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In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
s and practices the profession of
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countries, an architectural firm is a company that offers architectural services.


History

Architects (or master builders) have existed since early in recorded history. The earliest recorded architects include Imhotep (c. 2600 BCE) and
Senemut Senenmut ( egy, sn-n-mwt, sometimes spelled Senmut, Senemut, or Senmout) was an 18th Dynasty ancient Egyptian architect and government official. His name translates literally as "mother's brother." Family Senenmut was of low commoner birth, ...
(c. 1470 BCE). No writings exist to describe how these architects performed their work. However, as nobles it is reasonable to assume they had staffs of assistants and retainers to help refine and implement their work. The oldest surviving book on architecture, ''
De architectura (''On architecture'', published as ''Ten Books on Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect and military engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide f ...
'' by the Roman architect
Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled ''De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribute ...
describes the design and construction of towns, buildings, clocks, and machines, but provides no information about the organisation of the architect's assistants. It is generally accepted that throughout most of human history, most architects were wealthy individuals who derived their primary income from activities other than design and who practiced design as a part-time pursuit, employing assistants on a project-by-project basis. It was only in the 19th century that architecture began to be practiced as a full-time
profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully ''professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted by ...
, when specific training and accreditation began to be offered. In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Charles Bulfinch Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Tra ...
is the first American believed to have worked as a full-time professional architect.
Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
may have been one of the first to have an established office and
McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), W ...
may have been among the first to resemble the large, modern architectural firm. The oldest active architecture firms in the United States are SmithGroup of Detroit, MI and Luckett and Farley of Louisville, KY, having both been founded in 1853. In the United Kingdom, Brierley Groom is the oldest continuing practice, having been founded in 1750 at
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, England. They may be the oldest active architectural practice in the world.


Licensure and legal form

Architects may be licensed by individual states or provinces, as they are in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Licensure is usually achieved by a combination of formal education, internship, and examinations. Although architects are licensed individually,
state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...
s allow them to join together in various forms of
business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
organisation. All states in the United States allow architects to form
partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
s, most allow architects to form
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
s or
professional corporation Professional corporations or professional service corporation (abbreviated as PC or PSC) are those corporate entities for which many corporation statutes make special provision, regulating the use of the corporate form by licensed professionals su ...
s, and some allow
limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...
s (LLPs) or
limited liability companies A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
(LLCs). Some states require the firm to obtain a registration to provide architectural services. Others merely require that the architectural work of the firm be performed under the direct supervision of an architect licensed in the state. A few US states allow corporations to provide architectural services provided that a licensed employee of the firm serves as architect of record for any project. In the United Kingdom and other countries, an architecture firm must have a business registration. The firm needs at least one registered professional within the team to offer a full architectural service. A
professional indemnity insurance Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advice-, consulting, and ser ...
is also compulsory.


Principals

An architecture firm in the United States usually has at least one "principal," a licensed architect who is the
sole proprietor A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole tradership, individual entrepreneurship or proprietorship, is a type of enterprise owned and run by one person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. A sole ...
of the firm, or one who shares an
ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
interest with the other architects in the firm (either as a
partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...
in a partnership, or as a
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
in a corporation). Sometimes the title of principal is limited to owners who hold a certain percentage of ownership interest in a firm, or it may be expanded to include anyone with a leadership role in a firm. Some firms may also use the title "principal-in-charge," which denotes an architect who oversees the firm's services in connection with a specific project. In the United Kingdom and other countries, the principal of an architecture firm is responsible for the practice. It is generally a qualified architect,
architectural technologist The architectural technologist, also known as a building technologist, provides technical building design services and is trained in architectural technology, building technical design and construction. Architectural technologists apply the science ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
or an
architectural designer The term architectural designer may refer to a building designer who is not a registered architect, architectural technologist or any other person that is involved in the design process of buildings or urban landscapes. Architectural designers ...
.


Organization

Small firms with fewer than five people usually have no formal organizational structure, depending on the personal relationships of the principals and employees to organize the work. Medium-sized firms with 5 to 50 employees are often organized departmentally in departments such as design, production, business development, and construction administration. Large firms of over 50 people may be organized departmentally, regionally, or in studios specializing in project types. Other permutations also exist. Advances in
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
have made it possible for firms to open offices or establish alliances with other firms in different parts of the world. This makes it possible for some portions of the work to be performed in the US or UK, and other portions in locations such as India or Mexico, for example. In addition to using lower-cost, high-skill professionals in Asian countries, it also enables some firms to work, in effect, two or three shifts due to time differences. It is important to note that increasingly developers in India and China are hiring US and European firms to work on local developments. This is often coordinated or sub-contracted by architecture firms in these countries—in effect outsourcing work to the US and European firms. The recent market situation has led to an acceleration in this trend and a growing number of architecture firms in India and China are now outsourcing work to architects in the west. The long-term and widespread effects of these practices on architectural firms (in all parts of the world) remain to be seen.


See also

*
List of architecture firms The following is a list of architectural firms. It includes notable worldwide examples of architecture firms, companies, practices, partnerships, etc. 1–9 *360 Architecture, United States *3LHD, Croatia * 3XN, Denmark * 1100 Architect ...
*
List of architects The following is a list of notable architects – well-known individuals with a large body of published work or notable structures, which point to an article in the English Wikipedia. Early architects * Aa ( Middle Kingdom), Egyptian *Amenhote ...


References

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