-: My name's Mario Zacharjasz, and I'm an architect.
I'm a principal at PZS Architects.
What we do is we design buildings, we design shelter.
Whether it's a student dorms,
whether it's a library, a rec center,
multi-family housing, private housing,
hospitals, museums, universities, that's what we do.
To be an architect you have to be a
Jack-of-all-trades, in a way.
You have to have a lot of knowledge
of the built environment,
contractors, developers, your clients,
what their needs are.
We're currently working on
a project at Temple University,
the College of Public Health.
And that's in it's very, very early stages in programming.
So we are meeting with all the professors,
the deans, the committees,
we're getting input to develop all the programming.
Finding out all the classrooms, meeting rooms,
administrative rooms, labs,
auditoriums, all the different components
that go into the building.
You have a budget in mind.
It goes out to bid to contractors,
construction management companies,
to build whatever the building is.
And then once they're selected,
could be lowest price,
it could be best value for the university or the client.
Then when they start construction
there is construction administration and observation
where you follow the construction.
You become the client's representative
representing the best interest of the client
at the construction site,
making sure they're following
all the plans and specifications.
Well, sometimes if you're working on a particular
building that's existing, for example,
and you're renovating it, and you're changing
what was in there from before,
you may run across an unforeseen condition.
Something behind a wall or under the floor
that no one knew about before.
Those are things that pop up
and could delay the project,
or could be handled very easily,
could cost more money, or could be a credit,
depending on what it is.