What Kind of Architect Are You - by Udo Greinacher (Paperback)

About the Book

"Architecture is commonplace. We inhabit it and use it; it is constantly present; it serves as foreground and background and usually has a story to tell. Numerous volumes are developed to its typology, history, construction, and design. But apart from its most illustrious makers, we know almost nothing about the people who conceived it: the architects. What Kind of Architect Are You?, the question most architects encounter when they reveal their profession, is difficult to answer. Is the underlying expectation that we specialize in a type - office buildings, for example, or parking garages? Or that we limit ourselves to a specific market share - commercial, residential, or communal? Maybe it is our role in the design process that is of interest - procurement, design, detailing, construction supervision, and post occupancy evaluation? Aspects of all of the above define all of us, and not at all. Clearly, a short succinct answer does not suffice."--Preface.

Book Synopsis

Architecture is commonplace. We inhabit it and use it; it is constantly present; it serves as foreground and background and usually has a story to tell. But apart from its most illustrious makers, we know almost nothing about the people who conceived it: the architects.

What Kind of Architect Are You? offers a glimpse into a vast array of professional possibilities and points out meaningful alternatives to the prevailing myth of the "starchitect." It provides those in search of an architect with insights into how we work and helps them to formulate expectations. It challenges practitioners to think introspectively and examine how they fit into the architectural spectrum. And finally, the collection documents the cross-section of cultural and architectural practice across America.