Small Firms Ideas Exchange

This is a vaster subject than mere PR issues describe. Architecture is, fundamentally, a profession of abstraction and process long before it inspires noisy cranes and heavy stonework that is associated in the eye of the (American) culture with tangible results. American culture is self-reinforcing towards material- and rapid gratification: two impulses that represent the antithesis of architectural practice. Social anthropologists claim this is largely due to our European peasant roots and the lingering need for material fundamentals to survive winters and famine. Architects—AIAmembers and nonmembers— are as though standing at sea level and eying the peak of Mt. Everest in its need to educate a culture. When even fundamental design theory is taught in elementary school, as it is in Japan and Europe (amongst others) the climb will have begun. Needless to say, that's not going (or is highly unlikely) to happen in a culture such as ours. Alternatively, the development of free public seminars on "how to's" may be at least a lukewarm, but hopeful, alternative.

I agree with Bud - Anytime I have the chance to get on the soap box and chatter away about what architects can do for "everyone else" in realty I do. I can't say I've seen a direct correlation between that involvement and my billings - but I sure am having a lot of fun; and the internal intrinsic value I get out of doing good things is more than worth it's weight in gold. I recently had the good fortune to help out my children’s school with new classroom and library. Rather than throw my "hat" into the ring, I opted to sit on the Board of Trustees (non-paying position) and act as the Owner's Representative. The project is nearing completion (and my "pro-bono" account is over extended) but I have high hopes that a) the experience I gained "seeing" how owners think and b) my exposure at "teaching the value of an architect can bring on any size project", will serve my firm well. The project was recently featured on Atlanta WSB-TV's Champion of Green. Link: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/16161467/index.html

As Douglas Kelbaugh has pointed out, architects have, with few exceptions, either worked for the rich and powerful or the disenfranchised. The vast middle has largely been ignored by the profession. Just take a look at how organizations such as the AIA position themselves and what gets published in Record. It’s as if the profession consciously decided to discount 95% of the built environment as not worthy of attention (other than to criticize). It’s no wonder that the vast middle class has, for the most part, decided to ignore architects.

So let’s start opening ourselves to the middle. This will take a great change in the way the profession, at all levels, operates. Architects will have to celebrate the ordinary and ugly as well as the high style and avant-garde. Architectural publications will have to stop demeaning 95% of what gets built and start acknowledging that these environments are almost all right. Architects will have to reach out to this client base and learn to speak plainly. And the divide between architectural education and architectural practice will have to be bridged.

An architect can be hired to save a client money, not just "add value" to a project which is rather nebulous sounding. I see this point ignored in most discussions. It is something I include in my ongoing discussions on the value of an architect.

The value of the architect is reflected in our participation in the public arena. Everytime we allow shoddy un-sustainable developments to go un-discussed in the public arena we set a low standard for architecture. Everytime we ignore poor transportation planning that makes an area less walkable and more vehicle oriented we undermine the value of the architect. I have worked in community development in Detroit. I have assisted the Huron Valley Chapter of the AIA (Ann Arbor, Michigan) to participate in and eventually lead discussions on the future of development in their area. If you want to demonstrate the value of an architect, then participate in the process of creating a better context for your designs. That contact is most people's contact with the profession as their home was built by a builder. Get involved. Get elected. Be a citizen architect. AIA Government Affairs can assist you.

I remember when I graduated with my Master of Architecture from Ga Tech. My mother-in-law said, "Oh, so now you can put AIA after your name?" haha! I got a good laugh out of that one but it seems the jokes on us, which includes standing up for what we do. In general AIA needs to continue the public education process; I feel it has gone astray. Let's have the diversity committee do more with public education on what architects "are" and "do"; the hard part is overcoming the "stereotypes" of what folks think an architect is and what they do. Have you seen the recent Kohler commercial? Go to YouTube and search for "Kohler Architect." It's eye opening.

In our state we aren't required to design houses...so an architect is something that costs a lot when you are trying to get as much as you can for each dollar. The sell is that our designs will make more of their efforts.

And anybody can design a house or stick a room on the side of a building; it's just that we've done it more to see through the opportunities and problems that can be created.

Where architects are required by law is where we have the real problem. I suppose it isn't too surprising when the press uses the term for the designer of Bush's election to the coach and his college game plan that people can't figure out what we do.

Maybe if we want more respect we need to defend our title a little better. We are required to turn in people practicing architecture without a license (failure is a cause for the removal of a license in Minnesota), but saying it and doing it are two very different things. But if we can't police the boundaries of our monopoly, nobody else is going to care.

In my opinion the profession has a great opportunity to "sell" itself in a more meaningful way -- become the masters of sustainable design. Our future will be very different than the last century and we will be forced to evolve from an oil-based society. As architects we have the knowledge, experience, and vision to lead that transition.