This article was originally published on Common Edge. If you’ve been in the profession of architecture long enough, you come to know a certain rarified subset of fellow professionals: Those who call themselves “architects,” who have a degree, and who may even be licensed and members of the AIA, but who do not practice architecture. They simply like being an “architect.”
I’m not referring to the struggling young designer, singer, actor, poet, or artist who works as a barista or bartender to pay the bills and jumps at professional opportunities as they happen. Just as with doctors, lawyers, and engineers who do not practice, teaching has always been a way to provide the lifestyle credibility of an “architect” without the grinding hustle of actually designing and building things. There is a paradox to be found in those architects who don’t practice the art of building. Schools of architecture have multiplied the number of majors that are not based on the professional focus of designing buildings: construction management, planning, sustainability, and more. For two centuries the profession of architecture reflected the best hopes of our society as manifested in the buildings. But there are many who don’t want to build, they just love the identity.
