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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) is an AIA Knowledge Community working for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.

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Architects' political sensitivities

  • 1.  Architects' political sensitivities

    Posted 05-19-2017 12:52 PM

    All:

     

    The exchange over the past weeks shows that architects are

    not inert, politically. as they have been accused.

    The fact that our noses are generally touching our screens

    most of our waking hours has led to that accusation.

    Also, since most architects can name the governor of

    their state, but likely not their state senator and representative

    or delegate, there is perhaps some truth to the apolitical

    label.

     

    But, when our political beliefs conflict with our duty to

    preserve the health, safety and welfare of the state which

    has given us a benign monopoly through registration to

    practice, things get more complex.

    Indeed, an architect could ask whether a proposed commission

    to do, say, an office buildout for a political party of the opposite

    persuasion, should be refused.

    But what about the baker, licensed and certified by the state

    or city health department to safely serve the citizenry, that declines

    to serve citizens from the LGBT community, citing personal

    beliefs ?

     

    John F. Corkill, Jr., AIA