Architect
From ArticleWorld
An architect is a person who is involved with the planning, designing, and managing of a building's construction.
Contents |
In the name
The word "architect" is derived from the Latin architectus and from the Greek arkhitekton. In the broadest sense, an architect is a person who translates the user's needs into the builder's requirements.
Overall understanding
An architect must thoroughly comprehend the building as a whole and operational codes under which their designs must conform to. That degree of knowledge is necessary so that they are not apt to overlook any necessary requirements, or produce improper, conflicting, ambiguous, or confusing renditions.
The architect must understand the multiple methods available to the builder for constructing the building's structure. This is so that they can negotiate with the builder to produce the best possible compromise of the results desired within explicit cost and time constraint boundaries.
Architects are professionals who must frequently make building designs and planning decisions that affect the safety and well being of the general public as a whole.
Educational requirements
Architects are required to obtain specialized education and documented work experience to obtain a professional license. This is similar to the requirements for other professionals, with requirements for practice varying greatly from location to location.
Award
The most prestigious award an architect may receive is the Pritzker Prize, which is often termed the "Nobel Prize for architecture."
Other awards for excellence for architecture are given by national and regional professional associations such as the American Institute of Architects and Royal Institute of British Architects.
Terminology
Although architect technically refers to a licensed professional, the word is frequently used in a much broader sense than noted above to define someone who brings order to the built or unbuilt environment through the use of rational constructs and the signs. For example, "naval architects," "software architects," and graduates of schools of architecture working in architecture firms are often called "architects."
However, in most countries an unlicensed individual working in the construction industry are legally prohibited from referring to themselves as "architects."