Architecture, ultimately, is the cultural expression of space. It is first and foremost a service of understanding and compassionately responding to the spatial necessities of an individual or group of individuals. It is a practice upon which our responsibility relies in part on the understanding of these necessities and on another part the outputting of a correspondent spatial manifestation as a response.
Too many architects deliberately muddy these concepts and definitions to the detriment of the profession just to ultimately convey personal or collective expressions of art.
As a result (and thanks to the increasingly complexifying building industry), architects tend to arrogantly assert their position as merely cynical creators, on the sidelines, away from builders, engineers and the general public.
This personal assertiveness on the basis of murky and befuddled concepts has an immense rippling effect on the publics’ general perception of architects: No one knows why to hire one.
This means that in an ever-changing and complexifying world architects should not refrain from connecting with the general public as often as we can as well as clearly explaining our added value: As being the people’s voice in manifesting space.