On The Role of the Architect & Architectural Education

“The very idea of “architecture” as a self contained and single center act does not apply to work in everyday environment. In reality, as architects, we operate in a continuum of design where we do our bit.”

Habraken’s take on architecture and methods for design, in which he proposes the separation of "supports" from "infills" in residential construction as a means of giving the inhabitants a meaningful participatory role in the design process, is in a way reminiscent of Margret Crawford and her concept of Everyday Urbanism which also takes on a more accretional approach. As he mentioned in his article, everybody is too preoccupied these days with being different or producing the next notable and iconic piece of architecture that we have lost sight of our true purpose as designers of the built environment, making high quality design accessible to all. I believe this is in part due to the mentality that we may develop from the architectural education we receive that is still sometimes very theoretical and idealistic and fails to engage with the current critical realities we face today and will be in the near future. How often is it that you find yourself designing a small shopping mall or a market place and grocery store or a post office in studio versus a large residential/office complex or skyscraper?

“A sky scraper in which a few thousand people work is not a building but a vertical environment the size of a classical Greek town. The large project is with us to stay, but it must become increasingly fine grained and adaptable. Practice already moves in that direction. In spite of this reality, so far, architects do not see small scale adaptability as an invitation for a new kind of architecture.”

How must architects then successfully design these spaces if they are not being educated about the everyday landscape and the ordinary life and reality in a city?