Creating the best Vision for the Business Owner takes a Team Approach
Arunas Rumsa of Pearson Construction’s In-House Architectural Design Team, TERA Architects, shares insights into what elements are essential for Smart Design.
“What I enjoy about a design build scenario is doing what I do best, and being part of a team that does what they do best. It’s not so much that I am the overall designer or master planner, a lot of the decisions we made are done collectively,” says Rumsa. “We go through an iterative process of accessing information, and it may not have anything to do with architecture. It may have something to do with finances, building location, timing, sequence. All that goes into solving a problem for the owner.”
When choosing the design/build process – the contractor is always known. In this case, Pearson Construction. So Arunas and his team don’t have to detail every single thing. He is able to rely on the experience of the general contracting team, and their expectations, so they are able to cut out a lot of the drawing time in a more traditional, design-bid-build process.
“There is a big convenience of me being able to walk across the room and discuss technical questions. We could have a question about the cost of one foundation system versus another foundation system based on poor soil qualities, and make a decision fairly quickly on how we want to proceed with that part of the building,” says Rumsa. “Pearson Construction crews can come to me and ask questions about code reviews, code questions, and a lot of times those conversations lead to changing design plans that save the business owner money.”
When talking about Smart Design – the more each side is able to talk to each other, and discuss plans, the better the project becomes. At the beginning of a project, TERA Architects team members have a pretty good understanding of what a building might look like and what it’s going to cost. Our design team works to stay on top of the business owner’s needs and budget through the whole design build process. The majority of meetings are productive where we work directly with the owners, and contractors in order to get immediate feedback on the project.
What about setting a budget?
Rumsa says the best thing about a building is setting parameters, or definition, guidelines – the budget being one of them.
“When I look at a project, initially, and I look at the owner’s budget, we can all analyze with the help of the construction site whether it’s a realistic budget or not,” says Rumsa. “The real creativity comes in when you are actually designing within that budget, and can create something spectacular for the owner for the price they want to spend.”
The resulting product is something that we hope our client is excited about, because we know we have taken all of their wants and needs into consideration, and designed a vision everyone can be proud of.
“You go into the archives from 60 years ago and you look at the tremendous amount of work this company has done for the community, and you want to be part of a team that is passionate about what they do,” says Rumsa. “Others being passionate makes you want to be passionate.”
The creation of Pearson Engineering, Inc. in 1956, dba TERA Architects, Inc., has allowed Pearson to remain on the forefront of innovation and construction deliverables. Staffed with highly trained and experienced architects, engineers, and designers, TERA provides efficient, economical project design through both traditional and design build methods of project delivery.
