by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Grant Simpson, FAIA, and Jim Atkins, FAIA, together present numerous seminars and write a monthly series for AIArchitect on managing risk in today’s profession. Atkins is a principal with Dallas-based HKS Architects and is the 2006 chair of the AIA Risk Management Committee. Simpson manages project delivery for RTKL Associates in Dallas and is the 2006 chair of the AIA Practice Management Advisory Group.

Educational background
Simpson: I graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a bachelor of science degree in architecture in 1975 and a master of architecture degree in 1979.

Atkins: Bachelor of science degree in architecture from UT Arlington, same place, in 1974.

Hobbies
Atkins: I don’t really have any, other than writing articles for the AIA, but I do have a pretty large collection of guitars. I just haven’t been active with it in recent years.

Simpson: I am an avid tropical plant collector. I grow some of them in containers and some I grow in the ground, but I have maybe a hundred pots of tropical plants—citrus trees, breadfruit trees, hibiscus, banana trees, and lots of vines. Another thing that I do—I don’t know if it’s a hobby or community service—but I am a youth basketball coach. I volunteer to coach youth basketball teams. Most of the times those teams include my two sons, who are pretty good basketball players. I’ve done that for 12 years.

Mentors
Atkins: Ernest L. Buckley, PE. He taught me my structures. He probably taught Grant his, too.

Simpson: He did, yes.

Atkins: He and I used to do seminars together after I graduated from UT-A. He was a very close friend who taught me a lot. Harwood K. Smith, FAIA, is another, our founder of HKS. And Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA, our chairman of the board. Those three guys are probably my top mentors, and my dad, who taught me how to work.

Simpson: I would say my grandfather, who taught me how to work, and Ronald M. Brame, FAIA, who was the president and the director of commercial architecture at HKS for a long time. He taught me how to consider architecture as a business as well as a design practice. Also Paul M. Terrill, AIA, who taught me the value of client service.

Last book read
Simpson: The Ionian Mission (Aubrey Maturin Series) by Patrick O’Brian.

Atkins: Kiss Theory Goodbye by Bob Prosen and—on audio—The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

How you became partners in risk management
Both: We both were principals here at HKS for a number of years. Grant was director of our design and production side and I was director of the construction administration side, so between the two of us, we both experienced the technical side of the business for many, many years. That’s about all either one of us has ever done. Then about 2000, I received a call for presentations for the national convention, so I thought I might like to talk about [project and risk management]. Grant and I submitted a proposal together, and that’s what got us started. We’ve presented at every national convention since then, and we do a lot of component and state conference presentations.

Atkins: I’m the chair of the Risk Management Committee and Grant’s the chair of the Practice Management Advisory Group. [The advisory committees] encourage all of the members to write risk management articles to put in the AIArchitect best practices. Grant and I wrote an article together on risk management that appeared in the May/June 2004 issue of Texas Architect. We really enjoyed doing it and had a great time. It was one of those articles out on the edge that talked about things architects don’t always talk about, and we wound up re-publishing that in AIArchitect in the fall. That prompted us to propose, since the Risk Management Committee wanted us to write articles, a series for AIArchitect, which we did. We actually didn’t get our first article out until February ’05, but we’ve not stopped since then.

Next step
Atkins: They suggested that we do a book, and we’ve talked about how many articles it would take to make a good book. We thought somewhere around 30, and we’ll reach that number about mid-year next year.

Simpson: We may start working on that in the middle of the year, so it may be out next year.

Practice philosophy
Atkins: I don’t know if yours is the same as mine, Grant, but for quite some time mine has been that, in today’s practice of architecture, it’s difficult to separate project management and risk management. Risk management is not something that you see, but it’s the way you do business. It’s the way you manage the project. That’s my philosophy. You can’t manage a project without having some consideration for and reaction to risk management practices.

Simpson: I think that comment applies for both of us, Jim. Another thing that we both feel strongly about is, for an architecture firm, your client is your greatest asset because without clients, you don’t have an architecture firm. You don’t have an opportunity to practice, so if you build your firm around service to your client and consideration for your client, then your clients will recognize that and keep doing business with you.

Advice for young and future architects
Simpson: When I counsel young people who think they want to become architects, I give them the advice that I think is universal, it doesn’t matter what the profession is: “Love what you do and work hard at it. If you don’t love what you do, don’t do it.”

Atkins: Get up early, move fast, always listen, and ask questions.

What’s in store for risk management
Atkins: It’s hard to answer because a lot is dependent on the development of integrated practice. If integrated practice meets its full potential, risk management could not be as demanding in the future.

Simpson: That’s the subject of the entire article series. There are great changes on the horizon in architecture, and BIM promises to be the catalyst for change. Now, whether the profession and allied professions involved in design and construction can ever really implement integrated practice, that’s for the future to decide.