Professional Practice

A Professional Practice

Architecture is the professional practice of building design engaging with social,

political, economical and environmental issues. This practice goes beyond design and

construction, although, that is the ultimate goal. These designs have the ability to

create impacts on people within a large range of scales; these vary from large to small

scales, such as, a single-family home to a large urban development. Each of these

forms could potentially create a positive or negative impact within these areas. A

positive impact would include a hospital in an area of need, a renovation of an old fire

department or strategically placed new housing developments. On the contrary, a

negative impact could be a large skyscraper in a midrise development or a gas station

in a neighborhood.

The professional practice of architecture has always been appealing to me; I

want to create positive impacts on communities and individual lives and for people to

enjoy where they live, directly and indirectly. This goes beyond their four walls, it

extends into their neighbors’ property; how do these two structures share space? This

question leads to the impact on both of the families in these homes. Furthermore, does

the renovation of an old fire department create an impact on the one single person?

Maybe; but probably not. A renovation of such would create impact on a community, if

the response team were able to get their gear and leave that station quicker, it would

create faster response times and making a safer community in general. This is what

architecture is to me; as a community of professionals we should design for the future,

designs that are sustainable are designs that will last, designs that make communities

better and bring positive impacts all over the world. It is a team effort.

This all leads to the role that architecture plays within society, other than the

direct impact that a space creates, architecture also creates housing for...