Building design

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Building design is the design of architectural exterior/interior spaces, engineered elements and shelter design. A building designer, architect, or building engineer may produce designs for all types of buildings in small projects while larger projects will often need other engineers and consultants in structural, mechanical and electrical engineering. As building projects are getting larger and more complex, modern trends in building design need professionals trained broadly in many disciplines.

Contents

1 Building Design

1.1 Draftsperson (Documenter)
1.2 Building Designer
1.3 Architect
1.4 Building engineer
1.5 Market Share

2 Related Occupations
3 External links
4 See also

Building Design

Draftsperson (Documenter)

A Draftsperson or Documenter is someone who has completed a certificate or diploma in drafting, and is generally employed in a drafting office or architectural firm. Initially, they begin as a trainee, doing odd jobs in the office, and drawing up working drawings (floor plans/elevations/sections) from sketch plans of designs generally designed by those higher up in the ranks. As they work their way up and develop more experience, they eventually become a draftsperson (sometimes known as a documenter). The type of work involved at this level can be anything from design to the documentation of projects. A draftsperson is generally someone who is not a registered building designer, and who works under one. Some draftspersons, after gaining a few years experience, will proceed to become a registered building designer, and either become self-employed, or start their own drafting office.

Building Designer

Building Designer is the term used in Australia for people involved in the design of buildings who are not legally registered architects.

In Australia anyone may legally call themselves a building designer, however the term building designer is usually used by persons such as an architectural draftspersons who has been registered as a building designer and persons who have exactly the same or similar qualifications and experience as registered architects; ie, a Bachelor of Architecture degree from an accredited course and many years of experience. The only difference, in many cases, is that they have never bothered to sit the examination required for registration.

See the external links section for a more indepth explanation.

Architect

Usually in Australia an architect has attended university for 5 years and has obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree (B.Arch.). In addition they must be registered with their state's architecture registration board. In order to be admitted to the register they (typically) must have a minimum of 2 years experience under the guidance of a Registered Architect after which they must pass an exam.

Thus it should be noted that technically there is no such thing as an Australian architect, any more than there is such a thing as an American architect. In both countries, the regulation of architects is done state by state. You may be registered in Texas or Queensland as an architect, but you break the law if call yourself an architect in New South Wales or New York. The title 'architect' is strictly regulated.

However in Australia the work of an architect is not regulated. It is up to local building certifiers, engineers and, indirectly, clients to ensure that a structure is safe.

For more detailed information see the external links section of this article.

Building engineer

Building engineers would normally have an accredited academic degree with a concentration in building engineering from a recognized university. The completed degree may be designated as a Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Applied Science depending upon the university. Building engineers are trained in all phases of the life cycle of a building and develop an appreciation of the building as an advanced technological system that encompasses many sub-systems and their individual components, and understands the building itself as a large integrated system. Technical problems are identified and appropriate solutions found to improve the performance of the building in areas such as:

Energy efficiency, passive solar engineering, lighting and acoustics;
Construction management;
HVAC and control systems; Indoor air quality;
Advanced building materials; building envelope;
Earthquake resistance, wind effects on buildings, computer-aided design;
Lighting design to achieve adequate illumination without energy wastage or over-illumination;
Noise mitigation design to achieve acceptable interior sound levels.

Market Share

In Australia: Civic buildings make up a very small amount of buildings in Australia, followed by Commercial and Industrial, and then by Residential, which takes first place as occupying most of the building market. Architects generally get around one quarter of the residential market in Australia (the higher priced buildings) and Building Designers get 3 quarters (lower priced buildings)

Related Occupations

Interior designer
Landscape architect
(Various building industry related trades)