Certified Residential Architect : first in the world is about Home Architects’ own Senior Staff Architect becoming the World’s first Certified Residential Architect.
After earning 5 additional ArCHdes design awards during the 2018 design award program, Rand Soellner had earned a total of 10 ArCHdes design Awards, which is the final requirement to allow him to apply for his CRAfts™ certification.
He did that, and in so doing, became the World’s first Certified Residential Architect. Up until this point in the world’s history, there has never been such a program or distinction.
ArCH created the CRAfts™ program to acknowledge that there should be a special qualification for Architects who want to claim that they are especially skilled at designing custom houses. There is no other standard in the world to indicate that they have such accomplishments other than ArCH’s CRAfts™ program. At present, it requires that applicants must first be a Licensed Architect in some state on the planet, and that they have earned 10 ArCHdes design awards.
Soellner first earned an ArCHdes award in 2016, then 4 more in 2017 and 5 in 2018.
Why the special qualification? Because designing a custom house is one of the most complex tasks an Architect can undertake. Right up there with complex medical facilities. More happening per square foot in a house that in just about any other type of project. Just look at nice custom house bathrooms or kitchens. Lots of plumbing, lots of equipment and everything has to fit just so. And look at foundation drainage and waterproofing: very detailed. And timber frame post and beam porches and structural bracing for wind. Lots of complex conditions for resisting wind, water and air infiltration. And insulation systems: a modern house has a lot to it: structural wall sheathing, then thermal rigid insulation sheathing, then water-resistive membranes that also facilitate gravity weep drainage, then cladding, then finish coatings. Many things to coordinate.
No wonder ArCH created this certification. And a big wonder why no one before them in the history of the planet has before now. About time. There are many reasons why a real, Licensed Architect should design your house.
tags: certified residential architect, Cashiers, Rand Soellner, Lake Toxaway, Highlands, Sapphire, Glenville, Hendersonville, Asheville, Seneca, Sevierville