by Carl Lubawy, AIA 2010 Chapter President
It’s April and I’m writing my second President’s Message to the Chapter. For those that don’t remember, my first message announced the launching of our new web site. Have you seen it? We can all admit that it’s a vast improvement over our previous site and I send kudos to the web-site creators instrumental in making it happen!
Writing this second message though has been a challenge. How many of you have gone into a meeting with a clear agenda and have had someone take the topic to some distant land? How many of you then re-focused the group only to have a cell phone interrupt? How many feel architects herd cats? In our careers, we’ve all been there done that, and thus lies the reason for the delay between messages. With the current state of affairs, I’m often distracted by things that shouldn’t be a distraction at all.
I’ve been thinking of the how, what, and why of architecture and where our profession is headed and have finally come to the same realization that has always been forefront to architects: Architects have the knowledge base to bring everyone to the table and put the puzzle together.
Our profession knows that the best way to head off distractions has always been achieved by taking control before the distraction becomes real. It’s a simple solution and that’s my message. We need to keep focus on our abilities to collaborate and challenge solutions so as to preserve the merits of our profession. We need to take back control of what we do best.
In my installation speech, I referenced awareness about colleagues losing their job or changing professions and how disheartening it becomes being among many architects struggling. I also referenced that our profession still recognizes we are needed; we make a difference; and with any hardship tossed our way, we are resilient. We cannot afford to forget what we, as architects, can do best – bring people together with a creative solution. This is a sustainable virtue of our profession. This is really what our clients expect. We know how to orchestrate collaboration and solve the challenges we face. We, as AIA members, have a bond to our profession and that bond is the crux to how we bring value to our work, our clients, and in return how our work, our clients, value our services.
In any organization, it is the members that form the organization and represent the organization. Each organization gains credence through its members practicing within their communities, cities and counties, working with those same entities that can be a distraction to the discussion at hand. Yet it is these meetings that promote and exhibit what value our services bring and how architects are viewed. It is those meetings that set the stage for the organization. National cannot represent us if we do not represent ourselves first. If we wait for those in Washington to resurrect our profession, we are looking in the wrong direction.
The AIA has assembled us for a meeting, and in these economic times the outcome is critical to our practice. AIA National, California Council, and our Central Valley have convened. With this meeting there comes a chance to better our profession, rise from the ashes and once again declare design matters! Or there’s a chance that we continue to lose ground as we already have to a certain degree due to the evolution of architects not taking responsibility for their profession. Let’s don’t point the finger at the organization; let’s look into a mirror and then point. You’re the architect, you set the stage. Don’t let distractions take away from your profession.
Carl hits on a very important point and it is that we can control our destiny if we believe in our core values as professionals and that our work can make things happen. In good times work lands on our doorstep and we are loath to change our business models or our model in how we participate in community; both the community of our profession and the community of people we serve. But things have changed and the safety net is no longer there
I have become very invigorated (although that seems rather a perverse reaction) by the downturns/recession/depression. I have seen it as a way to reconnect to other professionals of many different areas, a way to find time to commit to volunteer work, and a way to participate in real community based dialog. In many ways I feel more like an architect now than I did three years ago when I was focused on making the firm bigger.
This economic situation has given me time to reflect and reaffirm what it is I want to do with my life and it always comes back to architecture.
So back to what Carl suggest, that we are uniquely wired and talented to make things happen because we find order in chaos, we bring people together and have the creative mind set to make things happen… and that makes us leaders.