An Architect Speaks - Steven Biersteker
It’s been a month since we’ve been here with a new episode. We’re excited to be back!
Joining us today is Steven Biersteker (pronounced beer-staker), a Canadian architect from Thinkspace.
As a child, Steven wanted to be an inventor. When he discovered that you couldn’t major in “inventing,” his combined strengths of art and math sent him in the direction of architecture. He attended University in Toronto and then moved to Vancouver. He recaps the training required to become a certified architect in Canada.
Steven’s experience in small firms gave him a broad range of experience. The company that he works with now, Thinkspace, focuses on larger, institutional projects, such as schools, civic centers, etc.
We confront the fact that many people in the construction industry demonize architects, passing blame back to them. Steven shares the architect’s perspective that involves being two or three years into a project by the time a shovel digs in. He discusses the challenges of walking through the design process with decision-makers who don’t necessarily know what they want and might need a bit more hand-holding than clients in the corporate world.
We discuss the effect that Value Engineering has on the flow and budget of projects. Steven shares how he and his team will guide clients through the process of scaling back when a project begins to go over budget.
Here are some other things that come up in our conversation:
the fact that logistic-minded construction workers may whine about complicated design that ultimately makes a space not just functional but inspiring,
the effect that various software packages have on the design,
AI image-generation software and the role that it can play in the design process,
the excitement that sometimes comes with the challenge of considering the whole range of considerations and thinking about the ripple effects of design changes,
the fact that many of the design choices a construction team might blame on the architect were actually choices made by an insistent client,
the need to “elevate the conversation” in order to get design feedback from the people who actually use the spaces that we design and build. In the case of Steven’s work, this would be the teachers and students.
Our discussion reveals the confounding disconnect between architects and the workers tying rebar or pouring footers. How ridiculous is it that the majority of people working on a building might not have a clue about the end function of the building that they’re building.
Steven’s Megaphone Message: As an industry, we need to be working together to produce better spaces. If we can see ourselves as common players.
Find Steven Online:LinkedIn, His Website, His Thinkspace Page
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