Service in Architecture

Architects have an ethical responsibility to help improve community conditions in the areas they design. Architects are more than designers; they are thinkers, mediators, leaders, and partners in a community. In practice, we often think of service as architectural deliverables; meeting a standard to provide adequate resolution to design problems for the client. Architects should look beyond the minimum, beyond what is adequate, and begin to think as ethical public servants. We are equipped with the skills to make our communities better places to live, and our profession owes it to the public to try and do just this. 

Rural Studio is an example of this in practice. The studio addresses challenges as opportunities in left-behind places, providing design solutions for people that don’t have access to good design because of the way modern architectural practice is structured. We should all look for ways to make architecture better.

Architects should be more vocal about the issues both in our profession and adjacent to it. We should get involved with policymaking, align with non-profits, create partnerships, and educate the public about the impacts of the built environment. We should all look for ways, unique in mission, approach, and intent, to address society and its challenges in the same way Sam Mockbee has done with Rural Studio.