1006. A Day in the Life: What's It Really Like to be an Architect?

“In 1988 we visited Beaufort, fell in love with the area, and soon after moved here and opened our firm. When we first started we were doing whatever work we could do—churches and schools and buildings of all kinds. But after we had been in business about 10 years, we realized the projects we really enjoyed doing were the customer residential ones. So that’s when we started focusing exclusively on custom residential work. We do everything from a small bathroom remodeling to designing a brand new house—creating a house from the ground up for a particular client. You know, when you move into an existing house, you make the house work for you. You might turn the dining room into a study, or you might make the space work for whatever needs you have. But when you start from scratch or when you’re doing a major remodel, you can really make the house work for the particular needs of the people that are living there.”

Jane Frederick, FAIA, was the 96th President of The American Institute of Architects. She is a principal at Frederick + Frederick Architects, which received AIA South Carolina’s 2017 Firm Award and Southern Living magazine’s Best Renovation of 2009. The Beaufort, SC firm specializes in custom residences and has earned over 20 design awards. Jane has served AIA in many roles, at-large director on the national Board of Directors, as chair of the AIA Small Firm Round Table, president of AIA South Carolina. She has also chaired numerous local planning boards and is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.