Architects in Michigan | showing you the way?
For any person, whether it be in a specific profession or just in their own life. Architects in Michigan believe that it is important to participate in your own community either by giving back somehow volunteering, um, being part of local government or anything like that. It’s especially important in architecture because a lot of the architectural profession is shaped by codes, local law enforcement and groups such as that. When it comes to getting a project built, a lot of other things, a lot of new projects can be very political.
The AIA exemplifies citizen architects. They want people to get involved in their local government, so it will help the profession not only in the architect knowing what’s going on in their own community, but it will help the community understand and architect a little bit more by getting to know them, getting to know the services that an architect would offer communities and really truly understanding what an architect can bring to the table. The array of knowledge that architects have that people might not think about when they think of an architect from if you’re a generalist firm like we are, you see a lot of different projects. The architect in Michigan learns a lot about different types of businesses. What goes into them, what’s important to them, the programing of different types of businesses, the people. So we just have a lot of knowledge about our community and our clients, they, I is a great place to get involved in your communities, especially your local AIA chapter architects in Michigan.
Should be getting involved in AIA and what AIA does is look at how it can serve its membership, different things that this nonprofit can do for the architects in Michigan and all over the u s the local AA chapters are the chapters who dig down deep into their community and local government each local section or chapter can pretty much do whatever they want with their own chapter in their community. A lot of a local chapters have a golf outing or some sort of fundraiser where they would raise money for maybe a scholarship or some sort of community activity to get the public involved and this type of thing is very important because it not only gives back to the community in general, but it just brings awareness to architecture and the community.
Many architects in Michigan love getting involved in their community and many do pro bono work within their own community that they’re involved in. This creates strong relationships and gives great experience. Community events or activities can run a lot more smoothly with an architect involved. There’s typically permits that need to be pulled for type of public activity and architects in Michigan understand a lot about permits and codes and governmental paperwork that needs to happen to get projects off the ground.
Architects in Michigan | Are You Curious?
They also understand the how to take ideas within a community and work together with those constituencies and produce a project that is influenced by all of the people at the table. Architects in Michigan are very good leaders. They learned this through project managing and delegating within their own firm, so when it comes to planning in a community, they are the best at the job.
I would say it’s also important for architects and Michigan to get involved and other nonprofit work outside of the AIA that serves a purpose outside of architecture, but that architecture can help and influence. When a nonprofit has an architect who is on board with their mission and their goals and dreams, it’s amazing what kind of things can happen for that nonprofit, especially when the architect cares a lot about their mission and want to see that group succeed. They will go above and beyond to make sure their projects are successful. I have found the volunteering your time and your Talents is very rewarding. It’s rewarding to your own self personally, but everybody benefits around you. Relationships are cultivated and even community work is important for a firm because it can easily lead to paying work even though not all community work is pro bono. A lot of it is very beneficial in other ways to affirm.
The more an architect is involved in their community, the more comfortable people will be reaching out to architects in Michigan for their next project. This Citizen Architect initiative that AIA coined has influenced many architects to get involved in their communities by being on planning boards, site plan review boards, zoning boards, city councils, chamber of commerce boards, appeal boards and anything else you may be able to think of in your own community. Any type of planning in a town or city should have an architect at the table. An architectÕs voice is very valuable and can help mitigate any issues that may arise. Many architects live in smaller towns or cities outside of the city they work in, these smaller areas can benefit a great deal from having an architect involved on that level, many times architects find themselves giving back in the area that they work in, instead of the area they live in. We want to be able to do both!
And if the architect lives and works in the same city, that gives them the advantage of reaching more people in their community like their neighbors and friends that an architect who lives outside the city wouldnÕt necessarily have access to. Its amazing how casual conversations can turn into amazing job opportunities in the community when you reach out and take the time out of your schedule to get out there and volunteer your time and expertise to your community. If all architects gave back to their community, we would have less issues when it came to community projects and design ideas, and a lot less hurtles to jump though if we could get an architect at the table and utilize their expertise.