The trade of the Architect

As a student of Architecture, I spend most of my time attempting to understand exactly what it is we do as a profession. Several times I have been told by professors that the architect makes drawings, we don't make buildings, and I don't think I could disagree with a statement more. If the role of the architect is simplified to the point that all we do is make drawings, then we may as well allow autonomous architecture the opportunity to take over. anyone can learn Revit, or copy a simple floor plan from Pinterest, anyone can lay out space, and even make those drawings that certain persons love to claim as their own. But in my mind what separates the Architect from a draftsman is communication, integration, and consideration. When we, as designers look at a plot of land, we don't see its boundaries, we don't see code, we don't see some predetermined ideal building placed centered on the lot. Instead, we see an opportunity to communicate with those who will be using the building in the future, those that own it and those that don't, to seek their input and work to filter it to the point that it is refined and realistic. We see the surroundings, and the site, and work to find ways to ensure that the building is something which integrates itself not only into the earth, and the site, but into the community that it lives. We see an ability to consider all of this with issues that others may overlook, and find opportunities that may not be obvious, and find a way to convince these ideas to comingle into becoming something different and new, something that a draftsman wouldn't have considered, and that takes more than a drawing to convey.