How much of the built environment is designed by architects? What percentage of annual construction spending goes to architect-designed projects? Are there any sources for current data or historical information?
the issue, of course, would be that you don't know the architects' involvement. i know that there are a lot of premanufactured buildings that are for commercial use and still require an architects' stamp.
there are architects who 'design' with their stamp, unfortunately. (i'm sure they at least check the drawings.)
i remember of reading a statistic that only 5% of new residential construction designed by architects. i think it was an aia document. but i don't really know how numbers work when a development co. builds 2000 homes in a subdivision with a,b,c,d models?
of course percentage is much bigger, when it comes to commercial construction but commercial construction is only 15% of construction.
By the way, the built environment includes rights-of-way and infrastructure, too. Some will have had an architect's hand in it, but not much overall, I'd wager.
This is a really interesting question - legalities and the stamp aside, how much of the built environment is, like, intentional? And how much just an accident of circumstances?
My attitude has always been that publicly-funded infrastructure that leaves large blank swaths of unintentional wall (think highway overpasses, retaining walls, etc) is totally fair game for graffiti. If some surface is intentionally addressed, then graffiti isn't allowed.
It's a fuzzy, fuzzy line, I know, but if a surface is neglected by the designer (assuming there is one), leftover as an accident of circumstances, we should be grateful that someone else chose to address it.
Which could be said of leftover spaces, as well - like the inside of highway cloverleafs. I think there have been some proposals for those leftover spaces, right?
Ive always been told that roughly 10% of the built environment is designed by Architects, at least that is the % given to me by a few different professors, and all at different schools actually.
There are many beautiful cities and organized environments that aren't designed by architects that are unpretentious, pure. Not as much in the US. This country typically feels that environments have to be designed as opposed to natural evolution and mutation.
I agree with olivsoph's comment that "There are many beautiful cities and organized environments that aren't designed by architects that are unpretentious, pure." There is alot of the built environment that is undesigned, that is beautiful, that is ugly and interesting...
But of the things that are designed in our built environment, most of it is not high profile or glamorous, it is the stuff of everyday architecture... True these things are just not always designed by architects, but they are still the realm of architecture. Are we limiting ourselves and the scope of our profession because our eyes are only focused on certain things, certain eye of projects, and not on others? Our we too insulated, not diverse enough or cross disciplinary enough? Think of all the people you hang out with, what they do... I'm willing to bet that so many of us are friends with other architects, but what proportion of your friends are civil engineers, or developers, or contractors, or landscape architects, or urban planners, or interior designers, or lighting designers, or factories, or environmental graphics designers, or structural engineers, or mechanical and electrical engineers, or industrial designers, or advertising professionals, or business managers? Is architecture too cliquey, is our profession sometimes a victim of it's own snobbery and elitism?
Also, there is a false perception in our profession that anything that may be designed *poorly* by architects is not *real architecture*. But the exact opposite is true. Alot of what we focus on in magazines and publications, and in discussions is less real because it is not something that people occupy in everyday life. Whenever architects talk about what's designed by an architect, the examples they give tend to be he work of a small elite group of starchitects, tending towards smaller boutique firms, and most of the talk, in magazines and in forums is not really critical of average projects, instead it is mostly massaging the backs of certain architects or vehemently trashing certain high profile projects, while the majority of projects in our built environment are not held to a very high standard, in architectural press or in our schools...
I'd be interested to read an architectural publication that is about the everyday thing... An architecture magazine that has a KFC store on cover and some kind of insightful and critical article about the design of KFC stores... Am I crazy? To sometimes be less interested in the beautiful thing and curious about the ugly thing? Who did that thing? I'm really interested to know the name and life story of the builder who is not an architect who maybe designed a building down the street, or the person who came up with the designer who came up with the prolific (good or bad) KFC or McDonalds restaurant design, what were they thinking, and what's their name? How has that fast food thing that's been cut and pasted all over our country's landscape been successful, and who the heck came up with the idea of sticking a childrens playground in a McDonalds chain...?
Who were the designers, politicians, urban planners, engineers or architects who who were responsible for the concept and design of the Big Dig in Boston? What are their names, and seeing as it's such a huge project that influences the structure of a city, why is it less talked about in architectural press than any number of private homes of rich clients who hired starchitects to design them? There are alot of really great stories I think that are missing from our press... Just as our television media spends so much time and energy analyzing and fawning on every word of our political candidates, while the fascinating stories of some no name citizen or everyday people's lives are ignored...
Are architects out of touch with the *real* built environment? Only in touch with the 10% which architects actually are in charge of, or the 2% that gets any coverage in architectural publications and history books? Where's the architectural history of the Safeway or Denny's?
How much of the built environment is designed by architects?
How much of the built environment is designed by architects? What percentage of annual construction spending goes to architect-designed projects? Are there any sources for current data or historical information?
i'd call builders exchange, mcgraw-hill, reed construction data, or a similar organization. i'm sure they've got it figured out.
the issue, of course, would be that you don't know the architects' involvement. i know that there are a lot of premanufactured buildings that are for commercial use and still require an architects' stamp.
there are architects who 'design' with their stamp, unfortunately. (i'm sure they at least check the drawings.)
2% is my $.02
i think a better question would be, how much of he unbuilt environment is destroyed by architects?
i remember of reading a statistic that only 5% of new residential construction designed by architects. i think it was an aia document. but i don't really know how numbers work when a development co. builds 2000 homes in a subdivision with a,b,c,d models?
of course percentage is much bigger, when it comes to commercial construction but commercial construction is only 15% of construction.
Ah, puddles - always here to keep us honest. <3
I think an even better question is: how much of the built environment is destroyed by architects?
I like--love--my profession, but the assumption that all those with a sheepskin and a license only improve things is false. If only that were true....
By the way, the built environment includes rights-of-way and infrastructure, too. Some will have had an architect's hand in it, but not much overall, I'd wager.
So the percentage quickly decreases even further.
What percentage of high-end footwear is designed by Architects?
i'm trying to do it all.... holler... i get my stamps at the post office.....yessir
This is a really interesting question - legalities and the stamp aside, how much of the built environment is, like, intentional? And how much just an accident of circumstances?
My attitude has always been that publicly-funded infrastructure that leaves large blank swaths of unintentional wall (think highway overpasses, retaining walls, etc) is totally fair game for graffiti. If some surface is intentionally addressed, then graffiti isn't allowed.
It's a fuzzy, fuzzy line, I know, but if a surface is neglected by the designer (assuming there is one), leftover as an accident of circumstances, we should be grateful that someone else chose to address it.
Which could be said of leftover spaces, as well - like the inside of highway cloverleafs. I think there have been some proposals for those leftover spaces, right?
Ive always been told that roughly 10% of the built environment is designed by Architects, at least that is the % given to me by a few different professors, and all at different schools actually.
There are many beautiful cities and organized environments that aren't designed by architects that are unpretentious, pure. Not as much in the US. This country typically feels that environments have to be designed as opposed to natural evolution and mutation.
On a city scale, only systemic planning is designed. The rest is anarchy within the said system.
IMHO
I agree with olivsoph's comment that "There are many beautiful cities and organized environments that aren't designed by architects that are unpretentious, pure." There is alot of the built environment that is undesigned, that is beautiful, that is ugly and interesting...
But of the things that are designed in our built environment, most of it is not high profile or glamorous, it is the stuff of everyday architecture... True these things are just not always designed by architects, but they are still the realm of architecture. Are we limiting ourselves and the scope of our profession because our eyes are only focused on certain things, certain eye of projects, and not on others? Our we too insulated, not diverse enough or cross disciplinary enough? Think of all the people you hang out with, what they do... I'm willing to bet that so many of us are friends with other architects, but what proportion of your friends are civil engineers, or developers, or contractors, or landscape architects, or urban planners, or interior designers, or lighting designers, or factories, or environmental graphics designers, or structural engineers, or mechanical and electrical engineers, or industrial designers, or advertising professionals, or business managers? Is architecture too cliquey, is our profession sometimes a victim of it's own snobbery and elitism?
Also, there is a false perception in our profession that anything that may be designed *poorly* by architects is not *real architecture*. But the exact opposite is true. Alot of what we focus on in magazines and publications, and in discussions is less real because it is not something that people occupy in everyday life. Whenever architects talk about what's designed by an architect, the examples they give tend to be he work of a small elite group of starchitects, tending towards smaller boutique firms, and most of the talk, in magazines and in forums is not really critical of average projects, instead it is mostly massaging the backs of certain architects or vehemently trashing certain high profile projects, while the majority of projects in our built environment are not held to a very high standard, in architectural press or in our schools...
I'd be interested to read an architectural publication that is about the everyday thing... An architecture magazine that has a KFC store on cover and some kind of insightful and critical article about the design of KFC stores... Am I crazy? To sometimes be less interested in the beautiful thing and curious about the ugly thing? Who did that thing? I'm really interested to know the name and life story of the builder who is not an architect who maybe designed a building down the street, or the person who came up with the designer who came up with the prolific (good or bad) KFC or McDonalds restaurant design, what were they thinking, and what's their name? How has that fast food thing that's been cut and pasted all over our country's landscape been successful, and who the heck came up with the idea of sticking a childrens playground in a McDonalds chain...?
Who were the designers, politicians, urban planners, engineers or architects who who were responsible for the concept and design of the Big Dig in Boston? What are their names, and seeing as it's such a huge project that influences the structure of a city, why is it less talked about in architectural press than any number of private homes of rich clients who hired starchitects to design them? There are alot of really great stories I think that are missing from our press... Just as our television media spends so much time and energy analyzing and fawning on every word of our political candidates, while the fascinating stories of some no name citizen or everyday people's lives are ignored...
Are architects out of touch with the *real* built environment? Only in touch with the 10% which architects actually are in charge of, or the 2% that gets any coverage in architectural publications and history books? Where's the architectural history of the Safeway or Denny's?
<end rant>
5%, but you take the blame for the rest of the 95%.
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