Designer denial - the dark side of architectural practice

Abstract: This paper draws on a number of studies that reveal a widespread apparent lack of concern among the architectural profession for the stated requirements of their clients. A very significant proportion of those who have employed architects are unhappy with their quality of service, and many clients have decided to go elsewhere for services that previously they would have sought from architects. The profession as a whole is in denial about this and maintains a magnificent self-image of the gifted generalist. This paper suggests how this state of affairs may have come about by sketching the historical development of the profession in Europe. The Renaissance architects were highly educated and had a thorough knowledge of antique architecture and contemporary scientific theory. But this did not last: by the eighteenth century architects were being trained merely to draw and no longer used technical skills or scientific theory to any great extent. They became preoccupied with style and visual imagery and averse to design methods that used information. A whole generation of architects was killed in the First World War. The resultant amnesia coupled with the polemical position of Modernism with its assertion of certainty and truth provided a convenient excuse for discounting the client’s wishes. By the end of the twentieth century people had begun to ask what value the architect was providing. A recurring theme of one study was of clients being utterly despairing of the often cavalier attitude from architects with regard to cost, timetable and the management of the project process. This paper suggests that the way architects are trained may be a major factor. It proposes a different focus for architectural education, aimed at providing a higher level of service to clients, by meeting more closely the expectations of those who employ architects, and by exhibiting a higher level of technical competence in relation to those building industry processes within which the architect operates