04/04/2022
The FCC Architecture Club took a trip to Darden Architectâs last Friday (4/1) and toured the office with one of the firms Principles, Antonio âTonyâ Avila. He provided a detailed presentation of the firms history, discussed some of his personal experiences working as an architect, and walked us through the office.
The firm was originally founded by Edwin S. Dardin Sr. in 1959. Since then, the firm has grown to become one of the largest architectural firms in Fresno. The majority of their projects are commercial institutions. Their projects typically fall under the categories of education, health care, and public works. Currently, they have around 50 employees, and have over 125 active projects all of which are in various stages ranging from initial design to near completion. When selecting projects, they typically look for great design opportunities, as well as projects where they can give back to the community. They are supporters for initiatives like âBetter Blackstoneâ that focus on reshaping and improving the local community of Fresno.
While speaking with us, one point that Avila made sure to emphasize was that âOftentimes, the design process for projects startâs off with sketches by hand.â He made sure to make the point that hand-drawn sketches are still of great value in architect firms.
Avila touched on a couple of the realities of working as an architect. He explained how the job can be very challenging. He noted how school typically provides you much more time for projects as opposed to the reality of having much more limited time for projects in the working environment. Avila reminded us how architecture is subjective, so what I think is good, you may not think is good, and vice versa. He also highlighted the point of how nothing get done by yourself and to remember that you will always need to work in teams.
One last point Avila mentioned was that, âYou have to be able to work with people in this profession. Youâre going to work with clients, so you need to be able to do good work and keep your clients happy.â
Their firm works with local engineers, typically those within a two hour radius of their office location. Theyâve worked with Brooks Ransom Associates, Lawrence Engineering Group (LEG), Hardin-Davidson Engineering, as well as Boro Robert Landscape Architect. On projects, they meet and collaborate with their team of engineers typically two to three times during a project: first, at the kickoff of schematic design, second, during design development, and once more during construction documents.
On discussing preference between programs like Revit and SketchUp, Avila explained how both are necessary at specific stages. There are moments, like in schematic design, when SketchUp is the appropriate program to use in order to convey visual and creative ideas. Then, there are other stages in design, like Design Development, when the BIM program Revit is the appropriate and necessary program to use to convey the details of structure and the materials being used.
The FCC Architecture Club would like to thank Tony Avila and the employees at Darden Architects for welcoming us into their office and taking the time in their work week to meet and chat with us.
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