Jon,
You might not be so cavalier as regards responsibility for outcomes if the architect/client relationship were in fact that of doctor/patient. It is the patient's body, but we tend to expect the sick to get well by following the doctors advice and direction. The body certainly belongs to the living patient, but most of us agree that only a fool has herself for a doctor. Still, I tend to agree; the client's
sense of ownership of home is more important than the
designer's creation.
The same argument does not apply, in my view, to the architecture of buildings. The community shares in architecture, so it is always a stakeholder and background "client" for us. We leave buildings standing around for a long time, so it is much better to leave successes than failures, and the architect is still the best arbiter of design. Style may be a matter of local context and owner taste, but good architectural design is, in any context, the province and responsibility of the architect.
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Gary Collins AIA
Principal
Gary R. Collins, AIA
Jacksonville OR
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