This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on Design and Small Project Practitioners .
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It was inevitable that our self-empowered generation would look to dispose of the pesky process of actually engaging a trained professional to design a building appropriate to it's use and setting. It's like designing a building on Twitter.
Our only answer may be through lobbying our local municipalities to require an architect's seal on drawings. Yes, we're empowering The Man, and fostering more government regulation on the public. But look at the ever-increasing complexity of building and energy codes, building systems, and environmental factors. How can distant and perhaps undertrained "designers" respond to anything more than the most surficial factors of these ArcBazaar users?
Speak out, in public, to your state code officials and legislators, and to your local building inspectors. Demand competent design and durable construction, provided through properly trained and licensed building professionals. This is not to exclude the young intern or hard-working apprentice, but to assure code compliance to protect the public.
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Robert Sanders AIA
President
Rob Sanders Architects LLC
Wilton CT
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