SOME Buzz

Well it's been over a year...that should be about enough between postings. After reading/following a number of blogs in this time, I've finally gotten a grip that too much prep for a post means it's never going to get posted. Collecting thoughts, images, links, etc. mean nothing if it never gets out there. Subjects like the difference between environmental art vs. landscape architecture vs. architecture will have to wait for the next iterations (not another year of lag, however). In the meantime I've been lured into a discussion of the title of this blog by an organization I have a fair amount of respect for, although I'm currently only an email participant: CORA or the Congress Of Residential Architecture. http://www.corarchitecture.org/

If you have some familiarity with our practice you will recognize some of the higher profile participants of this group on our bookshelves: Dennis Wedlick, Jeremiah Eck, Duo Dickinson. Skillful and thoughtful (can those characteristics be separated?) practitioners of the making of HOME - not always an easy achievement. I'll save other discussion of the organization and what I see as it's value for another post. For this title I would like to jump to the letter which they presume to present at this year's AIA Convention in Miami, in June. It's titled as a Position Paper, and that's a good thing. Taking a position on the state of the art of our profession. I don't find agreement with all the positions, and find that it's contradictory in some of it's own premises. However - it takes a position. And - it intends to present this position to the organization that much of the country sees as THE representatives of our profession in a way that is not particularly deferential to that organization. BULLY, I SAY!

Here's the letter:
http://www.coragroups.org/manifesto/

This has generated a fair amount of dialogue not only on the CORA and residential architect "Linked-In" discussion groups, but among some other professional friends with whom I've shared it. These are people that may or may not actually practice in realm of residential architecture. Our practice is not limited to residential work, either. The subject matter resonates. I hope if you read this, it does that for you, too.

Now here's a dilemma I see with this manifesto. Architects have a long history with these, and the truth to me is that they have rarely actually contributed to any benefit for the profession in the eyes of the public. There is simultaneously not enough discussion of the plight of our profession and too much of it. Too often we are too concerned with our competition and not cooperative enough with it. Let's face it - this is probably the singularly most competitive profession of those requiring licensure to practice. But we too often talk to one another about the things that don't sustain our profession, and talk to the public in ways that don't make ourselves sufficiently relevant to those that ultimately will be our clients. Manifestos reek of bringing the message down from a lofty perch. The public doesn't belong to our church and we're not being very good missionaries or even preachers - which also begs the question: Should we be preaching? And therein lies the question of this title - Is NOW the time to come to the aid of our profession? Or - as so often thought in my bleaker days - are we at least 30 years too late? What is the right aid to our profession, and how can we really make it happen? How can we make ourselves more relevant to not just ourselves, but to the world at large? And if not, why not?

Hope that's enough to start a dialogue here, and if you think there's value in the CORA effort, please forward support to Duo Dickinson, as per the letter. If you don't - tell them that, too.