VISHNU — PROMPT 1

The time is 10:30 AM on Friday, October 13. The prompt response is due today and I hope I'll be done with it by the end of the day, I think subconsciously as I work on a furniture layout plan.

"HEY VISHNU! Let's go get coffee! And talk about accountability," says Luke while I'm figuring out the total number of 10'x10" boards required to build some bar tables and benches. We drive down King Street to The Harbingers Cafe and Bakery. Luke gets a cup of cappuccino and I get a mug of regular coffee. I'm not a regular coffee drinker, so after taking a sip, I confidently proceed to add more sugar than I should have, and not enough milk.

The place is packed with people. We find a little table, but have difficulty trying to sit down because of the people occupying the little tables on either side. After seeing the expression on my face, Luke says, "Let's go sit outside! The weather's great!", and we quickly relocate.

The weather really is great, and so is the furniture and the canopy. "Wow! I didn't know they had this nice outdoor place. This place is great!", says Luke, looking around. I decide that I'll be coming back soon. I take a sip of my coffee. Maybe I won't be coming back soon.

"So, accountability! What is your understanding of accountability?", Luke asks. I respond that it could mean responsibility to the client, to the firms that you work with, and to the public, but it also means cultivating trust and confidence among the employees within the firm. "That's right!", says Luke. I beam internally.

He proceeds to narrate an example from three years ago involving a client who wanted a paver design for their driveway. A lot of Synchronicity's projects are composed of both the architectural and the landscape aspects. Far too often, clients come in with an architecture–first approach. After pushing the architectural design and using up too much of their budget, they later end up trying to cut costs (and time) on the landscape design.

In this case, the project was located in an expensive neighborhood and they had originally wanted the firm to design their driveway with permeable pavers. Now the clients were asking the firm to redesign the driveway with cheaper materials, since pavers can be really expensive especially when you overspent your budget on the architecture. So the firm proposed that they use gravel instead. The plans went through the city board, and they installed the gravel, only to later find out that the neighborhood didn't allow gravel in their local codes.

"The client was furious," says Luke. He acknowledges that this was a hasty mistake on their part, and that checking the neighborhood rules was a step that they had missed in their rush to deliver within the allocated project hours. "Ultimately, we were responsible for it," he says, "so we worked out a deal with them on our own expense." I ask if it involved monetary compensation. "Not with cash!", he says, "That's not how it works, and we were tight on cash. So we offered to work with them on another project, but with added value and services. In the end they got their money's worth, and everyone is happy." That's smooth, I think to myself.

"Everything is in flux. Change is constant."

"Sometimes the clients forget what they had originally asked for. Sometimes we miss a step in our commitment to accommodate our clients' requests. Things like these are not uncommon in our fast–paced world. That's why we have meticulous internal reviews." More red lines for me, I think. "Everything is in flux. Change is constant. You shouldn't ever expect to get it perfect all the time," says Luke, as I reluctantly gulp down my less–than–perfect coffee.

I ask if there were cases where they had to deal with other firms being less responsible than ideal. Luke mentions a project where a structural firm had provided a drawing that showed a foundation element that crossed the property line, and the contractor built it exactly as in the drawing, actually digging under the property line and crossing over to the other side. That's not very smart, I think to myself. "It wasn't a smart thing to do," Luke concurs omnisciently.

Now, the client didn't have the best relations with the people into whose property the contractors had burrowed. Seeing the opportunity, the neighbors protested the underground encroachment of their property. Luke says that their firm did have the responsibility of reviewing all the drawings (even ones by the structural consultants) as part of their professional commitment, and this detail was something that had regrettably slipped their attention. But in this case the building contractor is also legally bound to not build anything outside their clients' property, even if the drawings show otherwise. I ask if the issue has been resolved. "We're still figuring it out, but the contractors will be the ones responsible, and we will not need to use our E&O insurance," Luke grins.

"Never cover up. Own up to every mistake."

We talk about accountability within the firm and how we can develop a sense of collective responsibility. "Never cover up. Own up to every mistake. The partners always take the blame for the employees' oversights, so it helps if we look at our projects with a sense of us rather than I," he says.

He asks if I have enough material to work with, and I nod unconvincingly. On the way out he meets a friend in the coffee shop and tells her that he was being 'interviewed' by this student from Clemson. I tell him that I might actually make it sound like an interview, even though I didn't have an exact record of the conversation. Luke gets some delectable chocolate chip cookies for all our colleagues, and we make our way back to the office. ■

Accountability is one of the six core vales NCARB believes in and is defined as consistent, equitable, and responsible performance.

Oftentimes the architect has to seal plans that they may not have personally prepared. When working on collaborative projects, many employees and consultants may be involved and there is the question of whom the responsibility for errors and omissions goes to. The devil is in the details and cannot be possibly uncovered unless the designer has detailed knowledge of the content of the plans during their preparation. Even careful reviews may not be enough to substitute for a continued focus on the details throughout the design process. The architect has the duty to exercise responsible control, minimize oversights and resolve conflicts equitably, keeping in mind their commitment to the client, the public and the profession.

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Written in response to the prompt: Select one of the core values of NCARB, and ask your Mentor to provide an example or case study from his/her practice in which one of these core values has been CHALLENGED. Describe the case and a scenario in which one of these core values might be compromised regularly.