B.S.

B.uying and S.elling...Architecture at its WORST

The practice is a tough, cut-throat business, but sometimes you have to ask yourself if you're justified in your actions as a practitioner...are you creating something real and thoughtful and meaningful relative to the place you live in?

Basically, the process goes like this...Owner wishes to build something--seemingly, there is a NEED of some kind. The hiring of an Architect is largely based on reputation--whether it be from past dealings with an Architect, or media exposure, etcetera. Sometimes though, it might be as simple as a seemingly uneducated Owner simply thumbing through the phone book, closing their eyes and "pinning the tail on the donkey"--believe it or not, it's true...If any of the above situations exists during any one time period of regional or national growth and development it means good things for all Architects. It means they don't really have to work too hard on getting business--business simply comes to them.

However, growth is cyclical and usually for very short periods of time. Most Architects are forced to S.ell themselves to get work. They have to APPLY for jobs alot of times. If their lucky, Owners will interview a select few, and then make a selection usually at a time right before they want to raise money for the new building. This process doesn't bother me because, hey, I'm as competitive as they come and I'm a hard worker and it shows in my work. What bothers me about this is two-fold:

--The things Architects are willing to say to these Owners in effort to get the work...S.elling

--The price the Owners will pay for an under qualified Architect just to save a buck...B.uying


I can't really find fault with the Owners--it's their money. However, the price the Architects will pay just to get the job, to me at least, is nothing more than prostitution. Why hustle over something so meaningless. I mean, what community really needs another strip mall or another shoddily built parade of "custom" homes...Architects will often go to great lengths to sell themselves to the Owner to get these unworthy jobs. Add to that, once the contract is signed, the Architect will do whatever it takes to appease the Owner--"what Owner wants is what Owner gets". The Architect will put no more effort into creating real, thoughtful and meaningful Architecture than that...Three-months later, the drawings are out the door and building begins...

...time to hit the streets...on to the next interview...selling yourself a half-percent lower for the next horrible strip mall that nobody wants, because nobody needs...

IS IT WORTH IT?