Your Beam Is Too Big: Architects & Engineers

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Start with a flooded hotel room, end with a four‑metre cantilever, and in between unpack the messy, creative space where structure meets form. We sit down with structural engineer Joel Marsh of Pocket to map out how architects and engineers can move beyond transactional deliverables and into a truly design‑led process that saves money, reduces RFIs, and produces cleaner, more elegant buildings.

Joel opens the playbook: meet early, sketch by hand at 10–15%, and use those concept drawings to align intent before any modelling lock‑in. From there, general arrangement plans become a shared workspace for spatial fit, and detailed coordination happens before consent so builders aren’t left juggling “garden salad details” on site. We talk real value vs low fees, the hidden cost of conservative members, and why a readable calculation package should tell a story of load paths, stiffness, and performance that architects and builders can follow at a glance.

Materials get a clear‑eyed treatment. Timber is brilliant when it fits the constraints; steel and concrete still win in the right places. Joel walks through post‑tensioned slab logic, a prefabricated mountain hut helicoptered into place, and what it took to pull off a four‑metre cantilevered floor. We also touch on AI’s limits: it can automate parts, but it can’t replace the creative judgement that balances cost, constructability, and design intent. The through‑line is respect and shared language—because the best buildings reflect a professional consensus, not a one‑sided mandate.

If you care about better drawings, simpler details, fewer RFIs, and a smoother path from concept to construction, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with your project team, and leave a review to tell us the one collaboration habit you want to see more often.

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