Committee on Design

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.

So many of the responses to the original post are non-responsive, defensive, and self-congratulatory, they inspired me to participate. The post did not accuse the AIA of being elitist. It did not deny that experiencing a building is better than looking at photos. It did not state that US architects should not be interested in European architecture. "Was this Ralph Lauren's idea?" says to me: the AIA is out of touch with the rank and file architect, concerned with appearances instead of substance. Such a decision, at this moment in our ravaged profession, shows poor judgment at best and intentional blind stupor at worst.

Many of us believe, in this decision and others, the AIA is not "the voice of the architectural profession and the resource for its members in service to society." The AIA behaves more as purely a PR organization whose mission is to put a big happy face on a deeply troubled profession. Regularly we get articles such as "Billings up for the third month in a row" which translated by a financially astute person means "continued drop in billings not as steep lately." "Recent architectural grad designing Web pages"- as if we should be pleased she may be able to pay off her student loans- never mind how the next generation of practitioners will gain experience. I searched in vain in the AIA for research with statistics on unemployed architects- how many have lost their jobs? What percentage are women/ minorities? How many single practitioners/ small firm owners have closed their doors?

If the AIA (with all respect for our sister architect in Scotland, "A" stands for American) is not willing to take on the deeply structural problems in our profession, honestly, fearlessly, and openly grappling with how our profession will survive and thrive in this uncertain time and difficult future, they will find themselves utterly irrelevant. I just hope that the profession does not follow in those footsteps.