03

A
Underpinnings

A Soul Practitioner

Craig L. Wilkins
 25

A Soul Practitioner...
Craig L. Wilkins

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small

places, close to home...they are the world of the individual
3.1 Remarks to the United Nations person: the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he
on the 10tth Anniversary of the attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works.” 3.1
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, March 27, 1958. Eleanor Roosevelt

As design entrepreneur Dr. Paul Polak first observed in 2005, “the majority
of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and
services exclusively for the richest 10 percent of the world’s customers.
3.2 Paul Polak, M.D., “¡Viva la Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90
Revolución!” October 6, 2011, accessed
percent.” 3.2 In architecture, the gap is even worse. Architect and professor
December 15, 2014, http://
www.paulpolak.com/viva-la-revolucion/. John Gavin Dwyer echoes the statistics verified in other studies and
3.3
publications when he claims, “[q]uite simply, the architecture profession has
John Gavin Dwyer, “Delivering the
goods: Architects must find a way to
failed to create a way to deliver design that's accessible to the other 98
bring better design to more people,” percent.” 3.3 There are a myriad of reasons for this, beginning with the fact
Residential Architect, June 2007.
that most people don’t know or understand a lot of what architects do—
3.4 In his article, “Delivering the and what they think they know has very little to do with the lives of
Goods,” Dwyer states, “According to
everyday people. 3.4 But what if things were different? What if the vast
RSMeans cost data, the average
residential architect charges about 10 majority of the public knew exactly what the profession provides? What if
percent of the construction cost for all people could see the everyday and long-term value of architectural
design. Standard practices place the
bulk of this payment before bidding. If services? What if architects worked to provide those services to the many
bids come back over budget, the typical people who are traditionally positioned outside their target clientele? It is
contract deflects any responsibility from
the architect and gives the owner three
about community design, yes; but also about something more. In essence, it asks
options: Get more money, redesign important questions about just whom architecture is intended to serve.
(and pay more in design fees), or
abandon the project….So, if I hire an
architect to design my $300,000 house,
I would have to shell out an additional
$30,000 up front without any guarantee
that what's designed will meet my
budget. If it doesn't, I either need to beg
for more money or throw my $30K in a
recycling bin. How many people can
afford to take that kind of risk?”
 A Soul Practitioner... 26

Defining Profession
Professionals wield a Before I begin, I’d like to first make clear what I mean when I use the term
vast amount of profession, and by extension, professionals. The word is often employed
with the assumption of general understanding, but commonly
influence and power
misunderstood and misused in most contexts. This is unfortunate, because
over how our social as socially authorized and legally protected groups, professions have
world is ordered. developed into one of the most important forces we have for ensuring a
just and egalitarian society.

A profession requires specialized training and legal or formal certification. It

also implies a sense of vocation and special purpose. Professionals wield a
vast amount of influence and power over how our social world is ordered, by
virtue of their monopoly over critical areas of knowledge. Through the daily
exercise of their protected and exclusive expertise, the world’s doctors,
lawyers, architects, and engineers preserve public health, define and uphold
justice, and design and build safe buildings, bridges and highways, while
routinely making life-and-death decisions that affect people now and for
decades to come. This is a significant amount of power over our lives to be
allotted to a small, self-selected group of people to administer exclusively,
and it does the public a disservice when the misuse of the term distracts
from and diminishes the recognition of this most critical point.

This book is about Still, the proliferation of professions as we know them is a rather recent
community design, phenomenon. In the still-blossoming scholarship in this area, a dominant,
definitive, generally accepted theory about the origin of these new
yes; but also about
professions has yet to be established. In fact, theories abound not only
something more. In about how they’ve come into being, but also whether their continued
essence, it asks existence is really necessary in a modern, information-rich society. Perhaps
important questions the most widely accepted understanding of professions asserts that certain
about just whom minimal conditions must be met for a system of collective living to move
beyond self-interested chaos into a generally ordered community: a
architecture is
method of gathering/creating sustenance and shelter, a method of
intended to serve. knowledge and skill sharing, agreed-upon rules on how to live together, and
methods for keeping well. In an ordered community—we’ll call it a society
—those willing to take on the responsibility of providing those elements
critical to its establishment and well being are thus rewarded for doing so.
Society provides them with a certain amount of standing and prestige for
 A Soul Practitioner... 27

3.5 Sarah Wigglesworth, in “The Crisis of their efforts. In turn, those granted this status must promise to use their
Professionalization: British Architecture skills in the best interests of society as a whole. This is essentially the
1993,” states, “The development in the
early nineteenth century of a rationale behind professions.
professional body representing the
interests of architects was motivated by a
desire to secure standards of practice in Reasonable? Of course. Yet this is but one theory. Others range from the
return for status within society. Broadly cynical—that professions are nothing more than an organized cabal of self-
speaking, the profession guaranteed
society that it was the master of an area interested individuals who artificially drive up the value of their services by
of esoteric knowledge. In return, society
rewarded the professional with a claiming production of a higher-quality product than otherwise possible3.5—
respectable salary and social standing.” to the naïve—that professions are a justifiable recognition by society of
Practices. Issue 2. (Spring 1993), 14.
rare abilities, intellect, and moral standards found in only a small, select type/
3.6 Robert Descimon. “The ‘Bourgeoisie
class of person.3.6 Of course there are others still, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll
Seconde’: Social Differentiation in the
Parisian Municipal Oligarchy in the conclude here.
Sixteenth Century, 1500–1610” French
History. v.17. n.4. (2003). p.388-424;
Terence C. Halliday and Charles L.
Now…there’s probably more than a bit of truth in each of the above
Cappell. “Indicators of Democracy in statements, but to begin to make sense of the varied paths each suggests, it
Professional Associations: Elite
Recruitment, Turnover, and Decision might be useful to look at the word itself for some direction:
Making in a Metropolitan Bar Association”
American Bar Foundation Research Journal,
v.4. n.4 (Autumn, 1979), 697-767.
The oldest English usage [of profession] was “avowal or
expression of purpose”. It implied religious and moral motives
3.7C.S. Bellis. “Professions In Society” British
to dedicate oneself to a good end. Even at this early stage,
Actuarial Journal. v.6, n.2, (2000), 320.
societal distrust of these claims was indicated by attaching
3.8 Malham M. Wakin, Brig Gen (Ret.). connotations of deceit.3.7 [Emphasis mine]
Integrity First: Reflections of a Military
Philosopher. (Lanham, MD: Lexington
Books, 2000), 116. The definition above suggests that the acknowledgment of a profession
3.9
was originally predicated on society’s belief that there is something more to
The need that we have for health
care, for example, is unlikely to go away a profession than the desire for wealth or entitlement; that “the very
and it is that need that over time has
generated what we know today as the
existence of the professions results from some fundamental need that
medical profession. It may come as a society has.”,3.8, 3.9 Hence, a profession might be more fully defined as an
surprise to some to learn that the health
care professions do not exist for the sole organized, structured, socially acknowledged practice:
purpose of providing employment to
health care professionals or profits for founded on specialized educational training, the purpose of
health care organizations. It is because of
societal need that our communities which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others,
develop and maintain medical schools and
nursing schools. Similarly, every organized for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from
society will express its interest in justice expectation of other business gain.3.10
by providing some variation of a court
system and a legal profession. We need an
ordered society; we want to be treated Barry Wasserman further clarifies the ethical/moral duty implied by the
fairly; we seek justice. We train our judges
and our lawyers in law schools supported term “disinterested,” which in the quote above refers to a suppression of
by the community because of the
important value that we place on justice.

3.10 C.S. Bellis. “Professions In Society”

British Actuarial Journal. v.6, n.2, (2000), 319.
 A Soul Practitioner... 28

personal interest to a higher purpose—the “good end” previously

mentioned. He argues that professions are different from trades and other
commercial pursuits because at their very base, they encompass the
following:

• Specialized expertise exercised with judgment in unique situations;

• Autonomy of the professional group;
• Guarantee of a basic level of competence from its members;
•-# People3.11+#
3.11 Barry Wasserman, et. al. Ethics and Fewer Number
Commitment toofpublic More Numbers
People service and trust—a publicof duty.
the Practice of Architecture. (New York: with with with
John Wiley and Sons, 2000), 70
Wasserman, et. al. go into specific +$ More Money Public Less Money -$
criterion of professions:
Fundamental criteria for determining
Profession
-# +#
contemporary professions that are
broadly shared by scholars of Fewer Number of People More Numbers of People
withDeployment of expert, disinterested judg- with with
ment in service Public
professions include:
University-level education in a
special are of knowledge that is
+$ More Money Less Money
to the public’s best interest -$
central to the profession being
discussed;
Internship and supervised entry- Profession
level performance in order to
master application of that Deployment of expert, disinterested judg-
knowledge in practice; ment in service to the public’s best interest
Knowledge and practices that
require the unique exercise of Figure 3.1
learned judgment for each new Role professions are designed to fill in society:
situation(rather than technical
knowledge);
Maintain a balance in all public v. private access
Establishment of disciplinary identity and and application of professional services as it relates
uniqueness of the professional group to the built environment.
thorough the establishment of professional
organizations, journals, systems of
education, and standards for licensing;
Autonomy, earned by the profession
mber sof People + #
More Nu
and recognized and granted by
ith
with w y
society through state licensing, in
defining and mastering the mbe r of Peop
le
Less Mon
e $ -
-# Public
knowledge and practice of the Fewer Nu
profession, resulting in self-policing with
ney
More Mo
+$ #
with regard to the standards and
s of Peop +
le
Profession
practices and ethical conduct;
N u m b e r
Having the knowledge and More ith with
expertise necessary for the well-
b
ple
w
er of Peo of expert, disinterested judg-Less Mone
Deployment
m -
y $
-# lic best interest
r N u
Fewe
ub
being of persons in society.
h
witment Pthe
in service to public’s
ney
More Mo
+$
Figure 3.2
Profession
The lack of an expressed ethical position specific
to the practice of architecture results in decisions
Deployment of expert, disinterested judg-
being made and justified based on legal or
ment in service to the public’s best interest
economic concerns. Such choices inevitably lead
to an imbalance in the access and application of
professional services.
 A Soul Practitioner... 29

This is a significant collection of requirements, to be sure. What would

induce a group to take on such hefty public responsibilities? Several
possibilities come to mind, the most immediate being the allure of almost
complete autonomy: As long as there is no violation of individual rights,
professions have almost absolute power in determining who they are and
what they do. They can control who becomes a member and by what
criteria, determine how long before one can request admittance and under
what set of circumstances such requests shall be accepted; set the
parameters for specialization; determine what skills are required and where
those skills will—and will not—be applied. In short, professions are granted
the social authority to determine the educational, behavioral, certification, and
practice standards for their members, as long as such standards are positioned
to be for the public good. They are given, in effect, an absolute monopoly
over as broad a knowledge base and skill set as they can master, in return
for the public “being able to entrust a group of people with shouldering
3.12 Tom Spector. The Ethical some of its more difficult ethical dilemmas.”3.12 It is this reciprocity
Architect: the dilemma of contemporary requirement—and the implicit guarantee that all of its members are
practice. (New York: Princeton
Architectural Press, 2001), 8-9. capable of fulfilling this requirement—that sets professions apart from
other occupational pursuits. Yes, its members are paid for a service but
what makes that service unique and proprietary—in other words,
professional—is their ability and obligation to apply disinterested judgment
in the delivery of that service. As such, “no member of the professions can
escape these ties to the community since they constitute the very reason
3.13 Malham M. Wakin, Brig Gen for the existence of the professions.”3.13
(Ret.). Integrity First: Reflections of a
Military Philosopher.
Rebuttal
“But what about ball players, accountants, bus drivers, and other skilled
workers? They too have important jobs and get paid for their skills. Are
they not also professionals?” One may reasonably ask. For those who
would argue that the previously established definition does not provide
space for a whole host of other skilled occupations too numerous to list
here, I say, you are correct. The above definition indeed does not include
the litany of occupations that we now call professions. And that’s the point.
Because they aren’t—at least, not in the way the term and its reason for
being are intended.
 A Soul Practitioner... 30

First, one is not a professional simply because of payment for services

rendered. The payment is the recompense, not the reason. It is the centrality
of vocational judgment in the interest of the public good that sets
professions—and subsequently, professionals—apart. Similarly, having a
career does not in itself accord the status or demands of a professional
career. Although many skilled occupations, including that of bus driver,
professional cook, and plumber, benefit from specialized training and
excellence of judgment, the use of such specialization in the broadest
possible public interest is not a central feature of these applied occupations.

“Well,” you say, “what about professional athletes?” True, they possess a high
level of specialized knowledge and skill that has taken them some time to
study and apply with confidence. One might put forth a strong argument
that sports provide a particular kind of service to us as a society—
especially, let’s say, during the Olympics for example—and thus render a
public duty. However, “professional” sports do not guarantee that each
member of their “profession” will be competent enough to provide you
with the kinds of public service that you may require. If, in fact that were
true, then what sport itself provides us—the test of athletic skills on the
field, the unknown outcome—would be undermined. If we knew the
outcome, if such were guaranteed, then what would be the purpose of the
test? What public value would it hold for us? The very value of sports is the
fact that we don’t expect the same level of performance. We expect
someone to fail—we just hope it’s the other player. In addition, should one
show the talent—or even potential for talent—one can demand an
opportunity to prove his or her worth sans formal educational means
(minor league, college, developmental leagues, and the like). Even should all
of the above be discounted, there is still the matter of disinterested
judgment. What, exactly, is the disinterested judgment for the public good
exercised in professional sports—which arguably houses the largest group
of self-interested members on the planet? Not to cheat so that the general
public can know the game is fair? Um…steroids, anyone? So, yes, you may
even have the kind of skill needed to become an athlete—and very few do
—this still does not, in the true sense of the term and in the manner in
 A Soul Practitioner... 31

which I am employing it here—accord the designation of professional

status.

A professional is I trust you are getting the picture here: remuneration, possession of a
singular skill, or dedication to a trade do not a profession make. Professional
expected to come up
status requires more. Being a professional is a serious responsibility, wherein
with the correct one must continually ask, “To whom am I ultimately responsible: the public,
answer every time, the profession, my employer/employee, my client or myself?” A professional
and the stakes are is expected to come up with the correct answer every time, and the stakes are
often high. often high. It is not an easy condition to live with, but “[l]iving with a certain
amount of internal conflict is the price professionals pay in exchange for
special status, regulated entry into the field, and some degree of business
3.14 Spector. The Ethical Architect, 8. monopoly.”3.14

Thus, for our purposes a professional can be defined as a formally

educated expert in a particular body of knowledge and/or possessing a
specific set of skills of a socially essential nature, trained to apply these skills
with disinterested judgment for the public benefit. The application of these
abilities is exclusively a professional’s to exercise. The competence of the
professional is certified by a body of similarly educated and skilled
members, and can be measured against an objectively established set of
standards by which each agrees to abide.

Architecture and Its Professions

As I wrote in my last book, The Aesthetics of Equity: Notes on Race, Space,
3.15 Craig L. Wilkins. The Aesthetics of Architecture and Music, practice without theory has no purpose.3.15 Meant it,
Equity: Notes on race, space, too. Still do. Some theorizing—introspection, contemplation, whatever you
architecture and music. (Minneapolis:
UMN Press, 2007), vii. wish to call it—is essential for members of any profession. In fact, it is
precisely that introspective reflection on the nature of their work that
To be a member of a
separates the professions from other occupations. To be a member of a
profession is to
profession is to understand the full panoply of its efforts over the course of time,
understand the full in order to best consider how to viably continue forward as a society.
panoply of its efforts
over the course of For the public, the belief that what the profession offers is a
time, in order to best time-honored, ever-increasing and of course, essential service
consider how to is key to its willingness to allow [it] to continue; for the
viably continue professional, the belief that what they do is not only all of the
forward as a society.
 A Soul Practitioner... 32

above, but also both specific and special is critical to attracting

3.16Wilkins, The Aesthetics of Equity, future practitioners to perpetuate the profession.3.16
66-67.
Professionals spend much of their education developing critical thinking
skills of the highest order because for “decades we have argued that
theoretical investments in the humanities repay the profession in the form
3.17 Daniel S. Friedman. “Architecture of moral leadership.”3.17 This is the primary, if not the only, reason that
Education on the Verge” AIA Journal of
professional education is firmly entrenched in the university system and
Architecture. (July 2006). Vol 4. Issue 2, 8.
situated in the liberal arts—both to ensure that the individual can engage in
a broad external view of what architects do, and to encourage a deeper,
internal view of one’s own practice. I mean, let’s face it, classes in
archaeology, literature, linguistics, philosophy, musicology, astronomy,
physiology and the like rarely help you complete a project on time and
under budget. They do, however, help you evaluate the benefits and risks to
the general public if you undertake the project. To encourage and prepare
one for ethical thinking is the underlying purpose of university education
for the professional.

Unofficially, architecture has historically claimed justification to the title of

profession through the assertion that architecture is both art and science;
however, officially the profession claims rights to the title due to its avowed
mission to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the general public. At
the same time, recalling the words of Polak and Dwyer at the beginning of
this essay, 2 to 10 percent of the population do not a society make. For any
of the above claims to be valid—for the profession to be a legitimate
profession—the benefits must extend to the public as a whole. Thus below,
I argue the efforts of design centers and other socially engaged practices
satisfy both the profession’s unofficial and official raison d'etre. In the
process, these practices can also address a heretofore unattended 90 to 98
percent.

The Artistic Argument

The “Architecture is art, and the architect is thus an artist” thesis proceeds
something like this: Similar to art, architecture’s contribution to the world is
creating buildings that elevate us from our daily lives and give us something
more profound to consider. As art, architecture’s value lies beyond the
 A Soul Practitioner... 33

mere technical aspects of why and how it stands, what shelter it provides,
what function it facilitates. From a certain perspective, a truer statement is
difficult to find. Regardless of your level of acclimation to the practice, there
are undoubtedly structures in this world that simply take your breath away,
if not make you openly weep from joy and excitement upon a lucky
meeting. True, those buildings might be different for different people, but
the fact remains that, like art, architecture has the ability to move us, both
individually and collectively. No one asks how the statue of David stands.
They simply marvel at its stance. Thus, the claim follows, the real value of
art—and consequently, architecture—is in our heads and hearts. Still, the
tears one might shed upon that chance encounter with works of art or
architecture are not the only method of identifying works of value.

If the real value of art and architecture is in our heads and hearts, design
centers ask, “What is the full range of ways architecture can raise the
heart?” For example, a home where one can feel safe, comfortable, and
able to invite friends and family; where one has neighbors who create social
capital and camaraderie; where one finds a haven from the soul-draining
acts of the world, might raise the heart for some people as much as the
Milwaukee Art Museum does for others. Do not such buildings also
provide important, consciousness-raising, life-affirming moments in our daily
lives? The creation of a process whereby communities can effectively
engage each other and create aesthetically pleasing structures and
neighborhoods—as in Favela-Barrio in Rio, HOMEmade in Bangladesh, and
Mitchells Plain in Cape Town—is as important to the critical thinking about
life as the design of Chandigarh, Pisac, or Seaside. Should that not also rise
to the level of art?

I am not arguing against the kinds of architectural objects that are clearly
singular moments in the architectural narrative. Gaudí, Barragán, Siza, Piano,
Botta, Williams—the list goes on—have produced architecture we’ve rightly
hailed as exemplary. That is not the only architecture that can lay claim to
such accolades, especially when the criteria are broadened. Architect and
professor Bill Hubbard convincingly, albeit narrowly, argues in his book,
Architecture in Three Discourses, that there are at least two other
perspectives on the creation of architecture: as an instance of aesthetic
 A Soul Practitioner... 34

order, yes, but also as an embodiment of values and/or an object to bring

about results. I would argue that this might very well be the order, should
architects rank these concerns in order of importance. Such is not
necessarily true for non-architects. Thus, one must question why architects
all but tether the value of their work—both within and without the
profession—to only one of the three discourses (i.e., aesthetics, with no
connection to expressions of social values, nor results)? As Kathleen
Dorgan, quoting Andrzej Piotrowski of the University of Minnesota College
of Design, will remark later in this book: “New buildings are frequently
designed to meet one primary requirement: to be photogenic. In these
cases, instead of designing a building for the way people interact with it, an
architect designs for, and benefits from, the effect the building’s image
3.18 Andrzej Piotrowski. “On the produces.”3.18 Piotrowski’s observation suggests that generally, the
Practices of Knowing and Representing
profession considers other reasons for creating architecture to be
Architecture”. The Discipline of
Architecture. Andrzej Piotrowski, Julia incidental, or at best understood as following the first, when in fact, this is
Williams Robinson, eds. (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota, 2000), 56.
not always the case. There are plenty of aesthetically pleasing structures—
high profile ones—that are quite non-functional and bring about either no
3.19 See the Architecture of the Absurd: results or the opposite results for which it was intended.3.19 And these are
A Case Against Dysfunctional Buildings
by John Silber for a frank and
just the ones we hear about. “The paradox of architecture is that a building
persuasive argument on this point. ought to look good from the outside, but be usable from the inside. Some
3.20 Ian Steward in “A Conversation
architectural fashions do well on the first but fall flat on the second.”3.20 While
with Three Scientists: Physicist Philip perhaps unfathomable to most architects, not everyone wishes to live by
Ball, Biologist Brian Goodwin and
Mathematician Ian Stewart.”
design ideas.

Architects are people who are sufficiently moved by design

ideas to want to live this way. They feel not sacrifice but a
positive joy in enacting William Morris’ dictum to have nothing
around you that you do not know to be useful or believe to
be beautiful…They forget as well that even for a person with
the requisite resolution, the ideas they would resolve to enact
3.21 Bill Hubbard, Jr. A Theory for might not be design ideas.3.21
Practice: Architecture in Three
Discourses. (Cambridge: MIT Press, Many people have other priorities in mind. Sometimes architects offer
1995).13-14.
design solutions where they are inappropriate, because they believe that to
do less is to not offer anything, to not be held in the same regard as the
names above, to not be architects. The practice of design centers rejects
 A Soul Practitioner... 35

out of hand any validity in that line of reasoning. Their concern centers on
the “scarcity of good architecture, not the scarcity of great architecture.
3.22Hal Box. Think Like An Architect. Great architecture has always been scarce.”3.22 The value of architects as
(Austin: University of Texas Press,
professionals lies in the making of habitable buildings and places. The value
2007), 51.
of architects as artists lies in making aesthetically pleasing objects. I would
argue that the former is the most difficult and messy—and ultimately
where the real value, the justification for professional existence resides.
Without it, an architect is no more a professional than the person who
awakens one day with a burning desire to see his or her work in a
museum. They quit their job, buy paint, and work for years until they feel
they’ve developed enough skill and product to exhibit their work. The only
thing that stops them is the judgment of the critic and public. No license
required; no schooling beyond that which they decide to undertake. No
degree required; nothing more than a desire to do. That very person might,
on the other hand, decide that instead of making a sculpture for display or
writing a song for recording, they’d like to design a building for construction.
Should they be allowed to simply do so? Of course not—because there is
something beyond the simple desire and ability to design that is essential in
the title of architect. Architects are professionals—and that requires
something more.

[A]n architect is charged with resolving often

incommensurate demands. It is this activity, ultimately, that
3.23 Spector. The Ethical Architect, 6. justifies the architect's special status as a professional.3.23

Resolving those often-incommensurate demands begins with addressing

our own often-incommensurate demands about what it means to practice
As artists as well as architecture. As artists as well as professionals, our role in society is to
professionals, our role comment on the condition of its people. We are called to hold a mirror up
to society, to contemplate the world we live in and the people who
in society is to
construct it—including, in particular, ourselves. In this manner, the artist
comment on the serves a crucial role in society. By moving away from judging the merits of
condition of its architecture on its visual aesthetics alone, to include its visible ethics as well,
people. the artistic justification for architecture’s professional status is exponentially
strengthened. Design centers base their work on this broadened premise,
 A Soul Practitioner... 36

3.24 Bradley Guy, quoting Rex Curry in ethical as well as aesthetic, as a matter of course, every day, routinely
“Community Design Primer.”
Unpublished paper for the
producing works that raise the head and heart.3.24
Environmental Leadership Program.
(February 2002). Community design
has been described as a: The Scientific Argument
[C]omplex set of activities including
architectural design and planning,
To begin the “Architecture is a science, and thus the architect is a scientist”
education and training, community discussion, I’d like to provide a working understanding of the term science.
organizing, land and housing
development activities, research and As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, science is “the intellectual and
analysis and political advocacy, typically practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and
on the behalf of lower-income and
inner city areas seeking to improve behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and
economic and social conditions and experiment,” employing a specific practice based on the collection and
fulfill physical development needs such
as affordable housing. analysis of empirical data, often referred to as the scientific method.3.25 As
such, science is grounded in logic and reason—observe, hypothesize, test,
3.25
Oxford English Dictionary. (NYC:
Oxford University Press, 1996), 1297.
conclude, repeat, expand—a precise, exacting process of objective
understanding of the observable world.

Now to be sure, there are forward-thinking educators and practitioners

who do, in fact, employ scientific methods in their architectural work,
seeking new ways to build and testing new ideas on a consistent,
methodical basis that can be legitimately referred to as research. For a time
during Modernism’s heyday, in fact, a modified scientific research method
briefly became the design process of choice, especially in academic circles.
Nonetheless, as practitioners, architects are great users. They employ
technologies from a vast array of sources and apply them in ways that are
often novel. This is not at all a bad thing—on the contrary, it is a great
strength, demonstrating their unique ability to organize disparate elements
of the human environment into a comprehensive, creative whole. For the
majority of practicing architects, research in general—and the scientific
method of research in particular—is simply not part of their modus
operandi—design or otherwise. As a discipline, architecture does not
enthusiastically embrace or support scientific method. The photovoltaic
3.26 Pilar Viladas. “A Lot-Ek Solution”. specialist is just a lighting geek to most architects—that is, until Kennedy
New York Times Magazine. The
Architecture Issue. (June 8, 2008); also
and Violich discover a breakthrough, whereupon we claim their individual
see “A Bag Full of Sunshine: A Way to and singular achievement as part and parcel of what the profession
Bring Electric Light to Isolated
Communities”. The Economist.com produces.3.26 The pre-fab modular researcher is simply a housing geek, until
(Dec 5th 2007). accessed December
15, 2014, http://www.economist.com/
science/tm/displaystory.cfm?
story_id=10241549.
 A Soul Practitioner... 37

3.27 Gabrielle Birkner. “MoMA's Lot-Ek makes it to the front pages, at which point the Museum of Modern
Prefab-Housing Project” New York
Sun. (May 29, 2008); also see the
Art becomes interested and we again take the opportunity to hail
Museum of Modern Art’s website for architecture for its dedication to testing ideas.3.27 As a rule, however,
the “Home Delivery: Fabricating the
Modern Dwelling” exhibit, accessed
architects do not invent, test, nor develop technologies; researchers do. The
December 15, 2014. http:// profession of architecture does have scientifically trained and Ph.D.-
www.momahomedelivery.org/.
credentialed researchers who make the aesthetics of scientific investigation
3.28 Gary Stevens. “USA Architects the guiding principle of their praxis, but as a group, this…is not what
Want Status Without Effort” Key
Center For Architectural Research, architects do, in practice or academia.
accessed December 15, 2014, http://
www.archsoc.com/kcas/ While their universities changed around them into research
statusnoresponsibility.html. Also, see
Lori Thurgood, Mary J. Golladay and institutions, the architecture schools never really accepted
Susan T. Hill. US Doctorates in the 20th
Century. National Science Foundation
scholarship as their responsibility…that qualification is not
Special Reports. NSF 06-319. only rare but scorned in architectural academia. Who needs a
(October 2006), 3. The United States
is unique in the extent to which Ph.D .to be a great architect?3.28
fundamental research is conducted at
universities, typically with the assistance Notably, the work of design centers provides a compelling response to the
of graduate students. Doctoral
education is organized around an contention that architects don’t do scientific research.
intensive, real-world research
experience...American doctoral
education produces cutting-edge
The practice of architecture emerges from both a specific socio-cultural
knowledge and highly trained need as well as a desire to go beyond it, and its creation tells us much
personnel who go on to fill specialized
positions as teachers, researchers, and about who we are as a society. Similar to the manner in which a spoon,
professionals in academe, industry,
government, and nonprofit
while coming in a variety of types and designs, is at its base fundamentally
organizations. grounded in our everyday actions and speaks to specific ways of living. For
3.29
example, one can convincingly argue the development of the spoon
Blogger Charles Davis, Jr. tells a
story of poet and urban philosopher evolved out of a moment in time when Western culture decided that
June Jordan’s self-education in design,
which included a perspective-changing
eating with an instrument was preferable.3.29 So too, is architecture an
encounter with a depiction of a spoon artifact that speaks to how we live. Thus, architecture isn’t just for architects;
at the Donnell library:“At the Donnell
I lost myself among rooms and to the contrary, it is less for architects than it is for the society in which they
doorways and Japanese gardens and
Bauhaus chairs and spoons. The picture
practice.
of a spoon, of an elegant, spare utensil
as common in its purpose as a spoon, Because architecture responds to the larger question of who we are as a
and as lovely and singular in its form as
sculpture, utterly transformed my ideas social organization, I propose that architects who claim a scientific stance
about the possibilities of design in should seek to emulate the social sciences of sociology, psychology and
relation to human existence.”

June Jordan. “One Way of Starting this behavioral science, rather than the natural sciences such as biology,
Book,” Civil Wars (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1981), xvi-xvii. As first seen at
chemistry, physics and the like, although Christopher Alexander would likely
Race and Architecture, blog, accessed
December 15, 2014, at http://
raceandarchitecture.wordpress.com/
2013/11/26/writing-and-building-black-
utopianism-representing-the-
architextural-musings-of-june-jordans-
his-own-where-1971/#_ftn4.
 A Soul Practitioner... 38

3.30 See Christopher Alexander’s disagree.3.30 I assert that the discipline of architecture has much in common
“New concepts in complexity theory
arising from studies in the field of
with these disciplines, sometimes referred to as the sciences of quality. The
architecture: An overview of the four work of design centers clearly demonstrates this commonality.
books of The Nature of Order with
emphasis on the scientific problems
which are raised.” (May 2003), Design centers work methodically with social groups over time, discerning
accessed December 15, 2014, http://
www.natureoforder.com/library-of-
and understanding the causes as well as the effects of a community’s
articles.htm. material conditions, and using that knowledge in a systemic, reproducible
manner to address the built environment. This is indeed scientific research,
designed to be shared, applied, and refined over time by other
practitioners. In fact, it is a design center’s ability to engage in this kind of
iterative, objective research that often prompts clients to seek them out.
When a community seeks the help of a design center—and particularly
when that community has been historically underserved—its members’
questions concerning design may encompass the narrow definition of
architecture as aesthetic practice, but are also typically embedded and
linked to a larger context of environmental concerns that a design center is
uniquely equipped to investigate.

The biggest nod to the scientific nature of design centers (and the social
science heritage of design research in general) lies in the nature and
applicability of its research across practitioners and disciplines. To quote the
biologist Brian Goodwin:

I take [the science of qualities] to be a major challenge now

for addressing many of the pressing issues with which we are
faced. This includes the design of buildings and housing, and
the way in which we use our land and resources in
3.31Bryan Goodwin in “A sustainable ways.3.31
Conversation with Three Scientists:
Physicist Philip Ball, Biologist Brian The efforts of practitioners engaged in, as Goodwin puts it, the science of
Goodwin and Mathematician Ian
Stewart”. Interviewed by Dr. Brian qualities can be seen in the growing popularity of its products like the
Hanson. Transcript published in
Katarxis Nº 3, accessed December 15, National Charrette Institute, the Environmental Design Research
2014, http://katarxis3.com/ Association (EDRA); Planning to Stay, by Bill Morrish and Catherine Brown;
Three_Scientists.htm.
the Design Studies journal; and The Community Planning Handbook, by Nick
Wates, as well as in the work of leading researchers like Tamara Winikoff,
Henry Sanoff, Wendy Sarkissian, and others. In addition, the development of
specific community design programs at the universities of San Francisco,
South Florida, and North Carolina State, as well as the growth of design
studies programs within the sciences themselves, are all indications are that
the intentional, conscious development of architecture’s social science
 A Soul Practitioner... 39

legacy is likely to continue. As Daniel Friedman, Dean of the University of

Washington College of Architecture has observed:

[T]he hunger for solid research in the profession has never

been greater, and a long tradition of social scientific,
behavioral, technical, and evidence-based scholarship may
3.32Daniel S. Friedman. “Architecture finally enjoy its proper audience.3.32
Education on the Verge” AIA Journal of
Architecture. (July 2006). Vol 4, Issue 2, 8. If design centers don’t participate in the social sciences—the science of
qualities—then the discipline itself just doesn’t exist.

The Practical Argument

Arguments over architecture as art or science are typically internal
propositions, more germane to the interest of architects than to anyone
else; to a large degree, their disposition is of little public importance. These
are not the arguments that architecture employs to establish its public
position as a profession. The critical one—the one that trumps all others
publicly and justifies architecture’s professional status—is the “profession of
architecture is sworn to protect the health, safety and welfare (HSW) of
3.33 National Council of Architectural the public”3.33 position, and for good reason.
Registration Boards (NCARB)
Certification Guidelines Handbook.
(Washington DC: National Council of
It should be abundantly clear that the construction of buildings, from the
Architectural Registration Boards, smallest treehouses in Sheboygan and Des Moines to the tallest hotels
2013), 2.
“The National Council of Architectural dotting the skylines of Shanghai and Dubai, rightly falls under the interest of
Registration Boards, a nonprofit
organization, is a federation of the
public welfare. The people involved in such a critical and prodigious effort
architectural licensing boards in each must know exactly what they are doing; beyond that, the public must trust
of the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the that they do. Not only is the physical protection of the public paramount,
U.S. Virgin Islands. These 54 boards
constitute NCARB’s membership.
but so is their psychological protection, as it were: their confidence in the
“NCARB serves to protect the public architect’s work. Someone must be responsible for the public’s well being;
health, safety, and welfare by leading
the regulation of the practice of and it is the architect’s claim to be uniquely qualified to do just that.
architecture through the development
and application of standards for A reasonable outline might be stated thusly: In the area of health, architects
licensure and credentialing of
architects. NCARB is responsible for make sure that structures built in the public realm won’t make you ill (i.e.,
establishing, interpreting, and enforcing
national standards for architectural won’t foster unsanitary conditions, damage the environment, contain
licensure.” materials hazardous to health, and so forth). In terms of safety, architects
ensure that buildings won’t endanger your life by falling down, are
reasonably secure against adverse or catastrophic environmental conditions,
 A Soul Practitioner... 40

and are clearly navigable in times of emergency. Finally, in terms of welfare,

architects pledge that buildings won’t pose obstacles to the performance of
everyday life, but will instead give equal access to all users, provide natural
light, and offer views and other features that encourage well being. In short,
HSW means that structural interventions into the shared environment will,
to borrow a phrase from the medical profession, “first and foremost, do no
harm.”

But how are such promises secured? There must be an objective standard
that both the public and the profession can trust, as well as an objective
method of testing and monitoring that standard in practice. In the United
States as in many other nations, the building code is the answer to the first
and the building inspector the second.

Codes are basically standards that have been developed and disseminated
to ensure a basic level of compliance for all building types. Failure to follow
these rules can result in expulsion from the profession and, depending on
the severity of the infraction, civil and criminal charges as well. The
profession requires that its members follow codes religiously—as it should
—but based on its claim to professional status, this begs the question: Is
simply applying the code—already established by other entities—enough
to claim exclusive and proprietary responsibility of ensuring the public
HSW? It’s a valid question. Again, design centers provide a clear, viable
answer to this primary element of architecture’s professional responsibility.

Through their engagement with a broad array of issues in the built

environment, design center practitioners have come to realize that holding
to the letter of narrowly defined HSW concerns is no longer enough to
secure professional status. Primarily through their own indifference,
architects have allowed HSW to be controlled by entities outside of their
purview and, for the most part, simply consider their duties done if they
follow the regulations provided by these entities, Design center
practitioners ask how, pray tell, is that any different than anyone who
wishes to participate in the building process? Shouldn’t being a professional
require more—at least more than the ability to read and follow the BOCA
code? Responding to this question with a resounding “Of course it should!”,
design center practitioners posit that notions of HSW can no longer simply
 A Soul Practitioner... 41

be contained to the building itself. Concern for HSW must, by nature and
purpose, be extended to the built environment.

Health is not something that can be measured with an

instrument, though specific physiological measurements can
be useful in reaching judgments about well-being and disease
in bodies…we need to take responsibility for our actions as
participants in this creative cosmos…this is the lesson I take
from the new science, that goes beyond the post-modern to
3.34 Bryan Goodwin, “A Conversation a new form of ethical realism...3.34
with Three Scientists: Physicist Philip
Ball, Biologist Brian Goodwin and Goodwin’s observations highlight a critical point that, by employing a kind
Mathematician Ian Stewart.”
Interviewed by Dr. Brian Hanson. of ethical realism in their work, design centers raise
Transcript published in Katarxis Nº 3,
accessed December 15, 2014, http://
katarxis3.com/Three_Scientists.htm.
the possibility of locating within the profession a larger social
role—a role concerned with something beyond the beauty or
quality of the built environment. Architecture could begin to
serve as the locus for addressing some of society’s most
pressing issues, such as the conflict between public and
private property rights or the influence of high density on
3.35 Spector. The Ethical Architect, 22. human well-being.3.35

These are the kinds of concerns that legitimize the professional status of
architecture, not simply making sure a building doesn’t collapse. Since
Raphael Sperry, Stephen Vogel, and others will discuss this proposition later
Clearly, the act of in the book, I won’t belabor the point here. Clearly, the act of taking on the
ethical dilemmas of building must begin, not end, with simply keeping buildings
taking on the ethical
upright.
dilemmas of building
must begin, not end, Architecture and Its Discontents
with simply keeping Understandably, the position I stake out is a controversial one—and has
buildings upright. been for at least half a century. Its main rebuttal takes the form of
something akin to this statement: “That kind of responsibility is way beyond
the scope of what architects are supposed to provide. I don’t want to do it;
I won’t do it—it’s not what I signed up for.” The simple response to this is
that as a professional, it’s exactly what you signed up for. And in today’s
world, it is even more important to acknowledge this and act accordingly.
 A Soul Practitioner... 42

In a time when rapidly developing communication and transportation

technologies facilitate greater linkages among formally disparate societies,
thus making vast amounts of readily accessible information—factual but
also often inaccurate, incomplete, misleading, or purposely false—available
to anyone who seeks it, the need for knowledge—the ability to sift through
and decipher the mounds of available material and separate the useful from
the superfluous—is ever more critical. It is important to remember that
information and knowledge are two distinctly separate things. While
necessary to reach for knowledge, mere access to information does not
inevitably lead there. This crucial point cannot be overstated. I reject the
notion that professions are increasingly anachronistic in an information-rich
world. My position is just the opposite: professions and professionals play
an ever more vital role in the exponentially expanding society in which we
now operate, because it is professionals who can turn information into
knowledge. Yet this is only one element in the argument for their continued
relevance.

Even further than the need for professional knowledge is the need for such
knowledge to be employed—to the best of one person’s ability— in a
manner best suited to ensure an overall public benefit. To do that, one must
be able to go beyond the limits of both individual and professional gain.
One must act within One must act within a larger spectrum of common concerns that include not
a larger spectrum of only one’s area of expertise, but those of other professions and their members
as well. This is not an insignificant responsibility, yet it is the choice one
common concerns
makes when one chooses to join a profession. To abdicate that
that include not only responsibility is to engage in professional malfeasance, if not professional
one’s area of and social suicide.
expertise, but those
For these reasons, professional education begins as a liberal education, to
of other professions bind knowledge with judgment in the interests of the common good.
and their members as Engaging the broader questions of building is what keeps the licensed
well. practitioner in the position of legal authority, based on the moral and
ethical considerations from which the profession itself operates. However
uncomfortable one may be with moral imperatives, it is simply inexcusable
that the deeper ethical exploration of architecture has all but left the
building.
 A Soul Practitioner... 43

If it is true that the architect is hired at least in part to take on the ethical
dilemmas of building, can it truly be said that those questions begin and end
solely with what is legal, particularly when legal requirements change all the
time? How can a profession exist, as a profession, without a sustained
discussion about its ethical responsibility, which by definition goes beyond
legal definitions? Ethics are supposed to be messy. All professional codes of
ethics outline actions, but the exceptional ones attempt to define why
those actions are appropriate or not. By simply following the regulation
itself, one fails to understand the thinking behind it—and as a result, one
endangers the status of the profession itself. I, and others more
knowledgeable than me, argue that the notion of ethics transcends legality,
that what is legally correct is not always ethically justifiable. Professionals
must understand the difference and act accordingly. Where, exactly, is the
critical thinking necessary to ethical behavior, if one is simply following
codes and perhaps actually ignoring needs?

Long ago, professions like law and medicine embraced the fundamental
axiom that to deny someone access to their services diminishes their claim
to professional status and the monopoly on which it rests. Homelessness,
sick buildings, the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav, Katrina and Sandy,
concentration of poverty, spatial profiling, environmental injustice, redlining,
and the prevalence of the NIMBY mentality all across our nation and the
world, demand a significant shift away from the limited, and frankly self-
serving, interpretation of the profession’s HSW responsibilities. The role of
the professional architect is no different than the role of any other
professional: to balance the needs/desires of public interest with the needs/
desires of private individuals within the constraints of their expertise. To the
best of one’s ability, professional practice requires the exercise of the
highest moral, ethical, social, and fiduciary judgment for the benefit of all
who engage the built environment, even should that judgment signal an
outcome that is personally distasteful to the individual professional. As a
professional, one is always in service to the many, even if only a few or one
is financing one’s actions. As long as you ply your trade in the civic arena,
you are by very definition working for all people, and upholding the public
trust is paramount. Without it, the profession—the legally protected
monopoly over the stewardship of the built environment—ceases to exist.
 A Soul Practitioner... 44

As Tom Spector concludes, “Architects cannot have it both ways; they

cannot continue to expect to enjoy unchallenged public protection for
3.36 Spector. The Ethical Architect, 30. indulging themselves as artists.”3.36 It is a rare moment indeed when the
ethical and the practical align. On this issue, however, such is the case.

Architecture and Its Future

If this essay has given you the impression that I’m asking the profession to
give up anything it is currently doing, perish the thought. On the contrary;
I’m asking the architectural field to recognize what design centers illustrate:
that architects can—and must—expand their view of the profession’s
purpose. At the present time, the works of design centers are rarely
included in lofty critiques of the profession and its products. Why? Primarily
because, if one were to ask the typical architect, design centers “don’t really
do architecture” at all. Design centers advocate so many things that seem
foreign to traditional architectural education and practice that they are
often ignored or at best, tolerated. They engage in participatory design,
provide pro bono and discounted fee services, work with small, non-profit
clients often in distressed communities with shoestring budgets, and
unapologetically pursue social activism. Most design centers, when
discussed at all in educational institutions, are described as “alternative
practices” in polite company, and relegated to the kind of attention that
term connotes. Conventional architectural wisdom has determined that
design centers simply aren’t the kind of practices worthy of the finely
detailed diatribes found in most architectural texts or public debates. Yet, as
I hope this essay, and indeed this entire publication, can show, design
centers are not an either/or proposition for the architectural profession.

In fact, it is necessarily, just the opposite.