what i mean is , the opportunistic , 'we are only in it for the money , mediocer' architects , who build cheap halfmodern buildings .
In the west of Holland the situation is like this :
you have a lot Highways , next to it grassland whith cows on it.
in between a lot of ugly half modern cheap factory and officebuidings.
(ofcourse this is simplified , and there are is also very good building as an exception)

Are there serialbuilders among us ?
(not me ,I am not even an architect )

those half modern buildings represent all that is the profession of architecture. You cant have the masterpiece without the piece to compare it to. as reluctant as i was coming out of school to work on mediocre projects it is a process i believe every architect must take part in. high design and theoretical work is great, but that type of work usually doesn't pay all the bills. Everyone must go "slumming" every once in a while. So i say instead of critiquing the lack of vision in these types of buildings and works embrace them for what they are, the objects that make the good look even better.

mcmansions for everynone!

By seral builders are you saying you don't like prototype design? Suburban architecture? Auto centric architecture?

I would hope that all architects are "in it for the money." Of course we all should strive for design excellence, but making the income sound secondary is in my opinion one of the reasons why we are so poorly paid in the first place. Sure, there are unethical architects in this business but before you blame the architect, look to the clients that are paying for these "cheap" buildings.

As for raising the design standards of a community - that responsibility largely falls on the community itself. Planning & zoning as well local codes should raise the standards. Even the cheapest companies like Wal-Mart will comply if they are forced to.

Hi

Reconfigure architecture, deliver the cheap strong houses the new architecture. Restore the drive , show some tallent. One if not the greatest of today's scientists can't move a finger ,is fysical paralysed byt still able to communicate splendid insight --- now can a blind architect make a nicer building , if you think so if you just consider that an option, couldn't you find a better architectural achivement ,to project wheelchair stairs ; isn't the problem in architecture not, that architects seem to forget handicaped users , na we are facing much more ; can a piece of music be made into a structure maby ,still you Romans don't want it ,all you do is complain. No wonder that it don't bring no revolution in architecture. It's just the old rewritten.

There is always the potential to investigate a finite aspect of any project at hand, the crappies cheapest building can be improved, if you are willing to put in the time, the fact is that many typical buildings get crank out because the clients come with the preconceive ideas of what they are getting or want, and most architect will give the client what he or she is asking for- without much investigation. Less scope of work = lower fees = less time to work on the project = get it out the door and get paid!
More sophisticated client will asked more of an architect or go to an architect that is known for more innovated solutions which will cost more money.

No offence to the old ; that can't be blamed being old and without the abilities a digital optunity carry. The new is just better, that's all, no offence towerds the old crampworks. Listen ; your Inch are a prime number, some 24.0456xxx decimals ,ans you claim you are smart.
Someone maby shuld tell the folks that they can produce their own new houses , but it cirtainly are not a matter of design . There are plenty designers out there ,why not solve the conflicts with hope and Trust .
Now in scientific I would have atleast a 16 pct. chance ,just by luck I can be very right , but if you look closer to today's architect application, you would know you could replace 70 pct. of the structure with 3D-H, get a stronger house a cheaper one better one, nicer one replacing the basic 100 pct structure holding the tumbleworks together , this is what you Romans don't want ; freedom I don't get you Romans sometimes you'r too much.

Anyway a piece of advise ; chose the new ,even you don't like it's aperance.

"A" --
I was with you until your last two sentences.

I agree which vinpust about necessity for , at least in the beginning one should have a idealistic and hopefull adventurous honest attitude.
sometimes whith vindpust don't understan half of what he is saying(must be on drugs or something)
I don't agree whith post neocr.
Because I think , if your working in shitprojects you become the shit ,
you cannot be dull in daytime and briljant in your own time , it will corrupt you in the end.
Also how the bloody hell do you can you know if you are good or not.
Looks in these days it is important to convince others of your qualitys , before you even know if you have them in you.
Questioning yourself is in my opinion a lifetime necessity

hard to know if you're "good"... but if you're self-critical in a constructive manner and open to questioning yourself, you're probably well on the road to at the VERY least, not being bad.

all the crap design that comes out usually is probably produced by someone that thinks what they've done is absolutely wonderful.

Rim Joist - I lost you on putting part of the blame on the cities? While I agree that many cities/municipalities can be quite overbearing and essentially try to design the town themselves, they do play an important role.

I'm assuming much of the "serial" building complaints are directed towards retail structures. In my experience with retail clients, they want nothing more than their corporate branding, which usually is disgustingly ugly. The architect has very little power to get that changed. We can add all the natural stone or brick and nice storefront windows, but they want that massive sign stuck on the building. They want that sea of parking out front. They don't want greenscape blocking the view of the building.

Then the P&Z and local codes come to play and reduce many of those horrid design aspects that the retail client wants. Still not perfect, but it's a start and they get much farther than I would as an architect talking about how ugly their corporate logo would look covering 1/2 the front facade.