Your Architecture Career
How to Build a Successful Professional Life
Master the business side of architecture with advice from an expert.
In Your Architecture Career, Gary Unger provides tips and guidance to students, interns, architects, and firm owners to help them understand and master the business side of architecture and interior design. Students in school are not taught to manage process, projects, and clients—the emphasis is on design. However, most graduates will not finish their careers as designers. Rather, their focus will be on marketing, programming, project management, cost estimating, rendering, virtual reality, drawing documentation, specifications, workplace strategy, and construction administration. Gary Unger expertly describes the creative aspects of these disciplines and the considerable value they bring to a firm.
In order to accurately represent how an architecture firm successfully operates, Gary stresses the importance of teamwork. With project teams made up of architects, engineers, realtors, building owners, contractors, furniture dealers, and more, it is important to note that a project's success is measured by how well handoffs of information are executed both inside a firm as well as from firm to firm. Spanning a wide variety of topics, chapters include:
Starting your own firm
Whether you're a student about to graduate or a seasoned professional, Your Architecture Career is an invaluable resource for the business side of architecture.
Gary Unger started his architectural studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and finished up the six-year program at the University of Texas. Prior to founding CPG Architects in 1980, he was the worldwide director of planning and design at American Express. He is also the founder of Link Systems, a real estate software business that provides lease and facility management services to enhance CPG's architectural services. At CPG, Gary has worked on thousands of projects for such clients as General Electric, Snapple, Nestlé, Newman's Own, and Dannon, along with many financial trading firms. He lives in Stamford, Connecticut.
