This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on the Environment and Regional and Urban Design Committee .
There are 100,000 trade and professional organizations in the U.S. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is one of them. Within AIA there are 264 regional and local "components" (chapters) with a total of 85,000 members. AIA is governed by a Board of Directors but there is also a Strategic Council, there are 21 Knowledge Communities, several Advocacy Leadership Teams and various ad-hoc groups on the national level and in most local components as well. Not surprisingly, in such a complicated organizational structure it is hard to detect a clear mission. Non-architects typically have no clue what AIA stands for or what architects actually do, popular films with architects in leading roles notwithstanding. Only 2% of Americans ever sign a contract with an architect.
That reality of fragmentation and low impact can be juxtaposed with the reality that architects design a lot of stuff. About
41% of all energy in the US goes into buildings. Annually about
170,000 |
| US Energy Information Administration |
commercial buildings newly constructed (not counting renovations). The building industry represents a sizable element of the US economy and a large percentage of all commercial buildings have been designed by architects. AIA leaders in Washington DC are trying to grapple with these two realities in a campaign they call "re-positioning" the organization. The goal of a larger public awareness of what architects do can only work if architects, in turn, exhibit more awareness of their public impact and, more importantly, of public needs.
Over the next twenty years, an area equal to a staggering 3.5 times the entire built environment of the U.S. will be redesigned, reshaped, and rebuilt globally.
Much of that work will come from architects. This volume alone makes it, indeed, plausible to assume that architects have a social responsibility.
Not many professional organizations, go back to 1857, but most consider it as their chief mission to care for their members. AIA has followed that tradition and over the decades has ensured that contracts aren't worded against architects' interests, that codes and regulations affecting buildings are reasonable, and that state licensing rules prevent non-architects from practicing architecture. In all of that AIA simply has the best interests of its flock in mind.
But what about social responsibility? What about designing "a better world"? AIA's activities in this arena are much less consistent and clear in spite of the
2030 Commitment (for more sustainable buildings).
The AIA 2030 Commitment is a growing national initiative that provides a consistent, national framework with simple metrics and a standardized reporting format to help firms evaluate the impact design decisions have on an individual project's energy performance. The profession can't meet radical building energy use reduction targets one project at a time and architects are embracing the challenge at hand by thinking differently about sustainable design. (AIA website)
Independent of the policies of AIA, there always have been architects "on a mission" and not necessarily in the immature and egotistical way of Ayn Rand's "Fountainhead". On a mission for good design, whatever ....
Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
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