An architect is issued a license number from each state in which he or she holds a license, and that number is required to appear on all correspondence, advertising, and on all of the architect’s drawings. In every facet that you can think about when in or around a building, the architect has put thought into all of those same elements to create that building and the spaces surrounding that building.

A person cannot legally call him or herself an architect without having passed the licensing exams in that state.Īn architect’s education, training, and experience focuses on the aesthetic design of buildings and spaces, structures, mechanical systems, acoustics, sustainability, and all of the other attributes necessary to make buildings useful and enjoyed by people. I will first explain the differences between these professions and what the laws in most states say when one is required to use, or not to use, one of these specialists for the design of a house.Īn “architect” is one who has a college degree in the design of buildings and the built environment has been trained in the design of buildings mainly used for human occupancy and who has passed stringent state-conducted licensing exams (usually two or three days of licensing exams that are not all passed the first time around). Since I am a licensed architect, I would be remiss if my answer wasn’t just, “of course, you need only an architect.” But, nah, for your use in designing a house, that isn’t necessarily so.

By David Porter AIA – consulting architect to the Garlinghouse Company since 1989

Architect vs engineer