Cohousing-L Mailing List: Some of us care

[Daniel Martin (dmartin]

In issue #486, Harry Pasternak writes:
>--"Professionals" are a myth--an expensive myth."
>"I am asking for architects who actually  understand the dynamics of
>creating >community, by appropriate design. The question is--are there any
>architects who >know how to do it, in North America?--

     You might be surprised at the number of architects who have chosen to
tackle this kind of work.  Though I am not an architect myself, I have a
very active interest in housing design and am currently pursuing a degree
in the field.  Over the last few years, I have met with architects who are
interested in cohousing and community development, and though I would never
argue that they are out there in droves, nor would I argue that there is an
overwhelming public interest/demand for people who are knowledgable in this
area.  What I would suggest is that before rejecting all architects out of
hand, try to keep an open mind to the idea that there may be professional
people out there who are indeed qualified and at least have a serious
interest in furthering the "cause" by applying the skills they have gained
through related experience.  This presumption that "professionals" are
worthless only winds up excluding one from a valuable knowledge base,
whether or not one wishes to acknowledge it as such.  Mixing somewhat
slighting references about "professionals" with calls for these same folks
to come forward with their ideas seems to be doomed to failure, if only
because it's undesirable to cooperate with someone who has insulted you and
your livelihood.  You seem to be saying "I know more than you jerks, but go
ahead and try anyway."  Why even bother?
     There are certainly design professionals who are pompous SOBs; people
of that sort would, IMHO make lousy partners in the development of a
cohousing project and should be avoided.  However, many (like myself) have
chosen to go into this profession primarily because we would like to effect
a serious and positive change in the way we as a society build our
communities.  Why else would I even bother subscribing to this list?  I
don't think it immodest to request a degree of respect when discussing
architects' past and potential involvemnt in the ongoing development of
cohousing in this or other countries.
     Finally, I apologize if I appeared to be criticizing the validity of
"non obtrusive" research.  That wasn't my intention.  Rather, I was
questioning the necessity of using that as a determining factor in
selecting an architect, at this point in time, when there doesn't appear to
be a particularly large body of "non obtrusive" research to draw upon.  It
would appear that we would be limited to the relatively few architect /
designers who have had their work reviewed in such a manner.  This is not
to say that I wouldn't choose to see more research of this type done.

Cheers
Daniel

"One thing Shakespeare never said was, 'You've got to be kidding'".


Robyn Hitchcock