CITIZEN ARCHITECT: #ARCHITALKS

Time for another installment of Architalks – a monthly series of blog posts by architects about random topics that may or may not have anything to do with architecture. But it’s good fun and you never know what you’re going to get. This month we’re all discussing the Citizen Architect and what that means on a personal and corporate level. Here we go.

For years I’ve talked about the responsibility of The Architect to be involved in the community at all levels, from planning and zoning to church and community outreach to charity and even just being a good neighbor. But what does it look like? What it looks like is simple – give of your time freely and joyfully as often as you can.

I am the Den Leader for my son’s Cub Scout troop and recently I was asked to give a tour to a group of Weblos Scouts from our troop at one of my projects. They are working on their engineering badge which requires them to tour a construction site and interview either an architect or engineer and ask some specific questions. This was a sacrifice for me as it was yet another night out, but it was also an opportunity to talk about what I do as an architect to a group of 10 year olds and their parents. I was also able to bring my own little ones along and they could also see a little of what I do each day. This was going to be a long post about civic duty and all that crap. But instead I thought I’d just show some photos of me showing a group of kids how the paper drawings of a remodel relate to the demolition mess around them. So, here’s a few shots taken by the Weblos den leader.

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For more on this topic check out what these other architects have to say:

 

Bob Borson – Life of An Architect (@bobborson)
Citizen Architect … Seems Redundant

Lee Calisti, AIA – Think Architect (@LeeCalisti)
small town citizen architect

Lora Teagarden – L² Design, LLC (@L2DesignLLC)
#ArchiTalks: The everyday citizen architect

Jes Stafford – Modus Operandi Design (@modarchitect)
Architect as Citizen

Eric T. Faulkner – Rock Talk (@wishingrockhome)
My Hero – Citizen Architect

Rosa Sheng – Equity by Design (@EquityxDesign)
We are the Champions – Citizen Architects

Stephen Ramos – BUILDINGS ARE COOL (@sramos_BAC)
Help with South Carolina’s Recovery Efforts

brady ernst – Soapbox Architect (@bradyernstAIA)
Senior Citizen, Architect

Tara Imani – Tara Imani Designs, LLC (@Parthenon1)
Citizen Starchitect’ is not an Oxymoron

Emily Grandstaff-Rice – Emily Grandstaff-Rice AIA (@egraia)
Citizen of Architecture

Daniel Beck – The Architect’s Checklist (@archchecklist)
Protecting the Client – 3 Ways to be a Citizen Architect

Jarod Hall – di’velept (@divelept)
Citizen Developer??

Greg Croft – Sage Leaf Group (@croft_gregory)
Citizen Architect

Jeffrey A Pelletier – Board & Vellum (@boardandvellum)
How Architects Can Be Model Citizens

Lisa Saldivar