Need some help - Architects

[Gary_K]

I need a little help.  I may or may not (due to a potential conflict of interest) be involved in the interview process for a golf course architect for a new golf course.  What are 5-10 (more/less) questions that should be asked/answered when being interviewed?  The site is a corn/bean field, no trees, 40-50 of elevation change.  Would questions like the following be good to ask?

Given the site is a blank slate, what type of a hole do you like to start a course with and why?

How do you see the starting hole influence the pace of play?

What type of hole do you like to finish on both nines with?

I would appreciate some help in coming up with important questions that may be ‘meat and potato’ type questions and others that may reveal something more interesting about the architect.

Brief background, I’m a Professional Civil Engineer and our firm has performed as the City Engineer for a nearby community that is considering a new golf course.  The developer would most likely be a private development group.  I provided a report about the cost of building a golf course and related facilities/infrastructure.  Included were a couple of CAD drawings with course routings and potential adjacent development.  This took a lot of time and effort and I did it on my own free time.  I didn’t charge for the work.  I did it because I’m interested in golf course architecture and construction.

I had hoped to be designated as the civil engineer for the eventual project and be involved in the architect interview process as well.  Not necessarily to have a vote on who to select as the architect, but as someone to ask more technical questions about the overall development and what the architect’s design theory.  More importantly to be involved in the whole process from the very beginning.  The development group has asked for proposals and is setting interview times with a few regional architects.  One of the firms responding to the RFP has requested my firm to be their civil engineer on the project exclusively.  I have a personal interest in this project due to my interest in golf course design and I don’t get this type of opportunity very often.  Do I team up with the firm exclusively and risk the opportunity of not being involved at all or just act as the City’s engineer and let the chips fall where they may.  Ugh!  What to do.  

Thank you for time.

Gary K.

[Tom_Doak]

Gary:

The architect who wants you to commit to them exclusively is simply trying to gig the system in his favor by getting involved with someone the town knows and likes.  Your odds of being involved may be increased by this alignment, but you shouldn't make that commitment unless you also think they are the best architects for the job.

Beyond that, interview questions about a general philosophy of design are just good for figuring out who is the most full of b.s.  The most important questions to ask are:

Why is this job important to you?

How much time will you spend on the project if we hire you?

Besides the name designer, who else will be involved?, and

What components of your design will make the course interesting and attractive to golfers?

[Tyler Kearns]

The site is a corn/bean field, no trees, 40-50 of elevation change. Given the site is a blank slate

Sounds more like the potential for interesting topography than a blank slate.  

TK

[David Druzisky]

I concur with Tom's direction regarding the interview q's.  He hints at making sure you understand who you will be getting to actually do or be responsible for the design.  

If there is an interview I guess it would be good to be interviewing the person that will actually do the work.

As an architect I do not know what meat and potato questions an engineer could ask me that would be important at that point.  We really rely on the civil engineers.  We can not always deal with that aspect at the level you can.  But, we may have experienced other solutions to similar challenges on other projects.

With this in mind, beyond the philosophical design stuff I think your questions could be geared towards how the team would work.  Just do not bother with the hole by hole feature by feature stuff.  Save that for over drinks once the choice is made.

I guess you could ask how that firm plans on developing documents that you might be needing for your end of things - permit submittals, mass grading etc.  We all seem to do it different.  I approach GC design as a craft so I do not produce things in AutoCad, but I can arrange for that by others if needed.  Sometimes the project civil engineer can just take my hand drawn stuff and bring it into the form they need.  Clarify that stuff so you are not looking at each other across the table three months into it asking "I thought you were doing that".

The dynamics you speak of concerning your involvement with the project seems the most awkward at this point.  If the developer has not assigned you yet then maybe they want to let the GCA make that call, again because of the team relationship thing.  Exclusives are tough as Tom mentions regarding the "gig".  If I was the client I do not think I would want this to happen.  Those teams could be broken up by the client (if not a govt job) if they like parts but not the whole.

And oh, by the way, welcome to our world of doing up front routings and such!

DbD

[Jeff_Brauer]

Gary,

Besides what Tom D says, I would ask them to bring examples and discuss design philosophy of other bean field work they have done with limited topography.  If they were smart, they would focus on that anyway in an interview, anyway.

If you like what they did on similar sites, you will probably like what they do for you on your site. As they talk, you will possibly get some of the general philosophy of handling that type of design, as well as perhaps some of the specific questions you had.  You might also learn how they will interact with you.

Let the conversation goes where it goes, and you will probably learn more than in a real structured environment, even if every gca doesn't get the "same interview".

Opryland had a flat site, and I got the project, simply because I was the only gca to take them to play my flattest course (in Midland, TX) rather than my best couse.  

As Tyler says, 40 foot of elevation change isn't anything to sneeze at!  I have had sites (too many sites) with about 36 feet less elevation change.......

As Tom says, I don't think you have a conflict of interest, but I wouldn't get tied to one team.  In your case, the good news is, the consulting engineer usually doesn't affect the team selection for golf course design.  The bad news, from your perspective is......... the consulting engineer usually doesn't affect the team selection for golf course design.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Jeff,
I will disagree with your premis.
I agree an architect will have a leg up techinically if they work on similar sights.
I would value inspiration higher.

Gary,
I would suggest looking beyond the regional architect for the same reasons.

How did your routing turn out?

My interview questions:
I'd ask the architect to critique your routing.
How long will it take to produce your plans - if using them.

Good luck.

Hope you get my brochure in the mail soon...  

[RJ_Daley]

Way too little information for us arm chair architects to give unsolicited opinions.

At least tell us the general region, the size of the land, if it can have a contiguous course, with or without housing needed to make the project fly financially.  What shape is the land parcel?  What is the soil like?  Will extensive drainage within and off course be a large or minor problem?  What access do you have to water resources.  How proximate are power 3-phase electric?  What is the regional population and how many courses in this category currently exist?  What courses that we might know, are competitors and are they doing well?  Since you say it is treeless, are there any other treeless courses in the area, and what style seems popular with the local market?

When you know these answers, then what architect has done successful work with those conditions?  Will the permitting process be easy or hard?  What archie has a good track record working in the social-political environment yours is in?  What archie has brought in courses of merit with conditions similar to yours, within your pre-determined financial pre-determined range of expenditures?  Whose work in that range isn't bollacks in the after years of opening requiring many retrun adjustments to correct too many problems?

Inquiring minds want to know.  But, it isn't cool to conduct the interview process on GCA, IMHO.  I'd bet you have had a fair amount of IMs and e-mail from archies interested already.  Some who don't even post on GCA, but lurk...

[Tim Liddy]

I would also ask how the golf course will be built.  If a contractor is going to build the golf course, you might as well start interviewing them since thier style will be imprinted on the golf course more than the architects.

[Forrest Richardson]

Ask them as many questions as possible about the land/site. You will quickly find out who is truly interested in the project — and who has taken time to decide if it will be a good fit for them.

This is not a one-sided process. Your narrowed list of golf course architects should have some questions for you, too. I recommend that you ask them what questions they have. You can often tell where their mind and heart is positioned by what they pose as questions...superficial = probably means they don't care that much.

Considering that Brauer and I spend most of our time answering RFPs and RFQs, I trust this project is located in some nook and cranny of the Americas that we have been banned from.

[cary lichtenstein]

Ask them to walk the property, than tell you a course they have done that looks reasonably similiar that they recommend doing.

If you are not familiar with that course. ask for pictures, get on a plane and go visit.

I for one, based on the topography, would just hire the guy who I think would do the best job based on what I have seen.

I try very hard to play a full representative sample of each architect's work that I admire, discounting some of the bad sites, poor budgets and poor land on the lesser sites.

For example, if I had a seriously sandy site, I would have liked to hire Strantz, but now that he has passed away, I would hite Coore and Crenshaw  or Doak, based on their availability

[Jeff_Brauer]

The Native American Tribes I have interviewed with have the best system - they select three to five gca's they have recommendations on, they pay each about $5K to do a real proposal, and then they pick, usually on personality and getting along.  By paying, they get a good proposal and idea what the gca would do, answering their questions with very site specific proposals.

Mike N,

In a quick read, I thought you wrote that you agreed with my penis!  Hmm.....

As to inspiration, yes, but how do you separate that from the BS that Tom postulates about?  We can all sound inspired.....

[Mike Nuzzo]

Jeff,
I agree it is very hard to smell BS if you are uneducated about the process.  
Fortunately, or unfortunately, I've seen a lot of architects presentations...  

[Jeff_Brauer]

Mike,

If they can demonstrate inspired work through pictures on other similar sites, isn't a picture worth a thousand words?

Actually, our reponses are probably typical.  As a 22 year veteran (who is still inspired, BTW) I would pitch experience.  As a young designer just starting out with your own firm, you would pitch inspiration, and perhaps inspried service, which I have no doubt you would provide.  I have been there.  

Sometimes, getting the young architect with experience, but without credentials can be the greatest bargain going.  I certainly felt that way 20 years ago.......Not that I would ever admit that in a presentation now!  Now, I look back and wonder how I ever got the right number of holes with my inexperience, much less any good holes.