Industry Specific Consultant or Newspaper Architect

The industry Specific Design Professional goes by many names, including Newspaper Architect, Media Architect, Publishing Architect, Print Media Consultant, and Print or Publishing Facility Designer to name a few.  One thing that all of the names have in common is that they refer to a consultant who is well versed, and experienced in design that is specific to the print industry.

Why would one choose this type of specialized consultant over the local generalist architect?

The easy answer to this is one of experience, knowledge, and economy.  The generalist design consultant is one who is very well versed in the design of facilities for a wide range of clients.  This requires them to spread their project research out thinly over a diverse project type and to also spend a greater amount of time on the initial research for a particular project.  Every prudent design professional will initially research the project type in general during the pre-design phases to allow them to understand the information received when developing a project program.  The Newspaper Architect will have this initial research completed to a much greater extent before the project inception.  This greater level of understanding allows the Newspaper Architect to ask more finely tuned and insightful questions during the pre-design phases, which will ultimately result in a facility that meets the needs of the process to a greater degree.

ArcWest Architects Design for a New Facility:
Skagit Valley Publishing

The experience that comes with the specialist Architect also allows a greater depth of knowledge to draw on when searching for alternatives to complex process needs.   The Newspaper Architect will have completed numerous facilities within their specialty and each of these facilities would have had their own set of challenges that had to be solved.  Having these solutions to draw on will allow a greater flexibility in solving the unique set of problems that comes with a new design.

Finally the often overlooked and misunderstood reason for hiring a Newspaper Consultant Architect is for value.  In essence the experience gained by concentrating on one industry will allow the specialist architect to understand the process, vocabulary, and equipment in such a way that ideas and solutions can be arrived at while expending less time in the process.  The understanding of the infrastructure require for the equipment will result in less time and money during installation when it comes to closing the last “10 feet” between the equipment and the building infrastructure.

What does a Newspaper Specific Architect bring to the table?  They bring:

  • An understanding of the industry dynamics
  • An understanding of the vocabulary
  • An understanding of the equipment and its requirements
  • Knowledge of structures / facilities uniquely geared toward industry
  • Knowledge of materials to economically address rigors of the industry
  • Speed and efficiency in design, saving the client both time & money

Please contact ArcWest Architects to learn more about our services.

– Todd Heirls

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