If “Architect?” is the question, Architect? May well hold the answer. It takes a hard look at the education of an architect, covering such topics as curriculum content, work load shock, “pencilphobia,” and the prevailing 'isms and 'ologies. It describes how an architect works and gets work, and introduces some typical personalities found in the field.
Architect? Stakes out the pros and cons of becoming an architect. It notes the benefits of the profession – the chance to improve the environment, the potential for notoriety, the chance to express oneself creatively, and the challenge posed by each new design problem. And it tells the other side of the story – the lack of steady work and appropriate compensation, the intensity of competition, the restrictions imposed by clients, and the high degree of anxiety and disillusionment among young architects. According to Richard McCommons, Executive Director of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, it is”... the most honest and balanced description available of what it's like to be an architect.”
