The Architect Chapters In The History Of The Profession

The Architect traces the role of the profession across the centuries and in different cultures, showing the architect both as designer and as mediator between the client and the builder.

How did architects get to be architects in any given period in history? How were they trained? How did they find their clients and communicate with them? What did society think of them?. Spiro Kostof's The Architect, a collection of essays by historians and architects, explores these and other intriguing questions about the profession of architecture. The first book in more than fifty years to survey the profession from its beginnings in ancient Egypt to the modern day, it is the most complete synthesis to date of our knowledge of how the architect's profession developed. Included are a major study of the Beaux-Arts, a vivid memoir by the distinguished architect Josephy Esherick, and an excellent chapter on women which demostrates how the ethic of professionalism has contributed to the exploitation of women in this as in many other professions. The Architect places the current dilemma about the architect's role in society in historical perspective and offers a good overview of the development of one of the world's oldest professions.

This book discusses the effects of Neo-Liberal policies on the transformations of architectural and urban practices and education in the transition from the era of “professionalism” to “post-professionalism.” Building on previous literature in the field of contemporary theory of architecture, it provides the necessary resources for the study of contemporary architecture and urban politics, urban sociology, local administration and urban geography. Further, it develops a political and critical perspective on contemporary practices of architecture and urbanism, their implementation, legal background, political effects and social results. The book will interest readers from a wide range of academic disciplines, from political science to architecture, and from urban studies to sociology.

While this book begins with the analysis of engineering as a profession, it concentrates on a question that the last two decades seem to have made critical: Is engineering one global profession (like medicine) or many national or regional professions (like law)? While science and technology studies (STS) have increasingly taken an “empirical turn”, much of STS research is unclear enough about the professional responsibility of engineers that STS still tends to avoid the subject, leaving engineering ethics without the empirical research needed to teach it as a global profession. The philosophy of technology has tended to do the same. This book’s intervention is to improve the way STS, as well as the philosophy of technology, approaches the study of engineering. This is work in the philosophy of engineering and the attempt to understand engineering as a reasonable undertaking.

Assembling the Architect explores the origins and history of architectural practice. It unravels the competing interests that historically have structured the field and cultivates a deeper understanding of the contemporary profession. Focusing on the period 1870 to 1920 when the foundations were being laid for the U.S. architectural profession that we recognize today, this study traces the formation and standardization of the fundamental relationships among architects, owners, and builders, as codified in the American Institute of Architects' very first Handbook of Architectural Practice. It reveals how these archetypal roles have always been fluid, each successfully redefining their own agency with respect to the others in the constantly-shifting political economy of building. Far from being a purely historical study, the book also sheds light on today's digitally-enabled profession. Contemporary architectural tools and disciplinary ideals continue to be shaped by the same fundamental tensions, and emergent modes of practice such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) and IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) represent the realization of programs and agendas that have been over a century in play. Essential reading for professional practice courses as a contextual and historical companion to the Handbook, Assembling the Architect provides a critical perspective of the profession that is fundamental to understanding current architectural practice.

Historically, the contributions of women architects to their profession have been minimized or overlooked. 'Designing Women' explores the tension that has existed between the architectural profession and its women members. It demonstrates the influence that these women have had on architecture in Canada, and links their so-called marginalization to the profession's restrictive and sometimes discriminatory practices. Co-written by an architectural historian and a sociologist, this book provides a welcome blend of disciplinary approaches. The product of much original research, it looks at issues that are specific to architecture in Canada and at the same time characteristic of many male-dominated workplaces. Annmarie Adams and Peta Tancred examine the issue of gender and its relation to the larger dynamics of status and power. They argue that many women architects have reacted with ingenuity to the difficulties they have faced, making major innovations in practice and design. Branching out into a wide range of alternative fields, these women have extended and developed what are considered to be the core specializations within architecture. As the authors point out, while the profession designs women's place within it, women design buildings and careers that transcend that narrow professional definition.

Whereas science, technology, and medicine have all called forth dedicated philosophical investigations, a fourth major contributor to the technoscientific world in which we all live - that is, engineering - has been accorded almost none of the philosophical attention it deserves. This volume thus offers a first characterisation of this important new field, by some of the primary philosophers and ethicists interested in engineering and leading engineers interested in philosophical reflections. The volume deals with such questions as: What is engineering? In what respect does engineering differ from science? What ethical problems does engineering raise? By what ethical principles are engineers guided? How do engineers themselves conceive of their profession? What do they see as the main philosophical challenges confronting them in the 21st century? The authors respond to these and other questions from philosophical and engineering view points and so illustrate how together they can meet the challenges and realize the opportunities present in the necessary encounters between philosophy and engineering - encounters that are ever more important in an increasingly engineered world and its problematic futures.