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Dan Maginn, El Dorado, Inc.

dan maginn
dan maginn

The designers at Kansas City–based El Dorado believe they are improving on the conventional architect-contractor relationship by cultivating a more collaborative spirit among client, contractor, and architect while maintaining the roles and responsibilities of each. The 13 full-time “Eldoradans,” as co-partner and local AIA director Dan Maginn describes them, collaborate with an interior designer and a fine artist. Everyone is expected to spend time in the shop.

The bottom line is that architects should know how to build,” says Maginn. “The best way to know how to build is to get in there and do it. We have a pile of misfit details in the back that we call the Boneyard and it is an honored place because it is a record of the fact that we recognized mistakes and improved.”

Which shop work do you do yourselves and which is contracted out?

We have a number of Eldo-ready wood- casework subcontractors in Kansas City who provide us with custom wood components. We also utilize three large-scale steel shops to help us with very large steel elements (beams, etc.) and with sheet-metal breaking, punching, and perforating. We design, do shop drawings, develop budgets, take orders, take deliveries of raw materials, fabricate steel components, and install. We started out ten years ago as architects interested in understanding one material (steel). Our fabrication expertise and interest revolves around steel and its interaction with other materials.

Describe the signing-off process required for nonlicensed architects in order to make the building legal.

A substantial number of [our team] is licensed and ready to go. We stamp every architectural project that comes out of our office and feel that it’s very important to take responsibility for our work.

How does design-build benefit the client, and how does it benefit the designer?

Design-build (the Eldo way) benefits the client because as architects who know how to build, we understand costs well. We are genetically predisposed to think about how something gets built and that there are associated costs. This keeps our projects on budget. `We can prototype details in our shop in addition to traditional drawing and 3-D modeling. This is huge. The more a client can understand what they’re getting, the better. The client also benefits when we show up to the job site with a mockup or prototype and the contractor can see exactly what we’re talking about. We have developed a shared language of detailing that would require an inordinate amount of drawing if we were to have it bid out. We don’t reinvent the wheel every time: We adapt our existing language of details to new projects. There is a single source of accountability for the client, better timing, and better prediction of cost. Our clients like the experiential, hands-on nature of our process. Design-build benefits the architect by offering us more control over a situation— economically, design-wise, and craft-wise— and allows us to be more flexible. Our best design stems from a pragmatic under- standing of required function, economic constraints, and potential experience. Our fabrication abilities allow us to react during a project as our understanding develops. It keeps our thinking and our detailing focused and buildable. Our drawings are simple and clear. In fact, sometimes our drawings are boring, but it’s important to recognize that drawings are subservient to built work and experience. We find it improves our relationship with contractors when we take pride in quality fabrication ourselves.

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