Contact RIBA-USA's
Timothy Sudweeks at
webmaster@riba-usa.org
|
1.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION - By Timothy Sudweeks IDP is the Intern Development Program that NCARB uses to document your hours and experience throughout your internship. Participation is mandatory. Their intent is that you acquire basic knowledge and skills, and to encourage training in the broad aspects of architectural practice. IDP: Getting started (2007 - contact NCARB for current fees) 1 Determine eligibility 2 Apply for NCARB Council Record/Certificate (NCARB is the federation of all registration boards in the US, maintains records, sets standards, for interns, architects, and registration boards) 3 Arrange for official transcripts from your school, employment verification form, and architect reference form to NCARB after receipt of eligibility 4 Identify an IDP Supervisor and IDP Mentor, typically a licensed architect in NY. Supervisor and Mentor may be the same person; NCARB recommends that you have a mentor outside the office. 5 Develop record-keeping for documenting training using IDP Workbook 6 Pay fees Application fee - $285 Late application fee - $685 (fast-tracking by written request) Annual maintenance (beyond 3 yrs) - $50 (Note that there are other fees to belong to NCARB as a registered architect or to transmit your council record to a foreign registration authority) IDP Eligability and Education 1 General requirement is to hold a professional degree in
architecture accredited by NAAB or CACB (Canada) accredited
degree IDP Eligability: When you may begin to earn training
units 1 Programming, Planning & Practice $210 2 Site Planning & Design $210 3 Building Design & Construction Systems $210 4 Schematic Design $210 5 Structural Systems $210 6 Building Systems$210 7 Construction Documents & Services $210 ARE Helpful Hints 1 Take an easier exam first. (such as Materials & Methods) 2 For the graphics sections, Norman Dorf’s study guides and mock exams that he will grade and send back to you, are essential. 3 Don’t try to take your exams too quickly. Allow yourself enough time to learn the material and prepare properly. 4 Find a study buddy to help study for the exams. NCARB Contacts and links The NCARB website has information about both IDP and the ARE. Go to NCARB Website.Forms can be found on Forms Link. The NYS web site will be helpful, especially if you do not fit the typically education requirements outlined above. See NYS Education Department for more information. Included on the web site is contact information in case you need to call them NYS Contact Information. 3. VISA INFORMATION - GENERAL INFORMATION Back to top As of 2007 An alien coming to the U.S. temporarily to perform services in a "specialty occupation" may qualify for an H-1B visa. "Speciality occupations" include all professional occupations whereby theoretical and practical application of knowledge is necessary to perform the job duties. The alien must be coming to the United States on a temporary basis to perform services. However, the position itself may be permanent. H-1B aliens are admitted pursuant to the conditions of the employer's petition which may initially reflect a period of employment up to three years. Thereafter, extensions are permitted and the alien may hold H-1B status for a total of six consecutive years. The processing times to secure an H1-B visa status will depend on several factors such as the location of the job offer and the backlog of the respective government agencies. By example, an H-1B visa petition filed for an employer in the Eastern part of the U.S. will typically take 4-8 weeks to adjudicate. The same application filed by an employer in the West may take 90-120 days to process. The H-1B visa category does have a limit of 65,000 new visa numbers each fiscal year. The new fiscal year begins on October 1 and the visa quota is normally filled by the first week of May. Therefore, no "new" H-1B workers may be hired for the remainder of fiscal year. In general, students may not engage in employment in the U.S. However, in some instances employment is permissible or can be authorized. Students may engage in periods of pre-graduation practical training or post -graduate practical training, as long as the trainig is in their field of study. Practical training authorization is limited to one year and cannot be extended. However, a foreign student with practical training authorization may apply for a change of status to a nonimmigrant worker classification, such as H-1B, prior to the expiration of practical training authorization. The above is general advive and anyone wishing to work in the US is advised to consult an attorney. Please also view the links below for further visa informationand in the links section for job links. VISA LINKS: http://exchanges.state.gov/education/jexchanges/ U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Exchange Visitors VISA COSTS - H1-B - (Please check with USCIS for current costs) $320 filling fee: petition for a nonimmigrant visa; 1-129 petition $1500 ACWIA (training) fee for training local workers but if employer has less than 25 full time workers only pay half $500 Fraud fee required for initial H-1B petition or switch employers $1000 Premium Processing Fee (optional) $1000-2000 Attorney fees (recommended but not neccessary); OTHER USEFULL LINKS http://www.fulbright.co.uk/ 4. WORKING IN NEW YORK Back to top Notes for architectural students by Jonathan Wimpenny AIA RIBA Chair NY Chapter Before I left Yorkshire to study at the Architectural
Association, I elected to take two years out between RIBA
Part 1 and Part 11; one in England and the other in Italy.
At the outset, It began world wide experience in my career
and subsequently I have worked in the UK, Spain, Italy, Barbados
and the US. My current architectural practice is on Bleecker
Street in Manhattan. Time has proved me correct in thinking
that in theory there are no barriers for an English architect
working abroad and as IT continues its pace helping us to
have the tools for working with others around the world. We
must remember that cultural barriers do exist and we have
to embrace them. If you are thinking of working in the US,
I am always here to help and have made some general notes
below but please do your research beforehand. Huge megabytes
of email portfolios are deleted not read and without a clear
‘brief’ from you on what you hope to achieve, I will be at
a loss to direct you. Timothy Sudweeks is a graduate of the Architectural Association and while studying towards his part III decided to go to Columbia University in New York to complete a Masters in Advanced Architectural Design. Four months on from this he found himself still in New York working, teaching and about to start studying towards his licensure abroad. Below is a monthly diary as published in the RIBA Graduate News during his time completing the NCARB Intern Devleopment program. The diary ended when his final hours were accepted by the Intern Development Program and he took his licensure exams. Diary From Abroad Issue 21 Month 01 Back to top Almost the end of my first month of work and I am already tired. In comparison I had an easy summer designing web sites; earning just enough to pay for rent. Now the burden of paying for US education is coming around and all too quickly. Starting as an associate in a company of only a few staff has given the prospect of not only running a few small jobs (I hear it provides a better experience towards getting qualified) but with marketing, finding new work and general running and set up of the company. After working for Vinoly my boss decided to set up on his own and needed help with all aspects of the company. Although this sound like an opportunity it provides some risk for me as, as usual I haven’t seen a contract yet. However with risk also comes the prospect of great rewards… I dream. Some relief comes from getting my health insurance, an added worry after living in the UK. With this I have also been given the opportunity to teach at a couple of schools here in New York and my boss is understanding of the time it takes. However this is not reflected in pay and the work as usual still has to be completed, hence the tiredness. So the first month has been mainly design and getting introduced to the office projects. Already after a few sketch perspectives we now have a small school in Harlem (subject to funding) and a couple of house renovations in upstate New York as well as a plot of land to develop. However I am already frustrated by the small projects. Everything costs too much and I have no Idea of labour costs here. I am told to keep it simple. Just give the client what he wants and he’ll come back with more. Essentially ‘work them’. Well next month I’ll let you know if it’s working… Tim Sudweeks. 041023
Work is still very busy and we are looking for more people. We are also moving office in three weeks to get more room as well as a nice view of the Chrysler building. I still seen to be working on web sites though.
Too much private work and I have just finished one for a development
of houses in Cape Cod. The architecture has been a little
slow this month with really minor changes to the houses I
am working on. Bathroom elevations ahhh. You just cant get
away from them Perhaps I can get an intern from all this teaching.
Its becoming real drain as I have a student who doesn’t turn
up and now I have to write letters and make him see the dean.
Such a waste of my time. I’ll be tougher next semester. Timothy Sudweeks. 041126 Diary From Abroad Issue 24 Month 04 Back to top Well not a great deal to report this month…
But that may be because every month is normally so hectic.
I still haven’t got round to filling in my visa application
and I am back teaching at two schools. The visa requires so
much effort as well. I need ten reference letters to get the
O-visa… The H1 visa quota ran out in Dec and although I am
now exempt, due to having a degree from a US University, surprisingly
thanks to Bush, being a new law the paperwork will take forever.
I hope to have another meeting with my attorney soon, so next
month I’ll have a better idea. Diary From Abroad Issue 25 Month
05 Back to top At the same time I received a fast track project to open a boutique on Madison Avenue in a Landmarked building on the Upper East Side. Due to the cost of the rent we only had three weeks to get a work permit (planning permission) and two for construction before the client started to lose money. This meant dropping everything else in the office, including my visa application. However I got my ?rst full experience of the zoo they call the department of buildings. It reminded me of trying to get my social security number (similar to national insurance) in a government office in Harlem Basically it’s a big white room where everyone looks slightly insane. Here, the Architect can self certify drawings to speed up the process through planning but then if anything goes wrong it’s on his head. This is something unusual compared to the usual 6 weeks for planning I experienced in the UK… Three weeks later with drawings in hand and a bunch of forms I ventured to the department of buildings in person forms I ventured to the department of buildings in person. The procedure starts with a queue, to get a ticket, to get your papers checked. If there’s a signature missing or your papers checked. If there’s a signature missing or had to start again. Next you get the drawings perforated. This can only be done if you have them stamped with the architects registration stamp (something I think we should have in the UK). I brought the stamp with me just encase there was something I had missed. All the paperwork had to have the stamp as well. After ? nding the ‘Self Certified’ stamp as well I queued again. Next you have to cross over downtown Broadway to get you have to cross over downtown Broadway to get you have to cross over downtown Broadway to get you have to cross over downtown Broadway to get go to. A ticket is required. This is where you can get the work permit and run to the site so the job can commence. Apparently we didn’t have the right insurance because we are building it ourselves. After a lengthy discussion about not ourselves. After a lengthy discussion about not architect as well as contractor and faking some missing signatures I was told I had not written the address in full of the building we were in. The main thing I noticed through all this is that the moment you get a little upset and raise your voice in protest at the insanity of the process there will be something else wrong with your paperwork. My smile now looked like a drawn on grin. Finally I was told the zip code was missing and I had to I was told the zip code was missing and I had to write forms). Luckily I got the permit (apparently something not done before on the ? rst experience). The client was ecstatic; my boss surprised and work client was ecstatic; my boss surprised and work I had joined a pool team at the start of this year so left in earnest to get to my local bar in leafy Brooklyn… The work on the visa commenced the next day… Timothy Sudweeks. 050315 Diary From Abroad Issue No. 26 Month 06 Back to top Well the nightmare of trying to get a VISA has dragged on another month with my hardrive cooking itself and part of my application going up in smoke... The most annoying part was I had just been telling my students they should back up all there work, all the time and that there was, “No excuses!” Oh well its, “Just a slight delay”, I tell myself. However my co-worker seems to have got his H1 without too much trouble. He just paid a large corporate attorney a big number. That seems to swing it here! I think that will have to be my back up plan though… The office is really hotting up now with two competition entries this month. The wood shop in the basement is almost complete and with the house project finally getting through the Cape Cod commission we are into the landscape design. I have a trip up there in a couple of days to look at the lye of the land. We are thinking of retaining as much natural features and fitting the buildings around them. On the other side of things my fast track boutique on Madison slowed right down with the landmarks commission wanting to see more details of the façade and my house extension for the dentist finally came to a halt with the department of buildings wanting to know why there was so many sinks and a large mechanical room in the basement. Apparently in a cellar you are only allowed one bathroom with two fixtures. (Clients wish despite our objections) Despite this it seems to have been decided that I am to become the office expediter. This is the guy usually hired by the architect to deal with the DOB as they usually know a few tricks in the procedures. However I feel this run of luck has come to a swift end as I couldn’t even get an ID the other day and I have to visit them to talk about lack of adequate lighting in back bedroom to a flat design I recently submitted in the SOHO area. With it being so easy to miss the occasional item its no wonder the issue of architects self-certifying projects has recently come up with the AIA. It seems clients know so much they actually expect it now pushing all the liability is on us. On the note of liability April also brings TAX returns here. A strange event for me as I never filed my own return in the UK. Your practice normally deals with all these issues for you. Here everyone must file an individual return and there are ques at the post office as everyone tries to get a postmark by midnight. The best part of the last month was a trip to Philadelphia. It was a last minute decision on a Friday after work to jump train. Although the bars in this state close at 2am, a disappointment to any New Yorker, we still managed to stay up to 5am. However we got up at 9 and began our tour of the architectural wonders that are central Philly. It’s a very bad idea to venture outside the centre into the ghettos. Vinolys Concert hall was a main visit where we spent most of the time criticizing the detailing. In the lookout space one girl got vertigo when someone shook the balcony handrail to show how flimsy the construction was. The most enjoyable part was walking down the back streets discovering local architects like Frank Furnes and of course a quick trip to Rittenhouse Sq before sunset. Looking forward and beyond the visa next month brings the friendly football game against the US. Unfortunately a trip to Chicago will have to wait until the summer but it will be interesting to see if I can find a bar with another Englishman inside let alone show the game… Timothy Sudweeks. 050412 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.27
Month 07 Back
to top It was the farthest north I have been and it was nice to see how the country changed as well as the towns we passed through such as Providence the capital of the smallest state Rhode Island containing RPI and Brown University schools of architecture. Just the view from the car window convinced me to make a trip up there. It may coincide with the Lessons from Liverpool, and Providence, RI symposium discussing the ongoing renaissance they are both having. RIBA-USA sponsored in early June. In comparison I was shocked at how ugly New Haven (Home of Yale) was. Extremely Industrial. However on arriving at the site in Cape Cod I realised I was dressed completely inappropriately. The ground was completely covered in brush. (My boss swears he told me.) This meant having to high step for a day in order not to get my trousers shredded as I went round surveying the site. We were looking for interesting features to retain in our housing designs and give us some constraints to work with such as boulders the size of double garages… Back in the office things aren’t quite as busy as they have been, but this many be because school has finished and I now actually have time to get my work done. I have three projects to take to the DOB tomorrow and practice my expediter skills. One of which was my little boutique on Madison. We finally got Landmarks approval. I had to persuade the client to leave the façade alone and just paint it and add a new sign rather than repair the rotting wood. The policy seems to be that as soon as you want to change something you have to document what is underneath and then the commission will tell you how the building has to look. This is true even if the façade is rotting. You cannot simply replace something. It seems it’s the only was to really get it back to expose the features they wish, other wise people wont spend the money and will just make minor repairs. The trouble here is that from what I gather the rent market even now remains unstable after 911. But whilst rents are still low there is great expectation of the economy to grow quickly so no landlord wishes to get tied into a ten-year lease. The nock on effect is shorter rent and so cheap renovations. Speaking of rent I am starting to look for somewhere else to live with my girlfriend; preferably in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, a fairly quiet but trendy area. The main places to see large increases surround Williamsburgh as the effect of gentrification spreads still further out to the potential redevelopment of Gowans Canal, where the developers have been snapping up all the empty warehouses and Fort Green near Pratt Institute. As for the VISA... Finally the 20,000 extra H1’s have been released. The one good thing Bush did, although probably without realising. This means a lottery for many of my friend who had been expecting to have to leave until October when the VISA’s are usually released. As for me I went for the ‘O’. This stands for ‘O’ my god there is such a lot of work to get this done. I only have a couple of weeks left to hand it in before the paychecks stop… However if all goes smoothly I could get it in only a week… Timothy Sudweeks. 050516 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.28 Month 08 Back to top Things were supposed to get a little quieter this month as the school year is over and I was planning on keeping my day off from the office over the summer to do my own thing. My boss has other ideas; payback for flexibility during term time I suppose. We keep taking on little projects whilst we wit to get through the Cape Cod Commission for our 43-acre site, and no ones called to buy a plot as yet. Its such a tease! So my latest little venture is a violation correction on a property in the city. The client thought he could just renovate eight studio and one-bedroom apartments without planning permission as he was simply ‘replacing’ the walls and fixtures in ‘roughly’ the same position. He wasn’t expecting the annoying tenant on the top floor. Still, developing a strategy for legalization is interesting although unfortunately means more trips to the Department of Buildings. I am developing a real dislike for that place. Without being a registered architect or having an expediters licence the only way to get things done is bluff your way through. Luckily my last visit was a success and I got the job filed, all be it in a slight panic. I am also starting construction administration on the first apartment renovation I designed in SOHO. Luckily we are building it as well so it should be a nice little experience. However our workers could do with, well, getting some skills. They are basically labourers that are passed off as experts whilst we train them. Fun; I can’t speak Spanish and they can’t read a plan. Outside the office my attorney has gone AWOL. Why is it when they want a check they call you but when you need your paper work they cant even reply to an email. This led me to pick up more web work to keep the cash flowing. And this weekend I move to a new apartment in Brooklyn Heights. An expensive area with some of the best views in the city from The Promenade above the BQE. The one nice thing Robert Moses did for this city. Hopefully it’ll all get tied up soon and I can get on with signing up for my Intern Development Program (IDP) next month and begin the first steps towards taking my AIA Licensing exams. Timothy Sudweeks. 050623 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.29 Month 09 Back to top The month started off with July 4th Independence Day. This is the time of year my friends like to remind me they are celebrating their independence from, well, me! On a lighter note its also called Dog Day, as it has been renamed in Coney Island. This is the site of Nathan’s Famous hot-dog eating contest, that most American of sporting events. This year, four-time winner world champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan defended his title of 53 ½ hot dogs in 12 minutes. The winner wears the jewel-encrusted Mustard Yellow International Belt, the green jacket of competitive eating. At work the ‘violation correction’ on some apartments is progressing slowly. The Department of buildings knocked the drawings back, as expected, but the first meeting date was 3 weeks away. The client although extremely unhappy realizes its just the DOB. I have been trying to get to see the commissioner to speed things up but when you phone you always get transferred to a dead line! This is because the idiot hasn’t set up their answer system. Basically they really don’t want to deal with it. They even just assumed the job was ‘self certified,’ meaning we would have to make sure the job was constructed accordingly but we didn’t request it on the forms. The last line explaining the job is usually written, “No change in egress use or occupancy.” This leads them to believe it’s a “self cert”. When I finally got to speak to a plan examiner he told me he couldn’t find any notes on the drawings. Well the first drawing is 36x24 inches of text and diagrams. You couldn’t miss them unless you tried. I really got the impression he had decided to fail it before he even looked just so he could put down that he responded in the correct amount if time. Does this sound familiar? However I just got the meeting set up with the commissioner half an hour ago… Oh well, I also finished another apartment on the West Side this month. Perhaps I have a low boredom threshold but I think I am designing apartments so much quicker than 6 months ago so they go away faster. An interesting project at first though. Every building usually has what’s called a ‘C of O’. This stands for the Certificate of Occupancy and contains all the details of the building use. I.E. how many rooms, their sizes and uses etc. I am trying to do a ‘room swap’ and convert from what is an illegal situation to a position where the owner can sell. Basically it involved keeping the same number of rooms in the new layout but change their use and make sure the light and ventilation levels are still legal. I have no idea what I’ll be working on next month. Without the VISA probably nothing but then again unless someone buys a plot of land on our main project it could be nothing anyway… Timothy Sudweeks. 050715 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.30 Month 10 Back to top This month has actually been pretty quiet. It seems August is the month everyone is on holiday. However I have one new project for a ‘prototypical drive-thru beverage and dry food store’. How more American of a building can you get? With the demise of so much of the original roadside architecture of LA and gas prices even rising in the US, it turned into an interesting project. This is particularly due to its historical origins being based on a streamlined modernist aesthetic of the 30’s combined with an obvious need for increased economy in its operation in terms of waiting times. Despite what many may envision, that of endless strip malls, there are/were some pieces worth keeping including an early Frank Lloyd Wright, Yucca Vine Market, now a parking lot! In writing this I have in mind the Scottish Parliaments nomination for the UK’s Channel 4 campaign to find and demolish Britain's worst building… Despite its bad name there are some things worth hanging onto… The only worrying thing in this project was
dealing with the zoning. Every town in every state has its
own little rules and regulations and this building falls under
a ‘conditional-use’. As well as this I have also been ramping up the marketing for our main project in Cape Cod. This is a piece of land we the developers and architects for; so as well as a web site I have been designing promotional newspaper, and web advertisements for the vacation period when people may be considering buying a summer house for next season. Lastly and not wishing to sign off on a bad note the visa is still dragging on. Much like the New York Department of Building the Department of Homeland Security don’t seem to read applications and simply send out standard replies. This is the outcome of them ‘catching on’ to many people seeking other categories of VISA such as 0-1 that of ‘extraordinary ability’, which is in-turn due to the reduction of H-1’s after 9/11. My frustration is not even with the fact that I have found myself spending late nights trawling through the USCIS’s web site (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) to refute the misreading of regulations but that my Immigration consultant actually send me the initial response 10 days after having received it! Luckily his fees are cheap… So my advice for anyone considering a change of the architectural scenery; is if you don’t want to find yourself dealing with all the little rules and regulations take advantage of the exchange rate and hire an expensive Attorney; but just remember that even with a standard H-1 the company must still prove that they cannot find a US citizen capable of the task you shall perform! Better yet drop your pride and get a job with the biggest corporate firm you can find who’ll be sure to cut through with all the red tape for you… Timothy Sudweeks. 050824 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.31
Month 11 Back
to top This month I have been trying to find a spare moment to sign up for the Intern Development Program or IDP for short. This scheme is run by the National Council of Architectural Registration boards who oversee all the states, many of whom still have slightly different rules from one another. As in the UK I have to complete a number of hours, three years in the US, in a range of categories including the obscure community service! They really want us to work for free. However I have been working here for a year and a half and am told I will gain 1 year of hours as I have completed a master's here. I have also agreed that the office will write the checks as I go through the process. Although my wages will be reduced it will save a small amount of tax; something I think any office should offer at the least. On this not we actually had someone phone asking if they could work as an intern for free for a number of months! The question is how much time would be spent training them on CAD compared to the amount of work they would produce? Thinking about the prospect of all the revision I am going to have to do, I took my first look through an AIA standard form of contract last week. This was forced upon us by our clients 'rep' for our community centre project in Queens. However we are the architects as well as the developers and the budget is so low I cannot understand how they pay for all the lawyers. I have been putting together an estimate for the job so that from our perspective we can see exactly how much we can do from the square footage of plaster to repair to the amount of hours an electrician will spent wiring old light fixtures. I have also been showing the cheapest sub contractors we could find around the site. As well as this we had a 'pre-considerations' with the chief plan examiner at the department of buildings in Queens to discuss the American Disabilities Act (ADA regulations). Due to a possible change of use we are expecting to have to add an elevator but are looking for an exemption. The Certificate of occupancy for one of the two buildings we are combining has gone missing so we don’t know if we are in fact we are changing the use of the building. Unfortunately the meeting with the head planner was a waste of time as he was so ill he could barely look at the drawings. Still things are rumbling on… We finally got rid of one client who has been complaining about our billing. Luckily the principle saw the light and said he could no longer work with them. We spent 25 hours to produce an electrical load calculation, respond to the Co-op boards (buildings board of tenants association) architect and produce a number of details; showing how instead of adding an additional air conditioning unit we would create a transfer fan behind the new millwork sucking cold air between rooms through a partition. On to bigger and better clients we are still working on many zoning analyses and a number of competitions. Hopefully some of these will come to fruition next month… Timothy Sudweeks. 051025 I started a new project this month. A toy store and child development centre. It sounded great until I realised it was in a building that I have been trying to clear a Department of Buildings violation on, for work conducted without a permit. None of the previous work for the commercial extension to which this shop fit-out will be in has been signed off either. My first thought was that there may be a problem getting a work permit for our construction; when the base job hasn’t been checked and signed off. A conversation with an inspector about this matter brings to light the usual joke that is the D.O.B in New York. His response to whether we can get a work permit was, " Well you should apply for one… and if you get it fine, if not, then you'll know what to do!". However it’s the previous architect that should get it signed off and they are in no hurry. It would seem that everyone does things a little differently at the DOB and nobody, as usual, will step out of there role to help anyone else or direct you to where a question can be answered with out any cynicism. Each person at the DOB has their own regulations, inspections or forms to rule over and when you find a grey area lying somewhere in-between the usual response is, "Its not my job to tell you how to sort it out." Basically they don’t know either. So we are finalizing the design and trying to satisfy the building owner and new tenant: - doing the previous architects work. However the building owner sent his contractor to our client meeting and presentation at the store! It was a little difficult not to mention that he was the contractor working when the violation occurred! We are also hopeful of gaining the construction work ourselves. Awkward to say the least. On this awkward tenant, landlord, client position etc my apartments in SOHO have been having a little difficulty. Not least of which has been one of the tenants in a rent controlled apartment (by local government) who likes to complain every now and then and get inspectors out, but during construction we found all the floors were originally constructed with too thin beams. This meant reinforcing all the floors in the building. Our client is combining two apartments… and his mother and Uncle who own the building aren’t too keen to spend any more money on a building where the majority of apartments are rent controlled, due to the lack of income. This is the typical situation of the seemingly absent landlord and a difficult problem to solve. Anyone who has ever been here always asks why so many of the buildings look so shabby. This is also a difficult situation as we must proceed but we cannot if the owner will not pay for the structural improvements. We end up having to cut back on all the finishes. Also the drawings aren’t inspected when changes are happening. I feel the system lynches the architect or engineer with their licences in this situation as the DOB don’t seem interested in reviewing the situation. To get an appointment to see a plan examiner or get the structural work reviewed is a difficulty. However if we go ahead and they then don’t like the final plan revision drawings we'll have real problems. Tim Sudweeks 051116 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.35 Month 14-15 Back to top Well the New Year started out a little slow for me as one reason to return to the UK, other than to catch up with old friends and family that I haven’t seen for two years, was to have my VISA interview at the US embassy; and as expected they kept my passport. This inevitably delayed my return to the Big Apple and I found myself, although with some work to do, a serious lack of motivation. This was even after I picked up some work to re-plan a small office in the south of London; which is particularly useful as my memory of the UK system is deteriorating… So I arrived back in NY with a full plate of work and a week behind already. My child development/toy store is about to open but there is some construction administration to be finished off and a Post Amendment Approval (PAA) to be filed for the changes during construction. Much of this has been caused by our continual difficulties with an ignorant landlord who refuses to give the tenant hot water or heating. Apparently we should know that this is not provided in the lease! Also the bad job done by his contractor, who got the building a violation and caused us difficulties in getting a work permit, meant we had to add gas lines and meter to connect up the A/C. Despite this my only disappointment with this project has been the client didn’t want to pay for the millwork I had designed even though they liked it. Instead it will end up with some off the shelf garbage and not worth me being there when the photographer turn up. So onto the next projects… a healthy eating fast food joint in the financial district and the renovation and extension of two 5 storey residential buildings in Harlem… not a huge amount of design involved in either as both clients pretty much know exactly what they want but adding the pool and custom decking at the back will be cool and I’ll get some more zoning experience. Lastly this Friday we are having an office trip to one of our own projects! We have only been in business for just over a year and a half and this was one of the first before I even started. The reason for the visit is that we also did the construction work for the renovation including all the kitchen millwork and apparently with some difficulties due to very inexperienced workers. So I am not sure if the trip will be about what a nice job we managed to do despite all odds and a general patting on the back… or lectures for those of us not involved as to what not to do next time… Timothy Sudweeks 060118 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.36 Month 16 Back to top Well this diary is going to be a little short… I took a last minute trip to Washington D.C. as it is my birthday weekend. There is much drinking going on right now whilst I am writing this email… My favourite building I think was by Gordon Bushaften on the Mall; the Hershhorn and Sculpture Museum…? So finally my main project is taking off. The 19 houses and a stable in Cape Cod were given approval by the Cape Cod Commission as well as the town Planners at the end of last year. The houses that are on site are due for demolition (we have the demo permit and are actively looking for a contractor) and have begun the design for the first house… However as usual things change fast and we have too much work. One staff member quite just before Christmas and now we have so much work we really need two or three more. I only had four days to design the house, which turned into over two weeks, and it is no where near finished. Still we submitted it to the planners just to get it out there. One of the main problems in concentrating on the design is having to deal with all the little hangovers from projects from last year. These include annoying little construction problems such as leaking roves from connecting gas lines to the HVAC units or landlord problems… the kind of projects I am longing to get away from but that keep coming back to haunt me. I just keep in mind that you learn a lot from the problematic ones. We finally managed to agree on a general design knowing that the town is not going to give us too much trouble as they are quite open but we also still have to respond to the Cape Cod Commission over issues such as sustainability. I was surprised they cared so much but it is something I have wanted to push anyway. In being granted approval to develop the land one of the criteria is to show how we would be environmentally efficient. One way of showing this is through the LEED rating system which is administered through the U.S. Green Building Council. I have also spent some time looking at the Massachusetts code and the new RIBA part L and I have to admit it is far more advanced than anything you find here, especially the simple tables to help with calculations which you can then plug into any context you wish. Some of the other stuff is far too complex to even begin with right now such as the street gas, phone, and electrical connections. Luckily we have electricians on staff… I also have finally signed up for NCARB. It seems to me it is so much more expensive to get qualified here, especially is you are foreign. This is even truer when you consider that even I who have studied here am likely to have to have all my education evaluated at a cost of some $800 just to join the internship scheme… However I am yet to find out the results…..6 weeks or so I am told… Best get back to the beer…. Diary From Abroad. Issue No.23 Month 03 Back to top Well, the second month has flown past, along
with the much needed break of Thanksgiving at the end of November.
Much like Christmas it involved too much turkey and drinking.
I now get very little holiday in comparison to working in
the UK now so the four days off was a godsend. There aren’t
any bank Holidays either...However my boss insisted that we
go out and drink as much as we could at the end of work. It’s
a pleasant change. Bars in New York close a 4am. But if that’s
not enough you often find they never call last orders in Brooklyn;
which coincidently is where I live. Although that’s more to
do with rent prices... Timothy Sudweeks 050115 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.37 Month 17 Back to top It’s been a complicated month so far. Enough of the nice sustainable houses in Cape Cod; we are back to the nitty-gritty of New York renovations. We have as usual taken on too much work and we don’t have the staff to finish it. I also now have my NYC expeditors licence so I will be spending a lot more time out of the office trying to work out what the hell they are smoking in the Department of Buildings. My community centre in Queens has finally returned with a long list of objections which I am still working through this evening. And I have to admit I am still pretty shaky when it comes to the code, so it is very arduous. To start with New York has a different code to other cities and so I am fighting with leaning the code and zoning laws in multiple cities and states… In fact most towns have different codes. (If you’re lucky they use the international code). Even so most of it you can work out with an extra few hours put in, but some of the objections as I am sure most architects feel, are really unreasonable and I suspect are just to make me work late. For instance this project is an interior renovation, so it is not affecting the elevated train line over the street outside and so there should be no need for transit authority approval… and why do we need a Builders Pavers Plan to show that we are not working on the side walk. Didn’t they read the description of the work? Lastly I have to change the rating of all the partitions etc as we are in a fire district and coupled with a change of use pushed on us by the examiner unprotected wood joists are not allowed. We are going to need a bunch of waiver for the building now as the client a not-for profit church cannot afford the changes such as an elevator for disabled access. We tried to class the facility under Business at the suggestion of the Chief Plan Examiner but the actual plan examiner reviewing the drawings would have none of it .They want to class it as a Place of Assembly requiring higher fire protections and generally stricter rules for access and egress. We are hoping to argue that some are an unreasonable burden as for instance, all the areas are multi-purpose uses, so there is no reason why a specific activity would have to be in a location that would exclude anyone. Therefore, no need for an elevator as the activity could simply take place on the ground floor. The trouble is as I have written before they always want to upgrade facilities without any real conversation over the project. I have actually found wheelchair accessible bathrooms on a floor with no elevator before… Hopefully I should have cleared this mess up by next month. Tim Sudweeks 060315 Diary From Abroad. Issue No.38 Month 18 Back to top I finally have a reply from NCARB, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, establishing my record in the field and so I begin the road to licensure in the US in the Intern Development program or IDP. Luckily I didn’t have to get my education evaluated, which I am told costs an additional $800. I had thought that this might have been because I have a US degree but on going through the paperwork they have actually asked for a reference from the school. I can only assume this is as I didn’t complete an accredited degree, basically a five year course but I would have thought they would be more suspicious of my foreign education. There has been no reciprocity between the US and UK since 1990 and my suspicion is that it has more to do with the enlargement of the EU rather than British education standards. Anyone who wants more information should take a look at the reciprocity section of RIBA-USA site. The next step is to register all the hours I have worked. To satisfy the IDP training requirement you must earn a total of at least 700 training units, with prescribed subtotals in various training areas. Each credit point equals one eight-hour day in that particular field. I have to admit I find that the Practical Training Logbook of the RIBA is a lot easier to complete, especially when compiling the hours in retrospect as the categories are laid out in the order that a job would progress. Even though there are much less categories in the NCARB system, which leaves a little room, there is one I have mentioned before that is going to be difficult without… well, just plain lying; community service. Many people seem to just get an architect they work for to sign off all the hours they need so they can start studying for the nine exams. These are the nine exams 1 pre-design, 2 general structures 3 lateral forces, 4 mechanical and electrical systems, 5 building design / materials and methods, 6 construction documents and services, 7 site planning, 8 building planning and 9 building technology. So think yourself lucky when your starting your RIBA Part 3! However things are so busy at work it is going to take while to work out how to change over the hours from the UK, fill out each of the required reference forms and send them away. There’s also a maximum allowable number of units from foreign sources. Typical! Lucky for me I am getting experience in all the required field (bar one) and I have been putting my expediter license to good use this month with a number of trips to the Department of buildings in Queens and Manhattan. The main even was a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner to try and obtain a number of waivers for items on their Notice of Objections list for my community Center in Queens. I have been trying to keep down the cost of the project before it spirals out of control with all the additions. It seems to be a game where you point out a number of sections of the building code where you believe you fall into and so comply with the regulations and they check them to see if or where, you are going wrong. An example would be that as the building has changes use to say an assembly building you must provide horizontal and vertical fire protection in the form of stair enclosures. However if you ca n provide evidence the building was build under an old code and show you can comply with the safety requirement s with say a couple of sprinkler heads you can get your own way. So I managed to clear two out of three. They wouldn’t let me get away with not adding an elevator for disabled access. Now I have to take the fight to the Mayors Office. Should be fun… Lastly the projects I really didn’t want to work on in Newark, which used to be the crime capital of the world, seem to have turned around. I told the client he should buy the building next to his, bulldoze the lot and build a new one. Seems my crappy little conversion above a fast food shop just changed into luxury accommodation next to the biggest hospital in the state… We have also managed to pick up some projects in my neighbourhood, Brooklyn Heights. We are converting a number of six family apartment buildings into one family. Its not just that I am worried about my rent going up and the general gentrification grumble but I genuinely love this area and think it is a bad thing to lose one hundred odd apartments in total, for the amount of buildings they are converting, to get only six families in return. I feel the urge to write an anonymous blog.. Its something I haven’t seen in the UK but
anyone interested should look up www.curbed.com or www.brownstoner.com
If there are any for London, so I can catch up on what is
going on, please feel free to email me. Details on the contact
us page. Diary From Abroad. Issue No.39 Month 19 Back to top Well I haven’t gotten any further with registering my previous hours for the Intern Development Program. Instead I have been looking for refresher courses for the Architects Registration Exams. Unfortunately I haven’t found anything like the Part III course as yet. Instead there are small seminar type courses every now and then of which I have found some at NYU. I feel these are important to take as since the beginning of this year they put a time limit on the exam process. Firstly if you fail an exam you cannot retake it within 6 months and secondly you must pass them all within 5 years. I am not sure what the consequences are if you don’t pass them in five years but if you cant get through them in this time I assume you should consider changing careers anyway. Still it’s been a long time since I did structures so a refresher is certainly in order for me. My other excuse for not getting on with registering my hours is that I have spent so much time this month on two Brownstone projects we have in Brooklyn. This allowed me to have my first meeting at the Department of Buildings in Brooklyn with the deputy commissioner for a ‘pre-consideration’ on the project. Usually the principal of the office undertakes this, as it is an important start to a relationship; but it seems in our office it is up to the project manager. To my surprise most of my friends, even those qualified, never get to do this as they don’t have an expeditors licence and aren’t the architect of record. Still it is only NYC that has this crazy complicated process. The project discussed was for the conversion of a 5 family apartment house into a two family with the basement as a rental unit. This requires a new certificate of occupancy because of a change of use from J-2 Apartment Houses to J-3 One/Two Family. However you cannot certify the inspections yourself during the construction when there is a change of use, which is called Directive 14. We were hoping to be able to simply amend the ‘C of O’ but the commissioner said it simply was not possible. Although we already knew this was the likely answer from meetings with examiners I had thought it would give me a chance to ask some questions about my other projects. However they seem to have been very busy because of the controversy and suspicion surrounding one of the largest fires in New York for some time. Before I go into this I must also say I also have another dilemma in this project. This time the project is in my neighbourhood so it actually affects me directly. The developer is buying numerous building in the area and the intention is to convert them all to single family. This is sure to put up rent prices with more people trying to get fewer properties. My annoyance is really with the fact I was told the Brooklyn Heights Association is happy with the project as they are putting the stoop back to make the building look like it originally was, which also pleases the Landmarks Preservation Commission. However as owners themselves they will see the prices of their property rise as well and I wonder if their own profit is getting in the way. Essentially with the loss of so many people, if you just convert 10 buildings, the life of the area will start to change. Back to the fire and my interest in the people
that fight these developers has grown. On this note check
out what Frank Gehry proposes for the Atlantic Yards Brooklyn!
Out of scale and cartoonish are words that instantly spring
to mind. Recently a developer wanting to tear down a number
of warehouses for luxury condo’s was denied his application.
The day after there was one of the largest fires in recent
history in New York City. I hope to take a few more of these tours and let you know what is going on behind the developments in New York next time. Timothy Sudweeks 060520 Non-EU qualified architects Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications
comes into force from October 2007. § You must be a National of a member European state party to the EEA Agreement § Satisfy a minimum period of two years' postgraduate practical training experience in a member EEA state.
In support of your application, the following documentation
must be provided: Architects qualified via the EU Directive need not sit the
Part 3 Professional Practice Examination in order to register.
However, many EU Architects do still undertake to complete
the Part 3 as a useful introduction to UK building legislation
and contracts. In addition, EU qualified architects may join
the RIBA| after a period of five year's approved professional
practice in the European Union, as documented by a comprehensive
curriculum vitae. 2. Where a can I search for an architecture job in the US? 3. Am I eligible for an internship? 4. How do I get a visa? 5. How can I participate in the Exchange Visitor Program (J-1 visa program)? 6. How will this affect my gaining licensure in the UK? |