Once, architects were generalists who managed and directed both the design and construction of buildings. Today, the complexity of the AEC world has fostered specialization, leading to incomprehensible divisions of responsibility and consequent turf wars of risk avoidance. The silo-ing of responsibility has led to legal exposure for leaders of the process; in reaction, architects have limited their professional scope, becoming  marginal players in the shaping of our environment. Architects need to reconnect to the process and take back control.

Architect-led design build is a path to this reconnection. Join the Boston Society of Architects for an introduction to the work and practice of GLUCK+—a preeminent New York architect-led design build firm—and the services and expertise provided by Schiff Hardin Construction Law, a Chicago practice whose expert guidance informs the viability and success of the design build model. This brief presentation is followed by an interactive discussion of the opportunities in the expanded role of the architect.