Design procedures have changed over the last half-century, and so have the surrounding project management processes. The AIA has created a new Web site resource for one such process, risk management.

The evolution of design since 1952 might be characterized by saying that an elegant solution is still as valuable as it was then, but many more issues must be addressed and incorporated. As the late Charles Moore wrote, achieving simplicity through exclusion is easy. Just weed out enough "stuff" and eliminate requirements until you get simple. Achieving simplicity through inclusion is a greater challenge.

Sometimes it seems that in the 1950s and '60s, an architect's dream was to display his (probably not her) originality. If he sold hard and stood his ground, he might see his monumental glass and steel creation toe-nailed onto the front of an historic edifice, thus proving his modernity. And wasn't it a shame, he might have thought, that the unenlightened townfolk failed to go all the way and tear down that old existing monstrosity? How many college campuses were visually violated by the architecture of brutalism in the '60s?

Things have changed. In 2002, in spite of the way computers are enabling us to warp those planes and surfaces, the goal of architecture is often more than creating a piece of modernist sculpture, and technology has allowed us to use light in design as never before. Site analysis, context, movement, a regard for history, energy conservation, and integration of systems are all elements of design in ways that were not thought possible. The process itself has changed since 1952. By the '70s, clients were relieved to hear that they would be included in the design deliberations, and architects who found ways to encourage such input were rewarded with more work, more designs to create. It was a business deal.

Risk management has changed, too
Risk management started out as a business deal, too. Professional liability insurance was unavailable in the early '50s, but as our society grew more litigious, such insurance became the architect's main line of defense. Now, risk management has become more sophisticated as well, woven into the very practice of design and project management. There is a marriage of the insurance concept with the design process that has allowed us to assess risk and how it affects the practice of design. Beyond a professional collaboration, this marriage was a business opportunity, and when business opportunities work well, they satisfy a need on the part of both the buyer and the seller.

Risk management of the present day goes to the heart of design. It is one of those myriad factors that must be considered in the inclusive process. Everything from project selection to how thin you can make a piece of your building and still keep the water out relates to the issue of risk management. And just as there are more design considerations now, your professional liability insurer often offers assistance with regard to risk management education and legal assistance that was unavailable 50 years ago.

Before the mid-'50s, "going bare" was not only possible, it was the only way one could practice. Through the '60s and '70s, owners began to demand that architects carry professional liability insurance, but the chief concern of many architects was to keep the premiums down by avoiding the assignment of a claim number. Now, specialty insurance agents who know what architects do work hand in hand with us with an emphasis on preventive care.

A few things we can do with risk
• Retain it. Take responsibility for the risk's costs and its benefits.
• Abate it. Minimize risk with planning or special skills.
• Allocate it. Select the parties to the construction process and allocate risks among them.
• Transfer it. Transfer risk through indemnification agreements or through the purchase of professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance.
• Avoid it. Some risks are either so unpredictable or so potentially costly that no amount of compensation would make them worthwhile to undertake.

If a service has no risk, you probably won't be paid very much to provide it. But taking on the responsibility for something you have no authority to control is a risk that is so rarely rewarded, we should try to avoid it. At the start of the 21st Century, risk management is key among inclusive elements of the design process. We at the AIA Risk Management Committee encourage you to access the new Risk Management site to see the resources there and visit from time to time in the future to check for additional information in development.

Bob Erikson, AIA, is chair emeritus of the AIA Risk Management Committee. He is an associate principal of CSO Architects Engineers & Interiors in Indianapolis.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.