Documents for Structuring Projects (CE) (PjM)

There are three project areas in which decisions are made regarding documents. The first involves the design work in the creation of the drawings, specifications, and other construction documents, used to bid the work and guide the construction of the same. The second is the documents generated in the administration of the project construction. The third is the many project records which should be kept for corporate knowledge, or for protection against future liability. Taken all together, these documents all tell the story of how the firm moved the project forward from inception to completion.

Preferably the work in all phases of service was done smoothly and in such a way, that the completed project is a source of pride to the architect, a source of satisfaction to the contractor, and a source of joy to the owner.

Upon successful completion of this module, the student will be able to:

• Identify the documents produced by the architect, in the different phases in which they provide services.
• Discuss the use of less formal documents to convey design intent.
• Examine considerations made when designing for sustainability.
• Describe the many records generated by the architect during a project, which should be retained.
• Recognize quality control methodologies, used in architectural offices to improve document quality.
• Explain the purposes of an architect’s periodic construction progress observations.

Paul Spite, BS, BA
AFD Consulting, Founder and Principal

Paul is a Registered Architect with over forty years of experience, a course developer and has been a teacher in multiple venues in the past. He is also a writer in many venues, having developed many studies, a few published articles, numerous short stories, multiple screenplays, two non-fiction manuals for church design and one novel. More to the focus of this endeavor, Paul has also created presentations for twenty-six lunch and learn presentations for building material manufacturers, webinars covering the subjects of Aging-in-Place and Architectural Acoustics and eleven distance learning courses for architects, engineers and contractors. As he nears retirement from managing his small architectural practice, Paul hopes to focus even more of his energy on teaching and on course development.