>> I'm Adam Stillman.
I'm an architect working
out of Atlanta, Georgia.
I specialize in designs of custom homes,
new homes, renovations and additions
to existing homes and restorations
of historic homes here in some
of Atlanta's historic neighborhoods.
>> Adam, can you talk about, you know,
what goes into that job, some of the things
that you actually do on a
daily basis or a project basis?
>> Sure. Architecture is really a field in
which you've got a variety of experiences.
A lot of it is working with
people who come to you,
not necessarily knowing what an
architect does, but with an idea.
They knew they want to build a new house.
Maybe they need a new building
for their company.
Maybe it's someone who works for the
city and is trying to design a new bridge
that might cross over the interstate.
So what we end up doing, we're initially
setting up meetings where we meet with people,
talk about their needs, talk about their
constraints, talk about their budgets,
and start to formulate a plan on how we
can get from a schematic conceptual idea
of something all the way through the
process of design, developing those designs,
going through city processes
and getting building permits,
and then working with building
contractors [background noise]
to actually take those designs and
turn them into something that's built.
During the early stages of a project, it's
going to be a lot of meetings in an office
and then a lot of time spent at the desk.
Usually a project is divided into phases where
you'll do what's called a schematic design,
put together very basic floor
plans, and take those to the client
to make sure they're meeting their needs,
and those drawings continue to get more
and more detailed as you progress to
what's called construction documents,
and that's what you would actually give to
a building contractor and say, "Build this."
That process of construction actually
usually involves a lot of interaction
between the contractor and the architect,
and sometimes questions arise,
maybe unforeseen circumstances.
Maybe a better way is thought of to
do something that might save money
or make the time calendar a little bit shorter.
So there's going to be a lot of time visiting
a construction site throughout the course
of construction, and, of course, it's always
rewarding that day when you finally cut
that ribbon and you're standing
there and see what you've designed.