Perspectives: Foward Thinking

Over the last 65 years we have been fortunate to serve at the forefront of architecture in our state. To better service our clients, we continually evaluate trends in our industry and ask, how do we bring greater value? What contributions will we make? We asked several of our architects and architects-to-be for their opinions about how the industry is evolving and what that means for clients.

Lisa Rapp, AIA, LEED®-AP, Principal

Practicing Architect: 21 years

“BIM will eventually become the standard way in which drawings are created. I suspect that it will transform the way we do business in architecture much like AutoCAD transformed our practice when we all transitioned from hand-drafting to computer drawing (except the change will be more exponential by moving to BIM).

Another way that architecture is changing is that there is more attention to sustainable design than ever before. The BIM model will be much more powerful in terms of the amount of information it can hold and will probably become a useful tool for client/building users even beyond completion of construction. Many more decisions and commitments will need to be made earlier in the design process to take full advantage of the BIM model. The fee structure will also need to be adjusted to be heavier on the front-end as well to align with this process.

The public is becoming much more in tune with sustainability in all aspects of life and while it is now a ‘nice to have’ goal for private sector work, I think that public influence will eventually encourage private sector clients to move to more sustainable design in their buildings. I believe there will be more clients who will be proactively looking for sustainable design.”

Charles Chan, AIA, LEED®-AP, Principal

PracticingArchitect: 32 years

“Economic pressure produces various production delivery methods from the traditional ‘design-bidbuild’ to ‘design-assist, design-build and design-build and operate.’ Projects are increasingly more specific and complicated requiring us to be knowledgeable and versatile enough to pull together the right teams or create joint ventures between specialty firms.”

Kevin Chan, Doctorate of Architecture Program, UH-Manoa

Architectural Intern-Summer 2011

“Young designers are pushing more toward cutting-edge and green design. I also see the design process and technology becoming more and more integrated. Now that designers are switching to Revit, I see architects and engineers working hand-in-hand together to make the design process even more seamless.”

Aaron Wagner, Assoc. AIA, BIM Manager

Industry Experience: 13 years

“Project teams will become even more collaborative, more teamand goal-centric, the roles and responsibilities of each team

member will be magnified and illuminated, everything for a specific, clearly defined purpose. Data will be perpetual; project information will continue to aggregate even beyond ‘cradle to grave,’ allowing for even more intelligent design, construction and operations.

Clients and teams will have more direct access to shared information for decision making and collaboration purposes. Clients will have the opportunity to enrich and further upgrade their projects by applying more informed analyses and testing.”

Joe Farrell, AIA, Principal

Practicing Architect: 52 years

“The aesthetics of architecture and the general design of what the client needs are two things that are constant and always in my mind. We are in a modern era and our non-residential clients have been looking for more modern architectural designs, as opposed to historical architecture. Architects must pay attention to this pendulum swing.

Architects have to be careful not to confuse aesthetics with sustainability. If you give joy by creation, it is probably the highest form of sustainability. To me, the major part of sustainability is what we’ve always done. The thing that needs to be addressed most is the aesthetics of sustainability.”

Brian Takahashi, AIA, LEED®-AP 

Practicing Architect: 35 years

“Architecture is morphing and moving beyond traditional methods of design. The industry has become more complicated due to cost factors, integration of sustainability, new contract vehicles (design-build, design-assist) and new ways of delivering what we do.

People used to select architecture based on qualifications and professionalism. Particularly in a down economy, decisions are made based on cost. This forces us to be more competitive in fees and delivery of projects and to be future thinking. If we do not anticipate where the train is coming, we will not know when to step away. It means constantly thinking about our practice and how we will adapt. Competition is fierce. That meansfor every job we pursue, we have to be consistently outstanding to be selected. Clients demand this and deserve this from us.”