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PROFESIONAL PRACTICE 3

HOW TO ACT LIKEAN ARCHITECT INA PROJECT?COMPILATIONS OF CONTEXT

VALDUEZA, JENNINA SANTI C.

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I lived by No greater is above the Most High and I am His

testament to His greatness.

My creation is to justify the inner sense of my being in this

world.

It is to be His daughter, the person f or all and be who I

want to be.

Architecture is the instrument placed on my hand to bring

creation into sense.

Learning brings me to the content of ma ing myself whole.

!uccess is only define by having the simple contentment of

finding your own purpose

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A"#HI$%#$

The urge to make and do is irresistible. I t is the foundation of the

desire to become an architect. Yet it is also an inner urge that is better

described as calling than a career choice. To become an architect implies a

way of living and working that is not easily defined. Perhaps it is better

understood as an exploratory journey that can have many variations from the

responsibility to act as the principal orchestrator of a major building project

to positions in government. But most of all to become an architect is to form

a way of thinking that influences the ability to see solutions that not yet

exist. This is the inherent power of the discipline of architecture and it is

what makes the study of architecture relevant in even the most d iff icul t

economic periods. To consider the study of architecture in this way is to

understand that an architectural education is the foundation for many careers

that relate not only to the traditional building industry but also to those that

extend into a myriad of other choices. !mong the choices that readily come to

mind are the roles architects have assumed in real estate and business as well

as in the entertainment industry and the fields of animation and information

technology development. "learly the choices and opportunities are broad and

the l i fe of an individual who has studied architecture has been substantial ly

enriched.

He looked at the granite . To be the cut, he thought , and made into

walls. He looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a

streak of rust on the stone and thought of i ro n ore under the grou nd. To be

melted and to emerge as girders against the sky. These rocks, he thought, are

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here for me; waiting for the drill , the dynamite and my voice; waiting to be

spl it , r ipped, pounded, reborn, wait ing for the shape of my hands will give to

them.

Ay n Rand, The Fountainhead

People need places in which to live work play learn worship meet

govern shop eat private and public spaces indoors and out# rooms

buildings and complexes# neighborhoods and towns# suburbs and ci ties.

!rchitects professionals trained in the art and science of building design and

licensed to protect public health safety and welfare transform these needs

into concepts and then develop the concepts into building images that can be

constructed by others.

In designing buildings architects communicate with and assist those

who have needs$ clients users and the public as a whole$and those who will

make the spaces that sat isfy those needs$builders and contractors plumbers

and painters carpenters and air conditioning mechanics.

%hether the project is a room or a city a new building or the

renovation of an old one architects provide the professional services$ideas

and technical knowledge drawings and specifications administration

coordination and informed decision making$ whereby an extraordinary range

of functional aesthetic technological economic human environmental and

safety factors are melded into a coherent and appropriate solut ion to the

problems at hand.

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This is what architects are conceivers of buildings. %hat they do is to

design that is supply concrete images for a new structure so that it can be

put up. The pr imary task of the architect then as now is to communicate what

proposed buildings should be and look l ike . . .

The architect&s role is that of mediator between the client or patron

that is the person who decides to build and the work force with its oversees

which we might collectively refer to as the builder.

But how does an architect truly design' I t begins with a client with the

need for a building a project. To design and build this project an architect

fol lows the architectural design process. This process begins with the

schematic design phase with the architect first gaining an understanding of

the scope of the project to be built from the client. %ith the program

determined the architect develops prel iminary concepts and ideas for the

project and presents these to the cl ient for approval or revision. In addi tion

the architect researchers (oning or other restr ic t ions. )ext is the design

development phase are fur ther ref ines.

In design development the initial concepts and ideas are further

ref ined. The architect begins to determine the building mater ials of the

project as well as deta iling the mechanical e lectrical plumbing and

structural aspects of the project . The architect wil l formally represent the

project a t this stage of development to the cl ient for approval. )ext is the

construction document phase.

*uring construction document phase the architect produces detailed

drawings and specifications of the project to be used for construction. These

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construction documents include all pertinent information necessary for

construction. +nce completed the construction documents are sent to

potential contractors for bidding. )ext is the bid or negotiation phase.

In preparat ion for actual construct ion the architect prepares the bid

documents. The bid documents include a number of documents for potential

contractors to use in prepar ing a bid ,cost est imate- to construct the project .

+nce bids are received from contractors the architects wil l assist the cl ient

in evaluating and selecting the winning proposal. In the end a contract is

awarded to the selected bidder which allows construction to begin. )ext is

the construct ion phase.

*uring construction the architect&s responsibilities will vary

depending on the agreement with the client but most commonly the architect

wil l assist the contractor to construct the project as specif ied in the

construction documents. !s uestions or issues on the construction site the

architect is there to address them. *epending on the issue the architect may

be re uired to issue additional drawings.

Thus an architect must be e uipped with a number of talents and skills

to take a project f rom this in i t ia l idea to f inal construct ion. In the profession

almost a l l projects are undertaken by an architectural f i rm consist ing of

teams of architects related professionals and consultants al though there

may be some smaller projects usually residential that might be led by a sole

architect .

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There are two ualities that neither employers nor educators can

instill and without which, it is assumed, one cannot become a !good"

architect# dedication and talent.

$ana %uff

Because of the breadth of skills and talents necessary to be an

architect you may be able to find your niche within the profession

regardless. I t takes three at tr ibutes to be a successful architecture student$

intelligence creativity and dedication$ and you need any two of the three.

!lso your education will develop your knowledge base and design talents.

/nfortunately there is no magic test to determine if becoming an

architect is for you. Perhaps the most effect ive way to determine if you

should consider becoming an architect is to experience the profession

firsthand. !sk lo ts of uest ions and recogni(e that many related career f ie lds

might also be appropriate for you.

For the architect must , on the one hand, be a person who is fascinated

by how things work and how he can make them work, not in the sense of

inventing or repairing machinery, but rather in the organi&ation of time'

space elements to produce the desired results; on the other hand, he must

have an above average feeling for aesthetics and uite some ability at

drawing, painting, and the visual arts in general.

(ugene Raskin

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P0+1I23 +1 T43 P0+1355I+)

5!2!0Y

5alaries fluctuate depending on the region of the country the amount

of experience an individual has and even the type of employer.

*I6305ITY

*iversity is a set of human traits that have an impact on individual&s

values opportunities and perceptions of self and others at work. !t

minimum it includes six core dimensions7 age ethnicity gender mental or

phys ical abi li t ies race and sexual orientat ion.

$8athryn 4. !nthony Ph. *.

In the content of the architectural profession diversi ty is extremely

important because for many years the profession has been known as a white

men&s profession. This label is no longer appropriate as the profession is

beginning to make str ides but consider the representation of women and

individuals of color.

Important ski l ls an architect needs to be successful7

5elf$awareness7 a well$rounded experience is good but focuses on your

specif ic ta lents and ski lls tha t you enjoy. $!my Yurko

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To be success ful you must be a ble to adapt to your surroundings. You

must be a good co mmunicator and mor e importantl y a good listene r. You

must be open to taking risks and looking at things in a different way.

$4. !lan Brangman

"reativity design technical skills management communication and

excellent leadership ski l ls are re uired. I t re uires a very high level of

matur ity. $0obert * . 1ox !I! II*! 1+9 !rchitec ts

!rchitects must have thee following skills , the order depends on the

individual-7 ,a- excellent communication skills ,e.g. writing speaking and

tradit ional and digi tal drawing abil i ty-# ,b- to lerance for ambiguity# ,c-

agil i ty# ,d- an analyt ical mind# ,e- a t tent ion to both the macro and the micro#

,f- humili ty# and ,g- graphical diagramming $Thomas1owler

3very architect must have two at tr ibutes. 1 irst is the abil i ty to deal

with ambiguous problems. !rchitectural problems while often complex

cannot for the most part be reduced to a single optimi(ed answer. Typically

architectural problems have many possible solutions. The answer often lies

not in finding the right solution but in finding the best solution. 2e

"orbusier one of the twentieth century&s greatest architects described

finding architectural solut ions :as a pat ient s earch. ;

The second attribute is curiosity. !rchitecture is not a static profession.

%hat you learn in a formal education is just the beginning. To be a successful

architect especially in this age of rapid change you must ac uire new

knowledge and skills nearly every da. To do this you need insatiable

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curiosity that drives you to know more and to continue a process of lifelong

learning.

)ot ice I have these ta lked about at tr ibutes rather than ski lls . I bel ieve

these personal a t t r ibutes are more important than learned ski l ls . I do not

mean to skip the s ki l ls issue. The necessary ski l ls are basic$ reading wri t ing

and ar i thmetic in al l their current manifestat ions$plus communicat ion ski l ls

leadership ski l ls cognit ive ski l ls and$ I th ink the most important ski l ls of a l l

< the ski ll to imagine unbuil t worlds.

$0obert =. Beckley

4aving a good eye is one of the most important attributes of a

successful architect but :a good eye; is d iff icul t to descr ibe in words. I t

affects your projects your presentations to clients your marketing efforts to

obtain new projects$ everything.

Being good with your hands is important especially in building models

but a lso to get a tac ti le feel for mater ia ls and how they are put together in the

f ield .

5trong writing is also important for architects. %riting is critical to

obtaining jobs or awards preparing contracts and developing complete and

accurate specif icat ions for a par t icular project .

3njoying the social aspects and challenges of working with people is

very important. 3very real$world projects involves teamwork. +ften multiple

consultants are involved sometimes mult ip le cl ients always many people

who do not always naturally communicate well with each other. I t is always

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the architect&s jobs to keep the lines of communication open via drawings

meetings conference cal ls and so on.

$3li(abeth 8alin 5tudio >ang !rchitects

&'LI(A$I&N! $& $H% )"&*%!!I&N

2ike most people architects want to do the r ight th ing. In each case I

try to sort out the most appropriate response drawing from the four major

approaches to %estern ethics7 what it means to be a good person ,virtue

ethics- or to have a good society ,contract e thics- and what is the r ight

act ion in terms of the individual ,duty ethics- or the group ,u t i l i tar ian ethics- .

>ood "harac ter 0ight !ction

Individual 6ir tue ethics *uty 3thics

>roup "ontract 3thics /t il itar ian 3thics

These four approaches to ethics relate to four of the phases of

architectural projects7 pursuing and at ta ining the commission assembling the

team and signing the contract developing the design and contract documents

and administering the construction and close$out of the project. ! lthough all

phases of an architectural project can raise a divers ity of ethical dilemmas

each phase tends to draw more heavily on approach to ethics more than

others.

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we have created. 4as the project benef i ted the greatest number of people and

has i t addressed their pragmatic needs '

I f e thics has relevance to very par t of an architectural project so too

does i t re late to every par t of the architectural curr iculum even though the

discussion of ethics too of ten gets relegated to just the professional pract ice

course. This undervaluing of ethics too often gets relegated to just the

professional pract ice course. This undervaluing of ethics has skewed the way

we view our responsibilities. Too many architects for example rarely return

to their buildings to conduct post$occupancy evaluations to assess the long$

term effects of design decisions revealing cer tain bl indness on our

profession to the uti l itar ian demand that we at tend to the conse uences of

what we do. 2ikewise too many of us excuse the egomania of our most

honored colleagues showing how little we seem to care about virtue in our

profession with i ts emphasis on good character as the basis for doing good

work. )or has our profession been particularly politically active putting

relat ively l i t t le of our leverage behind changing the unfair economic

structures and social contracts within which we operate and to which our

buildings of ten provide support. !t the same time the scrut iny we place on

the intentions of students in studio and architects in pract ice indicates howmuch duty ethics has pervaded our discipline.

+ver the last century we have created a lot of ?architecture of good

intentions ; as "ol in 0owe observed while paying relat ively l i t t le a t tent ion

to the character of our col leagues to the nature of our social contract or to

the conse uences of what we have built . 3xtending our appreciation of ethics

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beyond good intentions to include other approaches < vir tue contract and

utilitarian ethics$ remains one goal of this book. 3xtending the scope of our

ethical obligations is another. +ur responsibilities as architects need to go

beyond our direct obligat ions to cl ients communities col leagues and

coworkers. The sustainability movement has revealed how much of what we

do affects the public at large and those only indirectly affected by our

decisions as well as future generations and other species. That may sound as

expansive as to make ethical decision$making seem almost impossible7 4ow

can we account for our effect on those whom we will never meet '

The answer to such a uestion demands a particularly important skill

we learn in school7 imagining what most people cannot yet envision. The

empathic project ion of how a decision wil l affect o thers over t ime remains

one of the great values architects bring to problems and applying that ability

to ethical dilemmas offers a way to think about ethics across a wide range of

social spat ial and temporal scales.

Practical reasons exist for thinking about ethics this way. %e can no

longer afford to exclude other people generations or species from our

ethical deliberations because having done so in the past we have begun to

exhaust resources that we depend on to extinguish species essential to our

own health and to exacerbate cl imate changes that threaten our very survival .

%e can no longer view the planet and its many cultures species and

generat ions as external i t ies beyond inclusion in our moral calculat ions.

/nless we start taking the good of all into account we will have very little

good lef t a t a l l .

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In that light architectural education and practice would not only

benef it f rom a greater understanding of ethics but a lso might benef i t e thics

itself . !n architect&s ability to think simultaneously at many different scales

and to assess the value of al ternat ives that do not yet exist could broaden the

scope of ethics while also helping people find the most appropriate responses

to the ethical d i lemmas they encounter in l i fe . =ost unethical behavior

stems from people seeing the world and their own interests too narrowly.

+nce they recogni(e how much each of us affect and are in turn affected by

myriad others i t becomes clear that the most e thical path is a lso almost

always the most pract ical the most economical and ul t imately the most

sustainable way forward.

The book has six chapters following the six canons of the !merican

Institute of !rchitects ,!I!- "ode of 3thics and Professional "onduct

published by the !I ! >eneral "ounci l ,%ashington * .". @AA -

C. >enera l +bligat ions@. +bligat ions to the PublicD. +bligat ions to the "l ientE. +bligat ions to the ProfessionF. +bligat ions to "olleaguesG. +bligat ions to the 3nvironment

The f irst f ive canons exist in order of scale star t ing with the most

general obligations and continuing to those that affect the greatest number of

people the public to the fewest number colleagues and coworkers. The sixth

canon a newcomer addresses the environment which covers the broadest

scale of all that of the entire planet. 5ince none of the other obligations

makes a difference if we no longer have an environment that can support us

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you could read this book from back to front starting with the environmental

cases at the end.

The !I!&s code encompasses all four approaches to ethics. I ts canons

invoke virtue ethics to urge architects to :maintain and advance their

knowledgeHexercise unprejudiced and unbiased judgmentH !ndJ respect

the r ights. . . of their col leagues. ; "ontract e thics appears in such statements

as : members should embrace the spir i t and let ter of the lawHpromote and

serve the public interestH andJ serve their clients competently.; *uty ethics

emerges in l ines l ike : members shouldJ exercise learned and uncompromised

professional judgmentH andJ uphold the integr ity and dignity of the

profession. :1inally we hear a ut i li tar ian focus on conse uences when we

read that members should :thoughtfully consider the social and environmental

impact of their professional act ivi t ies. ;

!n ethical code however well f ramed or stated matters only if those

bound by i t a lso enacts it in their dai ly l ives. )o professional code of conduct

can subst i tu te for the determination of each of us to lead as ethical ly

responsible a l i fe can as we can seeing every di lemma we encounter as an

opportunity to ask what constitutes the right thing to do what will achieve

the greatest good and what virtues must come into play. 3thics as !ristotle

observed must become a habit so that we condition ourselves to the right

kind of response to a situation particularly when tempted by the often easier

unethical path. It may seem simpler to take a shortcut or take advantage of

others to act shortsightedly or selfishly toward others or to ignore the rights

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of our responsibilities to others. But such behavior always costs us dearly in

the long run. You will

/nethical behavior is especial ly cost ly to professionals whose real

value and only true currency rests with our reputations and the respect and

regard that o thers have for us. 3very unethical act every lapse in our

character or betrayal of o ther&s trust const i tu tes a self$inf l ic ted injury that

can take much longer to repair than anything that we think we might have

gained . good values in other words create the greatest value and

embodying that in everything we do needs to become such a habit that we no

longer need to read books.

=any architectural students and even some architects seem to f ind

prac tice boring as i f it involved simply following rules applyi ng formulas

and meeting standards with none of the creative potential of design. )othing

could be further from the truth. !rchitectural practice has become one of the

most dynamic parts of the profession with change happening and

opportunities arising faster than almost any other aspect of our field. The best

f irms understand that applying the same level of creat ivi ty to their pract ices

as they do to their buildings.

5ee the legal context of pract ice as the foundation on which the

profession stands with heal th safety and welfare as the practice e uivalent

of commodity firmness and delight. "onsider fees schedules and budgets as

the means and methods by which the work gets done in a firm enabling it to

work much as a set of contract documents allow a contractor to build. !nd

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look at the ethics of pract ice much as you do the aesthet ics of architecture as

something fundamental and inescapable.

!rchitects whose buildings show extraordinary leaps of imagination

often run offices paradoxically with the most conservative structure and

most unimaginative form. 2ikewise firms that have innovated in the

organi(ation and operation of their practice often produce unfortunately

less$than$stel lar buildings. I t seems that too many of us see innovative

prac tice and innovative des ign as incompatible with each other.

That perspective stems from the ar t i f ic ial d ivision of pract ice courses

from design studios in most architecture schools leading to a disconnection

between the environments we envision and the ways we might achieve them

operationally budgetarily and politically. +vercoming that disconnect does

not necessar i ly t ranslate to the merger of pract ice courses and design studios#

each has specific content that needs its own setting. 4owever design

educators and reviewers could do a much better job asking not just what a

student&s design involves or what it means but also how the student might

organi(e its delivery se uence its construction justify its cost or explain its

value to a community. )ot that the form of a firm&s design and practice have

to al ign7 a f i rm that generates a lo t of f ree$form buildings does not

necessarily need a freeform office. 0ather a practice re uires the same

degree of consciousness and creativity that we put into our buildings

responding to the in ternal and external forces of a par t icular p lace and t ime.

*ifferent kinds of clients or building types often re uire different office

organi(ations whatever the final form of the buildings produced. !nd with

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increasing fre uency a single office will have more than one way of

operat ing in response to the needs of the different markets i t serves.

Kust as we would never assume that there exists one building form or

organi(ation plan that fits all needs so too should we never assume that there

exists one form of practice or way of organi(ing an office or delivery

process. %hile a universal form night have worked in simpler t imes when

many viewed Beaux !rts "lassicism or International$5tyle =odernism as

universally valid it no longer applies in a word where diverse perspectives

and varied needs have become the norm. In such a world design becomes

more important than ever especially when we apply it to our practices as

much as to the environments we create .

$$

Professionalism is a continuous structure that exists outside and inside

the natural person who is the professional. I t is a phenomenon that

theoret ical mathematicians would label a =obius str ip$ a structure on which

all point can be reached from every other point. Professionalism is the

manner in which professionals deal with their colleagues and the public and

the spir i t that professionals carry in their heads and their guts about what

they do'

The route to professionalism

To colleagues and the public the professional is an expert in the

special i(ed knowledge and mechanics of the f ie ld in which he or she

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prac tices. To obta in the practice the profess ional undergoes a formal t raining

process f re uent ly academic in nature. 1rom that base however the

professional must build an inventory of pract ical skil ls based on the world as

it actually is not on a textbook or styli(ed version of reality. Practical

experience assists the professional in t raveling the uncer tain regions of

performance that fall between the points of f ixed knowledge learned in

formal training.

In addition to initial training a professional understands that the

speciali(ed knowledge in his or her field is dynamic. Therefore a

professional engages in a continual learning process ,both formal and

informal- to increase substantive knowledge and to hone pract ical ski l ls .

!ppreciat ing that no f ie ld exists in a vacuum a professional a lso remains

alert to events and information in the world beyond his or her speciali(ed

area of knowledge. The professional remembers that common sense must not

be lost to professional doctr ine and processes.

+utside the Professional

1rom this base of learning and ski l ls a professional operates in a world

of people with whom he or she works ,colleagues and other specialists- and

people whim he or she serves , the cl ients or public- . ! professional is

distinguished from other diligent and expert workers by the fact that these

relationships with colleagues and clients are :consensual and fiduciary.;

!s part of the :consensual and fiduciary; relationship the professional

owes cl ients both judgment and learning# the professional is af ter a l l the

client&s expert advisor. %hen objecting to the uestions by a / .5. 5enator to

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his client +liver )orth attorney Brendan 6. 5ullivan Kr. once observed that

his role was not to sit idly by while his client stumbled into serious legal

difficulty. ! lthough there is a positive trend in codes of professional conduct

to re uire that professionals provide clients with information and options so

that clients have the opportunity to understand their situation and to make

choices as to a course of action professionals may not abandon their

responsibility to give their clients the benefit of their learning and experience

by way of their judgment as to the course of act ion selected. In the over ly

litigious atmosphere of today&s professional practice there is a strong

economic incentive not to r isk advising a course of act ion for fear that an

unsat isf ied cl ient wil l b lame the professional for any unsat isfactory result

and sue for malpractice. This danger however does not relieve the

professional f rom the obligat ion to voice his or her judgment.

The professional is further obliged to protect the public from his or her

own profession. ! lawyer for instance must be knowledgeable

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! l legat ions of substandard professional performance are measured

against the sound judgment of similarly situated professionals as to the best

interests of c l ients the public at large and the profession < that separate and

dist inct ent i ty that is the collect ive history of al l pr ior and current

prac ti t ioners. * il igent self$policing of incompetence as well as of in tentional

misconduct and abuse is a hallmark of profession < that separate and distinct

enti ty that is the collect ive history of al l pr ior and current pract i t ioners. In

many professions including law professional codes of conduct or ethical

standards have grown up over many years with the intent of improving the

standard of practice and policing the profession. These written standards have

attempted to codify what was once considered simply good judgment.

5ituation7

!n architect working for a design$build contractor specified a high$

end waterproofing material for a basement below the water table to prevent

water seepage over time. The contractor looking for ways to cut costs to

increase the prof i t f rom the j ob wanted to use a much less expensive mater ial

that would likely fail prematurely damaging the building and costing the

owner a great deal of money to repair. The architect advise against it but the

head of the design$build firm told her that it was his decision to make and

that if she wanted to keep working for the company she needed to go along

with i t .

In many ethical conflicts doing the right thing often has a personal

cost . I f the architect speaks to the cl ient about the improper subst i tu t ion of

mater ials she wil l expose herself to being f ired or at least severely

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reprimanded by her employer. Yet by not speaking up she also e xposes

herself to much worse7 to unprofessional behavior in not looking after her

client&s best interests. 5he might lose either her job or her reputation.

)ot a good choice but ethics l ike design can he lp us look at

part icular situat ions f rom different perspec tives and at different scales. 5een

str ic t ly in terms of short$term benefi t and at a very personal scale si tuat ions

like this may lead most people to protect themselves and keep uiet. But from

a longer$term or larger perspective $ from future users of the building for

example who wil l have to deal with the water problems that result f rom this

substitution < the opposite is true7 the correct thing to do is to speak up to

prevent this f rom happening before it is too late to f ix.

%e would reach the same conclusion when we see ourselves in a

different t ime scale . Kobs come and go employers hire and f ire al l the t ime.

The only thing we can each control as the 5toics said is our own virtue the

uali ty of our character and the trust that o thers place in us as a result of i t .

)o one can take that away from us nor is it anyo ne else&s responsibil i ty

except ours. In that l ight e thical confl ic ts such as the one descr ibed here are

really opportunities for us to employ virtue to speak the truth in the face of

an abuse of power and ultimately to strengthen the one thing that is truly

ours.

That is not to say that there might not be situations in which keeping

uiet is the most e thical course. +f ten an architect wil l encounter a si tuat ion

with a cl ient where the two have different preferences about some aspect of a

project such as i ts furnishing that involve matters of taste with no bear ing

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on a building&s function or performance. %hile the architect might have more

knowledge to back up a furniture preference the wisest course involves not

making an issue of it and remaining silent about the client&s choices. 5uch

exceptions do not invalidate the general rule however. Being a professional

as well as an ethical human being re uires that we do the right thing as best

as we can determine it over doing what is most profitable expedient or

convenient. !nd whatever penalty we might pay in the short term as a result

we will always reap more than enough reward in terms of reputation and

respect. !s the 5toic philosopher 3pictetus put it we need to do what we

have to do to be the person we want to be. !nd what about the apparently

negative conse uences of doing the right thing < being fired for instance'

6iewed from enough distance that also has a positive side. 4owever hard it

is to see when right in front of us not having to work for an abusive boss

becomes a true blessing.

5ituation7

The sole pr incipal of an architectural f i rm read books on management

with the goal of maximi(ing the firm&s profits and his own income. !s a

result he continually restructured the company and redefined his staff&s job

duties to achieve more efficiency and productivity. *espite all of his efforts

at managing the firm well however the staff continued to leave for other

jobs and he had a difficul t t ime at tract ing new employe es. )or did he ever

come close to achieving the productivity and profit goals promised by the

management books he read.

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=anagers often think that their primary task involves managing others

and achieving the greatest productivity from their staff and profit from their

operation. That may be what their job description says and what others

expected of them but it misses the most important and most often overlooked

responsibility of managers in an organi(ation7 managing themselves. This is

much harder than it sounds. %ith power comes the temptation to use it to

control others and in most organi(ations this temptation becomes an

expectation since most managers are judged by how well they produce

results . Indeed the more managers push others as well as themselves to the

extreme the more of ten they are rewarded.

But over the long run the more managers control their temptation to

control others the more successful they will be. ! ll leaders by virtue of their

standing in an organi(ation have the strength to master others as 2ao$t(u put

i t but very few have the real power that comes from master ing themselves.

3thics has much to offer in that regard. 1ew people read ethics as a guide to

management < although a growing number of business books have made the

connection between ethics and economic success < but the history of ethics

provides plenty of t ips about self$management. This includes virtue ethics&

emphasis on self$control contract ethics& focus on collective cooperation andmodern ethics& concentration on good intentions or conse uences. In almost

every ethical t radi t ion mastery of the self is an essential aspect of leading a

good life.

%e have seen of late what happens when managers lose sight of that.

In pursuit of l i fe def ined in terms of large salar ies and lavish l i festyles the

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top managers of investment banks fell under the illusion that they could

control the extraordinary risks they took with other people&s money. If they

faced any negative conse uences it came from not pursuing extraordinary

prof its persistently enough. 5elf$control in such a climate would have been

nothing short of self$destructive. %e now know of course that such behavior

also proved self$delusional as the under$regulated investment banking

industry imploded under the weight of so much uncontrolled greed. It

produced what ethicists call :moral ha(ard ; since the banks faced no

downside to their irresponsible behavior having become so big that taxpayers

had to bail them out.

! t the hear t of that f inancial col lapse lay the mistaken idea that

mastering others < whether it be their money their lives or their livelihoods

< can succeed without f irst master ing themselves. %e think that successful

people have the most knowledge the inside scoop on how things work but

we learn f rom the ethics that t ruly successful people have the greatest

understanding that as 2ao$t(u argued truth is paradoxical. 5uccess and

mastery come only when we succeed at mastering our own desire to succeed

at a l l costs .

That is why the architect here never succeeds as a manager despite al l

his efforts. 4e may know a lot about management theories and techni ues

but he had ye t to learn to control his own desire to manage others and so

ended up treat ing his employees as i f they were objects on an organi(at ional

chart rather than people in search of wise leadership. !s a result the more he

read about how to increase his staff&s productivity the less success he had in

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finding and keeping a highly productive staff. Treating others as means to his

end as Immanuel 8ant would say made others want nothing more than to end

their relationship with him and to prevent him from mistreating them.

!ny success at the expense of others is no success at a l l . The only real

success comes when we help others succeed even when it comes at our own

expense. %ere this architect to spend more time listening to the staff about

how he might help them achieve their goals he would find that the

product ivity of his people and the profi tabi l ity of his f i rm would r ise as a

result. In that light ethics becomes central to a business&s success and

essential to leading an organi(ation reminding us that the most successful

managers above al l e lse know themselves.L

5ituation7

!n architect in a large multidisciplinary firm had led the effort in his

state to oppose interior designers becoming licensed even though one of the

designers on his staff had actively supported license of her field. The

architect publicly insisted that interior designers did not need to be licensed

but pr ivately admitted that he feared archi tects would lose work to inter ior

designers should they become licensed. The interior designer at his firm did

not know if she should oppose him or pity him.

*esign represents a form of game theory which looks at how people

rat ionally assess their odds of success in complex or ambiguous si tuat ions.

%hen clients commission a designer to create a new product or environment

they do so out of a belief that the benefits outweigh the costs based on what

they think the market will bear or their competitors will do. 2ikewise when

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an architect decides to move in one direction or another with a design it

comes from assessing what the client needs the designer wants and

competitors might think or do as a result. But in game theory as in design it

often happens that cooperation wins out over competition. ! winner$take$all

approach to competition means that we have the most to lose if the other

wins so it is often better to have both sides win something than to possibly

be the one who loses everything.

In a design this sense of cooperat ion takes many forms7 in the way a

product feels in our hand an inter ior adapts to changing needs or a building

responds to the city around it . )o design succeeds despite everything else. If

the act of designing has character ist ics of play < of imagination speculat ion

and experimentation < so too does design follow gamelike rules in which

some degree of cooperation and coordination must occur if it is to work at

al l . But even the best p layers have their b l ind spots as is the case here with

architects and inter ior designers bat t l ing over whether the la t ter should be

licensed. !s *avid 5arnoff observed competition may lead to better

products but it seems to br ing out the worst in people which is cer tainly true

in the competition over licensure.

Inter ior designers argue that their f ie ld deserves l icensure because l ike

architecture it involves people&s health# safety and welfare. Bad interior

design can make it hard for people to find the exits in a fire or harm people

with the outgassing of materials or inhibit their ability to work because of

too much noise or too little privacy. %e all spend most of our lives inside

buildings and so i t seems worthwhi le to ensure the safety of these in ter iors

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by regulat ing those who design them. !r chitects in contrast argue that they

as the designers of the entire building have legal responsibi l i ty for the

interior as well as the exterior and that licensing interior designers will

prevent architects f rom overseeing all aspects of the architecture to ensure

that it works together seamlessly. Because of the complexity of buildings it

a lso seems logical that a single source be responsible for coordinat ing al l

parts .

The game here appears to be (ero$sum7 if one side wins the other

loses. But both architects and interior designers know that almost nothing is

entirely a (ero$sum proposition and the licensure battle proves that. %ith

each side battling the other for so many years in so many states both end up

looking bad. !rchitects seem paranoid about the :real; intentions of interior

designers who in turn seem envious of what architects have while both

appear almost desperate to gain at the expense of the other. !s we know from

the :prisoner&s dilemma; in game theory the two prisoners reali(e after

being tempted to pin the cr ime on their compatr iot that cooperat ing with the

authorities and confessing leads to the best outcome for both. 3thically that

entai ls each set t ing aside the desire to win at the expense of others < and

likely losing as a result < to find a way that all win to some extent witheveryone coming out farther ahead.

!pplied to the l icensure bat t le between architects and inter ior

designers that ethic < at the heart of all design activity < should lead them in

a very different direction than the one they have pursued. Both sides need to

focus on what matters most to the other and then find a solution that

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addresses those concerns as much as possible with the fewest d isadvantages

to each. =aybe the best way to do this involves the turning it into a designers

and letting them cooperate in exploring possible alternatives with a national

competi t ion to recogni(e and implement the best ideas. *esign becomes most

valuable when finding win$win solutions to seemingly no$win situations like

this and we would go a long way toward demonstrating the value of what we

do by showing how well our process works when applied to ourselves.

5ituation7

!n architect commissioned to design a church was the last of three

firms to interview for the project. *uring the interview the church committee

asked the architect some uestions based on what her competitors interviewed

just before her had said about her f i rm and i ts work and about the low fee

that they thought any firm winning the commission should charge. 5he

corrected the misperception of her f i rm and also to ld the cl ient that such a

low fee would make i t impossible for any architect to do a credible job al l

the while wondering why the other architects had such things in an interview.

%ords can guide us in some of the most troubling ethical dilemmas.

:Betrayal; is one such word. It has a lot of synonyms some involving the

betrayal of a rela tionship ,disloyalty unfaithfulness inf idel ity- and some the

betrayal of t rust , t reachery duplici ty perf idy- and some the betraya l of t ruth

,dishonesty deception deceit- . The sheer number of words we use to describe

betrayal seems to show how often it happens and in how many different ways

people can disappoint undermine fool or backstab each other. These aspects

of human behavior that most embarrass us often accrue the greatest number of

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words or euphemisms as if we use language as some sort of salve to lessen

the pain that we bring on ourselves.

0eligion helps us deal with betrayal which makes the case described

here all the more troubling. )ot only did this architect&s competitors ,and

colleagues- appear to undermine her through what they said about her but the

client < a church < repeated the falsehood and at least appeared to believe it .

!s so of ten happens in human affairs those ual i t ies of character that we

most fear in others sometimes reveal those that we most fear in ourselves.

Betrayal may be one of the most dreaded acts but if our language is any

guide i t is a lso one of the dreads most of ten acted out .

%hile it might not have been obvious to this architect confronted in

the interview with her peers& underhanded statements betrayal is not always

what it seems at first. !s the novelist Koseph "onrad observed when people

betray others they actual ly themselves. The f irm that undermined their

competitor in front of a potential client could not have done a better job7 they

betrayed the ir lack of decency and integr i ty and lack of professionalism and

collegiality reinforcing the rightness of the client&s decision not to hire them.

! t the same t ime the architect who was betrayed by being honest in

her response to the client&s challenge by refusing to undermine her

colleagues in return and by remaining true to what it means to be a

professional when others have forgotten how did much to secure the

commission. 5he revealed to the client what kind of person she was when

treated unfairly demonstrating a strength of character that no doubt serves

her well in the sometimes unseemly world of construction.

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The client betrayed something else. In conveying to the architect what

the other f i rms had said the in terviewers revealed their own insecuri ty and

inexperience in such matters. %hile they did not initiate the falsehood they

communicated it and kept it going without thinking that what one competitor

says about another might not be fair or even true. If the competing firm in an

act of treachery and duplicity knowingly betrayed her the client

unknowingly betrayed her by believing < or at least pretending to believe ilber t 0yl e argued that when we make up terms to descr ibe

some phenomena ewe do not understand it can lead us to believe that

because we now have a word for it what may be nothing ac tual ly exists . Tha t

we have a word like :ghost; does not mean ghosts exist. But such ghost

words do remain a useful reminder that we do not and may never understand

aspects of our experience. Better to admit the existence of what we cannot

explain than to be haunted by the specter of overconfidence.

5ituation7

!n intern hears about a website that contains the uestions on the

licensing exam posted by people who have already taken the electronic test. . .

she knows that she could look at the website knowing and that some of her

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friends in the same situation have already perused the site giving them an

advantage. !t the same time she knows from her years of education and her

upbringing that cheating on examinations is wrong and ultimately self$

defeat ing.

"heating remains among the most obvious ethical violations. %hether

it involves peeking over the shoulder of a classmate during a test or

plagiar i( ing text f rom a websi te cheating has long been prohibited in schools

and a cause for a fa i l ing grade if caught . This stems from the fact that

cheaters mainly cheat themselves by not taking the t ime to learn the mater ial

and by thinking that they can get ahead without putting in the re uired effort.

The world does not work that way. In the end it rewards those who have

expertise and the experience that comes with hard work while eventually

weeding out the cheaters and frauds.

%ithout the close attention the academy pays to cheating and with

greater potential for cheating that the availability and anonymity of the

internet provides those preparing to take licensing exams have a greater

degree of freedom than ever before. %e all now have access via the web to

amounts and types of information never before possible which threatens the

discipl ines that professions help oversee as well as the very idea of

discipline itself . =ichael 1oucault&s ethics offers some useful insight here.

1oucault showed how subjectivity had arisen in concert with the

disciplinary structures of modern culture < our schools governments and

professions < and how those same structures punished those who did not f it or

who consciously rebelled against the individualism and the state. To liberate

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ourselves f rom what each of us has become in what 1oucault character i(ed as

our highly disciplined moralistic modern era he urged us to embrace what

we cal led the : aesthet ics of existence ; in which each of us continually

reimagines ourselves and our conception of a good life. !rchitects constantly

conceive of new ways to live and new forms of a good life through the

environments we create. !s the philosopher Timothy +&2eary has argued

1oucault saw : the ar t of e thics; as a creat ive act ivi ty open to possibi l i t ies

and open to all simply by our being alive.

1oucault&s ethics seems particularly pertinent to architects who give

form to l i fe in everything we design and also especial ly i ronic since our

field the very subjectivity and discipline that 1oucault saw as a barrier to our

and discipline that 1oucault saw as a barrier to our creating our own

conception of a good l i fe . Thus the architectural f ie ld recogni(es and awards

highly individualistic :star; designers whose young admirers often imitate

the form of their work with l i t t le cr i t ical examination of the l i fe implici t in

their architecture. !t the same t ime the f ie ld enforces the codes information

and re uirements necessary to pract ice as an architect l icensing those who

can demonstrate a command of that knowledge with little credence given to

those who uestion the assumptions that led to those regulations in the first place.

That brings us back to the uestion of cheating on a licensing exam.

%hether by sharing uestions on the internet after taking the test or by

studying them online before doing so such cheating is wrong because the

only person we cheat is our ourselves and the only existence we shorthchange

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is our own. !lso the organi(ation responsible for preparing the licensing

exam must now spend a lot of money to create new uestions showing how

we all pay for the dishonesty of a few through higher costs and potentially

higher fees to cover replacing the test .

But we pay an ethical as well as a f inancial pr ice for th is . I f each of us

has the opportunity to construct a meaningful life for ourselves to create our

own aesthet ics of existence as 1oucault said based on what we see as a good

life then cheating signals our failure to do so. It is not just that we deceive

those grading the exam as to how much we know but also < and more

importantly < that we deceive ourselves as to who we are and what we are

doing. The punishment for such cheating may not be externally enforced as

often happens in school but it will be personal and existential something

none of the cheaters can ever escape or excuse. ! t the same t ime cheating on

an architectural l icensing exam misses the point of being a l icensed architect .

! rchitects do not just make ar tful objects but as 1oucault reminds us we

also play a role helping others see their lives aesthetically as works of art

capable of ama(ing beauty and imagination. )one of us architects included

can cheat our way there.

LI*% &* AN A"#HI$%#$

I t takes a lo t of commitment and desire to become an architect . )obody

becomes an architec t because they think it sounds cool or they l ike to draw.

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There is a lot more to it and I think it needs to be a calling for you to even

think you will experience any measurable success. *o you think you have

what i t takes to be an architect '

!s a practicing architect. not everything I do is big picture design.

1rom the overall time I spend working in the office very little is < but good

architecture isn&t always about the big killer idea. I consider coordinating a

project and the detai ls of the construct ion of tha t project in tegral to a

successful design.

I am living proof that you don&t have to draw well to be an architect.

4aving the ability to draw beautiful pictures doesn&t hurt but let&s pull the

curtain back and be honest here for a minute H !rchitects communicate

through their drawings < we aren&t making art. !s architect 2ou 8ahn once

famously said :!n ar t ist can make a car t with s uare wheels but an architect

can&t.;

! rchitects can make a great l iv ing but there is balance between money

and happiness that must be found. This post contains a snapshot of some of

the best p laces to work and what areas pay the highest salary for architects .

Before anybody start whining and moaning about how architects are

underpaid let me tell you know that I don&t want to hear it . Teachers are

underpaid.

There is a reality check coming for most graduating architecture

students. Pract icing architecture for MM.MN of the architects out there means

something other than designing < at least what you might typically think

design real ly means. The pract ice of architecture is more than sketching on

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trace paper parti diagrams deciding what pens to draw with groupies and

last$minute trips to 6egas with the client. I t means solving problems