Celebrating 58 Years

It is remarkable to look back at how much the functions of our profession have changed over the past 58 years. This makes us wonder how different our work days would be if we had to function as Jack Teitsch did back in 1966.

The changes to our world have been so profound in the last 58 years including obvious things such as technology. Years ago all of our work was hand drawn, where now everything from conceptual design sketching, to construction drawings is done using Computer Aided Drafting (CAD). The machine allows us to calculate square footage instantly, rather than a long process of dividing the building up into rectangles and triangles and summing everything up. Life without AutoCad is almost unthinkable, making it difficult to imagine how Jack and Bob accomplished their work more than 50 years ago.

Beyond the obvious technological improvements, simpler, more everyday tasks have been profoundly streamlined. Years ago arithmetic operations had to be done with slide-rules since Texas Instruments didn’t introduce the “pocket” calculator until 1972. Complex angles were calculated using trigonometric tables which are now able to be easily determined using CAD. Even a task as simple as taking pictures during site visits involved dropping the film off at the pharmacy to be developed, which took the better part of a week.

Even the simplest of tasks are hugely different from the way they used to be. Having an office with more than one telephone line was an unusual thing in the 1960’s, and a hold button on that phone was even more exotic! Now we have our Voice Over Internet Protocol phones which allow us to plug in anywhere (home, on vacation, etc.) and the phone works the same as if it was sitting on our desks in the office. As a matter of fact, the entire concept of working remotely would have seemed like science fiction when Teitsch-Kent-Fay Architects, P.C. was first founded!

All of this is not to dump on the old days or think of our predecessors as dinosaurs, quite the contrary. What they were able to accomplish, given the tools they had to work with, is really amazing. The real point of all of this is to celebrate the many blessings we have and to always try to be open to innovation and embrace what new technology can offer us.