We have been planning, organizing and collaborating on Studio four one four for about 5 months now. In that time we have learned some things. Perhaps our most important “learning experience” happened this last week.

We learned the hard way what we can and cannot do.

A few days ago we were contact by the Executive Director of the AIA (Wisconsin) informing us that we were infringing on a few of the core statutes of the state. Specifically 443.02.

We’ll give you the express version. We called ourselves architectural designers, which is not allowed. See, we were always taught there is a big difference (legally and morally) between an Architect and an architectural designer. The difference being about 7 years experience, learning a lot of complicated safety regulations, and passing very difficult tests.

Turns out the law doesn’t really state that difference. If you are a group of individuals, none of which are licensed, and want to start a design group, then the most you can do is that; start a design group.

You cannot start an architectural design group.

The reason comes down to the idea that, if you are claiming to offer architectural design services, you convey the message that you offer the same level of safety in your designs that a trained/licensed Architect would offer.

Obviously this is not the case with us. We just want to design, make some awesome renderings, compete in a few competitions, and grow individually so that one day, when the world is ready for us, we can migrate into a real firm more seamlessly.

Here is what you can do.

You can call yourself a generic design group/firm/whatever. You can offer residential design services. In fact, you can also offer to design anything under 50,000 sq ft. It’s limited, but if you have a small budget, work part time, and most importantly don’t have a licensed person on your staff, then this is probably something you need to think about.

Anyway, we are not going anywhere. We love what we do and no one can tell us not to do it. It’s all going to come down to how public we can be, and how much we can expect to give back to the community.