3 Things You Need To Know About Architecture Firms!

Welcome back, ArchiHacks fam! We will talk about three major things you need to know about architecture firms and how they operate today! The three major topics will be broken into smaller units to highlight the different aspects of the business. While this information does help support your decision when considering a firm, it also provides insight into how an architecture firm is structured if you want to open a firm. Can you imagine yourself opening up your design firm? Yes, no, or maybe? It’s not for the faint of heart! Whether you plan to start or join a new firm, this information is often overlooked or rushed in most architecture curriculums, so let’s get to it!

Studio Size

The first and foremost important point to understand with a firm is its size! As such, you should ask yourself what studio size fits best with you or your future goals. Each firm size has different pros and cons, but keep in mind that doesn’t correlate with the size of projects a firm can receive. Small firms can receive multi-million dollar projects, and big firms can also work on dozens of small-scale projects!

Small firms are ideal for individuals who like to wear multiple hats! Since there are fewer people to lean on and fewer resources, employees need to be more self-reliant while working closely with their small team. Firms of this size are very conscious of the team balance and carefully craft their teams to mesh well. If you seek a role that will allow you to see projects from start to finish with a large amount of responsibility, a small team may be for you!

Medium-sized firms tend to combine both small and large incentives. The overall firm can break into smaller teams that focus on more specific areas of work (typically types of projects or phases of a project). If one group becomes extremely busy, they can receive support from other teams within the office. Please note, individuals pulled into projects outside of their team are still responsible for their duties within their team – if one gets too busy, it can be a tricky balancing act!

Larger firms have more resources, a diverse project portfolio, and more personalities. Larger firms also break down into smaller teams but tend to be more concrete in having specific seniors, designers, and drafters dedicated to each group. Roles and responsibilities tend to be more rigid and defined in large firms. If you are looking to play a more specific role in a team, such as a project manager, draftsperson, arch visualization, or conceptual designer, then a larger firm with such a structure may be for you!

In most scenarios, you might not have a clear idea of which size fits better with you until you experience all the firms. On the other hand, it will likely start as a studio/atelier and eventually work its way up if you consider starting your firm! It may be a stretch to reach AECOM, HDR, or CallisonRTKL, but not impossible!

Organizational Type

Once you settle on a firms’ size, the second thing you’d want to understand is the organization of the design practice. We often see two methods of organizational structure; studio-based, department-based, or a hybrid of the two. Each firm will have its hierarchical and design structure nuances, so it’s a critical and engaging question you should ask management or yourself.

Studio-Based

Firms that follow a studio-based organization most likely fall between small to mid-sized and develop projects through teams or pods of people. These studios can take projects through preliminary design to construction, in which case, its members, one point or another, will have multiple roles in getting a project built.

Beyond setting a standard team, these studios can be differentiated by project types, i.e., retail, residential, institutional, and the list continues. The benefit of having this type of organization is that each team is specialized and understands the nuances of the typology. However, this doesn’t mean that a studio member can’t expand to other studios, but management most likely would want the workforce and knowledge to stay within the prospective market.

Image courtesy of Studio @

Department-Based

Firms following this organization most likely emphasize efficiency and optimization of projects, typically in large firms with hundreds of small projects that produce revenue for the business. Unlike a studio-based organization, a project would go through departments or phases from initial design to construction with a different team at each stage. Like an assembly line, this workflow maximizes the production of drawings in a controlled manner to produce a steady flow of revenue.

This could get repetitive over time, so if you like to razzle and dazzle with dynamic projects, you might want to avoid a firm organized by departments. However, we’d like to note that bigger firms can also break down by project types, studios, then departments where the production and quality are high and fast.

Image courtesy of Manushray

Now that you know about which firm size and the firm’s organizational structure, this is typically where most designers will make their decision. Of course, there are other variables like design style that are equally important. Still, those two key points are crucial and define your experience in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. If you are not considering opening your firm, you can stop here, but I hope you continue!

Business Operations

I’m assuming you continued reading, in which case, welcome to the last point! We want to note that this point, in particular, may not influence you much when considering a firm, but it provides some clarity in how one can set up an architecture practice. Let’s take a moment and imagine that you decide to start your design firm but aren’t sure what business entity you’d want to use. Here’s a breakdown of the different business entities that you can utilize when starting your practice!

Maybe you aren’t considering opening your firm, and instead, you want an in-depth breakdown of how a business of architecture is working. Who knows, perhaps you find yourself less concerned about designing and more involved with keeping the practice afloat through an understanding of architecture and business acumen.

Well, that’s all we have for you today, and if you’ve made it this far, you deserve a cookie. I hope you found this article interesting and took something from it! Sharing is caring! We hope to provide you with valuable insights and share them with someone who might find this helpful. Make sure to follow our Youtube and Instagram for more content!

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