with a city occur?

Side note to question 2 ‑ With the recent construction of suburbs and "Big Box" stores how can density occur when the 90% of the lot is reserved for parking cars?

Erin Duncan

1. Do you feel an architect is at a major disadvantage if they have little or no knowledge of computer software?

2. Are there any instances where design should come second to cost?

Leonard

1. As the economy is stepping down thoughout the whole world, what is the value / the role of an architect should play in order to satisfy both the profession ethic and the budget issue? how can we get a balance between the two?

2. The profession of architecture is being challenged by engineers nowadays. Many works done by architect can be done by engineers in a more rational and mathematical analysis. Is it a fact that it's "the end of architecture"?

p.s. "the end of architecture", issued by Prestel in 1993

Jin Feng

1. In terms of economy, architecture is a traditional profession because the way how its business is done. But the nature if architectural education is to expose the architect into many different ideas and concepts. How can young architects use their creativity to integrate or change the business practice?

2. Being an architect is to provide professional service to clients. The ultimate goal is to satisfy clients' needs. In an extreme case, if the client was not satisfied with the project, what would be the choice of the architect, to be passion about the business or his/her design? Or this is just a dump question.

Toni (Marion) Bramley

1. Real estate agents earn between 4 ‑ 10% of the sale price when they sell a house. And if they sell the same house again, they earn that commission again.

And again. What commission do architects earn over the life span of a house they have designed?

Comments?

2. I assume that Europeans are every bit as economically savvy as North Americans. So why do they use the linear critical path as outlined in Lecture 2? Is it simply the risk factor that keeps them away from the North American model?

May I add another couple of questions? If yes, go to:

3. You say that the profession of architecture is in crisis. Could this be because in our 3.5 years of architectural education to date you are the first professor to mention "the client"? Do you think that other courses/workshops/guest lectures should be added to our curriculum to address this possible imbalance between aesthetic integrity and basic humnan relations? (This goes for other schools of architecture as well.) What do you think the profession itself could do to better educate the public to the value of its services?

4. And, lastly, you have an excellent reputation, limitless opportunities, and a bank account that likely does not even notice an academic's pay cheque, so why do you teach? Actually, you sort of answered this in Lecture 2, so no need to answer again. But I had been wondering.

Dio Tzu‑Kai Ho

1. As an architect or designer for a project (ie. design a house), he/she has to sign a contract(s) with the client before starting to work on the project. Can you discuess what are the important things that we should definitely know about when signing a contract? And what are the contracts that we will be facing in this profession?

2. When something goes wrong in a big project, people start to blame each other. Architects, engineers and contractors are most likely to be the people being sued first. Can you give us some real examples in class and discuess how to stay away from trouble? And how to react when being sued? Is it safer to work for the government?

Trevor houghton

1. Do you need to be registered to have a successful design firm?

2. What is the best way to start up your own firm right out of school and with possibly no previous contacts?

Terra kitzul

1). With all of the business sense required in the running of a successful architectural practice, would it be beneficial to seek out some sort of business education in addition to our degrees?

2). What are the financial implications involved in the opening of a firm ‑ start up costs, etc.?

Amanda G

1) In one of our classes, we were told to put all of our assets in our spouses name, so that if we were ever to be sued, we wouldn't loose everything we own (such as the house, car, etc.) We have a running joke that we can't marry another architect! Someone else said that our insurance covers or butts. Is this true? What does our insurance truly cover?

1) Somewhere on the web site it said something about firing a client. When can you fire a client? Aren't you bound by a contract? Also, the most important thing that we can take from this course is VALUE. What is the best way to handle a situation where the client does not want to pay for your design?

CHRIS BUEHRLE

1. Have zoning by‑laws hindered the architectural and experimental design process by opposing architects with arbitrary site constraints? Or have they saved the streets and the cities from architectural "eye‑sores" by establishing a commonly continuous massing for the differing districts of the city?

2. When proposing a cost estimate to a client, is it first of all good practice to include a figure for your project overhead, and if so, is there a rule‑of‑thumb to follow when assigning this figure to the overall cost of the project?

Matt Galvin

1. How can the profession be saved from catalogue type architecture: ie home depot house plans, or downloadable autocad drawings? How can society be convinced, or cohersed through regulations, that architects are necessary to produce buildings?

2. After spending a month with Yvan in Africa, I've been troubled by the concept of luxurious spending on buildings in North America. Where are the ethics in convincing clients to spend more to improve the design or the asthetic, when essentially, whatever is produced is going to be better than 90% of the world population's buildings?

Frank Chang

1: Having worked in an architectural firm for the past summers, the question of legal issues often arose in the process of construction. In the future lectures, can you please discuss the work ethic of being an architect, as well as the precautions one should take as an architect in various different stages of the project (pre-design, design, build, finish, etc.) to maintain the smoothness of the project but most important of all, to protect the architect him/herself.

1: Contrary to what we have been trained in architectural school/studio, the professional practice of architecture in the real world is more than designing great spaces in the studio; it is an intricate web of relationship and efficient communication between various different bodies. In the future lectures, can you please discuss not only the structural and working aspects of such relationship between different bodies, but also the skills and strategies involved of which an architect should acquire to be in control of the situation.

Steve Akers

1. Define at least five strategic movements an architect or developer may use to convince or influence a roomful of N.I.M.B.Y.'s that their position is languid, during a presentation.

2a. Describe ten major points a student will employ during an interview to successfully land a position with a hiring firm, upon opening the front door.

2b. Could the Ottawa Senator's versus the Toronto Maple Leaf's, 'Battle of Ontario' replace the classic, gritty rivalry between the Leaf's and the now deteriorating reign of Montreal's Habs?

Jayant Gupta

1. The multi tasking process through which buildings are designed and built in North America seems to be oriented towards the developer making money whereas the linear method in Europe seems more oriented towards responsible design. Why does the North American system compromise design for economics? Are the finacial disadvantages of the European model sufficient to require abandoning the quest for good architecture and urban design? Which method is really_ superior?

2. If an architect gets 10% of the project cost, with which he/she pays the employees of the firm, all consultants, and all operating costs, can that leave an average architect enough money to survive? How does the business side of the design economics work? Is it only the lucky few who make it? Are the horror stories we hear from profs true? Or can I realistically aspire to be driving a corvette in 15 years? Should I be encouraging my girlfriend to switch to Law school?

Jason aylsworth

1. Is CPM widely used by architects in the field today?

2. Is CPM an advantage to trades, who primarily work on time and material?(not taking into consideration the next job lined up)

Shean Goonetilleke

1. Pertaining to the material we have covered in Professional Practice and Design Economics, (so far) we feel the necessity and want to computer educate ourselves and our practices (to be). As poorly paid as our profession seems to be, are we not putting the designer / architect in a worse predicament by doing so. Architectural concerns give more prominence and bigger pay to a CAD technician with a 1 year diploma than to a B.Arch graduate. While I am not against computers or there role in our profession, shouldn't a governing body intervene to remedy this?

2. As students or newly graduated architects a very common occurrence amongst us is under quoting fees. Some of us never outgrow it. Do you think this is a lack of business knowledge / know‑how, or a lack of self confidence brought on by five years of critique panels 'judging' your work. As our productivity and contribution to society is always 'relative' in taste, are some of us burdened with the stigma that our work is not 'valuable'. Shouldn't a school curriculum which is geared to produce professionals with a 'professional degree' cater to the monetary aspect of the profession a bit earlier?

Justin Bernard

1) Creating value seems to be an important theme in this course. Are their ways to some how estimate the increased dollar yield a client will obtain over time through a better designed building while still in the design stage.

2) What North American cities (or parts of a city) would you consider to be a good example of the highest best use principal.

Dina Alhussaini

I. How does the project manager decide on whether to buy equipment of rent it for construction purposes?

2. Who is in charge of examining the site to make sure that it is environmentally safe and not contaminated by any chemical or other waste form that would hinder or stop the construction of any project?

Justin Howling

1. How can we as architects begin to rebuild/regain the value, and financial worth that our profession once stood for?

2. Is it possible for architects to once again be praised for their ability to swing hammers instead of swinging golf clubs, and bring back the notion of 'master builder'?

Sarah Colven

1. Within the field of architecture are there career opportunities relating specifically to Economics? ie: a Critical Path Methodologist?

2. Do the principles of Design Economics relate to both Project Management and Office Management?

Dan Cronin

1. Is a cost/benefit analysis relevent to the role of an architect?

2. In a low budget project, should the architect try to cut corners on his/her design to meet costs?