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Professional Practice

Should there be a regulation on the number of COA licenses oered to

graduates in this country?

 Thinking very logically about the question, there must eist a number of o!timal

architects "ith relation to the !o!ulation of the area in "hich they are licensed to

!ractice# The fact also eists that everyone is entitled to an education, and

technically, entitled to do this course if they "ish to# $o"ever, they may not be

looking to !ractice it for a living# This is !erfectly acce!table# $o"ever, it is the

shar! rise in numbers of graduates in recent years "hich begs the question

because "e may have the !otential to sto! it before it hurts the !rofession# A

!rofession is distinguished by the quality of its !ractitioners# %t is our record ofcontribution to society that makes our !rofession !rofoundly im!ortant#

Professor Charles &enninger feels strongly about this issue# To quote him, '##"ithin

(ve years "e sitting here "ill all belong to a small minority of architects in a sea of

screaming and yelling, uneducated and illiterate, yet quali(ed architects# They "ill

sim!ly use their democratic ma)ority to !ush all that "e believe in aside*

At %nde!endence there "as only ++, and a night school in elhi- "hen % arrived in

%ndia t"o decades later in the ./012s, as a 3ulbright 3ello" at C4PT, there "ere

only nine schools of architecture- today there are more than three hundred and

t"enty5(ve schools and their number is gro"ing* There is a true gharana of

architecture in action here, like a nuclear ball of (re gro"ing larger and larger, as it

e!ands out"ards, ever further67

8e are inducting an army of very young, ill5equi!!ed teachers# 9e" teachers are

barely out of college, "ith little kno"ledge of "hat 'a !ractice7 is, "ith no site

e!erience, and no clue of the various contractual, technical, legal and ethical

issues that !rofessionals handle# 8ould "e have such !eo!le teach medicine, or

trust them as our doctors? 8e believe that architecture as a disci!line and

!rofession should be taken )ust as seriously as medicine#

Today, we have 423 colleges of architecture listed under the COA with over 28487

students currently pursuing the course. Copared to the roughly !"""" architects

listed under the COA this nu#er is alaring. $e %now that the COA onitors and

accredits institutions #ut is this chec%list entality e&ective or even credi#le'

Coupled with personal e(periences while wor%ing with students across other

architecture schools, we have coe to reali)e that there e(ists a sharp disparity in

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the level our wor%. This cannot #e #ecause of lac% of infrastructure. *oe of these

students pay la%hs of rupees for a year or even a seester+s worth of tuition. Their 

studios are euipped with the latest coputers and top of the line printers. $hat

then sees to #e the pro#le. $e reali)e of course that we are not uali-ed to

 udge anyone, after all, we also happen to #e students. /owever, we #ear a

responsi#ility towards our profession and share it with other practitioners. 0n the

highly capitalistic conte(t of today+s #uilt environent , the last thing that we need

is another irresponsi#le oney hungry uali-ed architect who can potentially do

in-nitely ore har than good if given the opportunity.

*oe architects and acadeicians #elieve that an architect should #e considered

a technologist rather than an artist. Of course there are the singular great

geniuses of every generation #ut for the everyday and the undane, we also

reuire good professionals who can get the o# done siply, e1ciently and uic%ly.

$hat we do in our studios is la#oratory wor% analy)ing rational functions and

logical interconnections studying easura#le site and cliatic conditions stating

 pro#les clearly and a%ing hypothesis of possi#le options to resolve those

 pro#les de-ning perforance criterion and evaluating which design option #est

 provides the answers to uestions posed #y the client. $e study engineered

aterials and structural systes that support and span a variety of spaces. $e

analy)e enclosing envelopes, applying systes analysis, to select the #est -t5

after siulating hundreds of coponents, eleents and parts6

oes our education really prepare us for this %ind of scienti-c analysis'5 

Once again, quoting &enninger, '6"e have !ro)ected architecture as an artistic

act of creation, rather than an act !romoting the useful arts, through rational

!rocedures and scienti(c methods#

8e have seen 'institution building7 in terms of individuals and star !erformers,

rather than as creating !rograms, !rocedures and systems# 8e have neglected the

team nature of our em!irical !rocesses and the im!ortance of managing them# Our

failure in this area has o!ened the door to large contractors and !ro)ect

management consultants )um!ing into our !rofessional )ob a!!lying only cost

cutting, schedule cutting and '!leasing the client7 as their values* 8e must be

leaders in making architecture a holistic, scienti(c !rofession#

 Today "e stand at a critical !oint in the evolution of architectural education in

%ndia# %t is critical because a "eak system of teaching is e!loding into a

gargantuan incom!etent, commercial !roduction system that "ill !roduce an army

of unem!loyable mis(ts# Today is critical because the challenge of urbani:ation is

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the duty of our !rofession to resolve- yet beyond the reach of the skills, kno"ledge

and sensitivities "e teach67

8e, as students and to #e architects, must have an o!inion on the matter# Our

community that is a hundred thousand strong is soon set to double and the eect

that this gro"th "ill have, only time can tell for certain#

Arka#; heera)#A Pradee!an#S Suram#$