The acknowledged grandaddy master of all architects is Frank Llyod Wright. Mr. Wright was never formally trained for that profession. He grew up in construction and found work with one of the best architects of his day: Luis Sullivan. Between 1946 and 1959, eighteen societies or schools bestowed citations and honorary degrees upon Frank Llyod Wright. Today, Frank Llyod Wright would not be permitted to call himself an architect without the formal training he lacked. Is this progress? The american architecture review boards will deny it, but their schools have yet to produce a single architect even approaching the caliber of Frank Llyod Wright. Instead, they crank out graduates of whom contractors have a cliche: "Architect school graduates don't know any better than to put a four inch pipe in a five inch wall" (for those of you who are not versed in construction, there is only 3-1/2 inches in there, and the pipe is measured on the inside.) I have worked with several architect-school graduates and have often seen them do far worse, like a spiral staircase, 3-1/2 feet in diameter, as sole access to an upstairs bedroom area (You would be lucky to get an end-table up that, let alone a bed or dresser.), or code-sized parking spaces without room for sufficient turning radius to get in.
Having worked with several experienced architects, I can definately say that they tend to get better with experience, but none has impressed me quite as much with his competence and knowledge as an old Mormon elder named Leon Larsen. Leon claimed credit for designing the first Taco Bell restaurant and said he once went to architectural school. One day, he asked a teacher how to calculate length and angle of cut on a hip ridge. The teacher sat up all night working on it and was very tenative when he gave Leon the solution, so Leon posed the same question to a framing contractor. The contractor had the solution in less than a minute using a framing square. In a few more minutes, he had proven the solution with some scrap blocks. The next day, Leon dropped out of school and went to work for a mason. He qualified as an architect, without that degree, before the laws changed.
This author worked with Leon Larsen on a hospital remodel project. Of all the architects I have worked with, none has impressed me as much with his competence.
I have seen only one architectural creation that I feel approaches the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. That building is the Sydney Opera House, in Sydney Harbor, Austrailia. It was designed by Danish builder, Jørn Utsen.
Schools in Europe fare much better than American schools, producing a better caliber of graduates. There is a very simple reason for this: they generally require that the applicants first master a construction trade, and they are not even picky about which construction trade. What this accomplishes, is that students have an intimacy with the medium, at the start, that is simply not available from textbooks. That intimacy makes possible a security in understanding and action which allows them to listen to customers and contractors alike, without having to be defensive or act like they have swelled egos. In point of fact, most american architect school graduates enter the work-force with a over-blown sense of their own importance, with a superstition that it is their responsibility to TELL the customers what they should live with. Consequently, in 90% of the lawsuits involving architect, contractor and customer, the contractor and customer are teamed up against the architect.
How then, can we say that architectural licensing protects the customers?
