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Reflections on Architectural Practices in the Nineties

Reviewed by Lester Paul Korzilius  
Approximately 375 words 

Published in Oculus, September 1997 

Reading this book is like mining for silver – you have to sift through a lot of rubble to get at the valuable nuggets. This book is the result of a year-long symposium organized by Harvard University. Forty eight speakers, weighted towards Harvard faculty and alumni, contributed to this effort. 

Current Harvard dean Peter Rowe observes there are now 50% more architects per capita than after WWII. This increased supply exceeds the increased demand for design services. One result is that only half of architectural graduates go on to obtain professional registration. Firm structure tends toward bifurcation – many small firms and a number of large firms, with a declining number of mid-sized practices. 

Elizabeth Padjen notes that architects are now one part of a larger team that is assembled by others, whereas they once had more control of the whole process with the responsibility of leading the team. Attorney Carl Sapers concurs that architects have lost much of their influence in the construction process. He further notes, perhaps too pessimistically, that the special role of the architect – impartial and influential with both owner and builder has virtually disappeared. Other contributors expressed concern for the over-emphasis on architecture-as-art. They felt this marginalized the profession, isolating it from its social context. 

Given these problems, what are the solutions? Work for the public good was a common theme, i.e., placing the public’s interest over a client’s interest over our own interests. It is this emphasis that gives architects moral authority in the eyes of the public. Eugene Kohn was more specific when he exhorted architects to assume managerial leadership on complex projects. Other contributors felt architects must take on more liabilities, instead of the recent trend of shedding liabilities (and the responsibility and authority that goes with it). Carl Sapers goes so far as to suggest that an architect’s liability to his client be unlimited. Others suggest that architects need to the ability to work in teams. 

This book has value not for the solutions it gives, but rather for presenting divergent viewpoints of the current situation. Hopefully, these observations will aid the evolution of the profession as it seeks to redefine itself in the midst of a changing society. 

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