Bryce Bounds, AIA, is a Miami native and Architect in the Public Works Department of Broward County Government in South Florida. Here are his answers to some key questions that sought to highlight his personal experience, above and beyond his professional biography.
How long have you been a member?
I signed up for a CEU session at AIA24 in Washinton DC hosted by the Public Architects Knowledge Committee and realized almost instantly that I was sharing a room with people doing the same work I was doing at the County. I also quickly realized how professional everyone was, and how much I could learn from them all. I volunteered to join the Ad-Hoc committee and have been showing up ever since! Every time I join a Zoom or attend a CEU with the PAKC, I learn something new about Public Practice.
What do you love the most about your job?
I never expected being a public sector architect to be so fulfilling a role in my career. I saw it initially as a loss of design control since we Project Manage design consultants instead of self-performing design work in-house here in the County. But halfway through my 5th year in the role, I find it one of the most satisfying career decisions I ever made. I still remember my first week I was rushing to get things done and staying late. My Assistant Director stopped at my desk on his way out and demanded I too go home. When I protested, he explained as calmly as could be “Bryce, no one ever remembers all the time the IRS calculates your taxes correctly, but no one ever forgets the time they’re calculate wrong. Our job here is to be detail-oriented, clear-headed, and pursue what’s in the best interests of the taxpayers we represent. So come back tomorrow well rested and ready to give it your all instead of burning yourself out.” It’s sage advice I have carried ever since.
In this job I am exposed to a variety of different subject matter expertise it would have taken decades in the private sector to gain first-hand experience in. I have worked on Courthouses, Libraries, Public Health Clinics, and Mass Disaster Hurricane facilities in the last five years alone.
I have also come to realize that to excel in managing design and construction in the Public Sector, you must have a deep bench of private sector experience or an excellent mentor to learn the enormous variety of project management, design, and construction details and best practices that make a good public architect. In my case, I gained this slowly over 15 years of progressive experience on a variety of scales. And every day I find myself reaching back to that catalogue of experience to understand how to move forward, even as I learn new things.
What project are you working on now and why is it meaningful to you?
For the next five years I am overseeing Broward County Government’s long-term capital investment in the design and construction of a new Forensic Science Center. There we will process the remains of nearly every County resident in the 12th largest County in America. This facility also contains the Crime Lab used in law enforcement investigations within the jurisdiction, as well as processing of all DNA evidence presented in cases before the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
This project has a loaded cost of just over $300 million as per the County’s FY26 Capital Budget. My work includes oversight of the internal project management team, serving as the face of the Public Work’s Dept. to the various facility stakeholders, writing of the project scope(s), issuance of RFP’s and subsequent chairing of RFP selection committees, and serving as the point person within the County for all aspects of the project through final completion and warranty periods.
We have retained a design team led by Leo A Daly for the facility design and are currently issuing an RFP on the national market for a Managing General Contractor (CM at Risk) to provide full Preconstruction and Construction services.
What has been your most important professional achievement?
Licensure. I like to say it took fifteen years, three versions of the ARE, two states, and one pandemic for me to become a licensed architect. Followed very closely by the work I did at the Spriggs Group in Savannah for the Save America’s Treasures grant restoration of the Andrew Low House where the Girl Scouts of America was founded and headquartered until 1913.