An Organized Profession

By the mid-nineteenth century architecture had become an organized profession. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) was founded in 1837 to advance the “esteemed” art and science of architecture and its positive effect on town and cities. The American Institute of Architects, founded in 1857, followed the RIBA’s example. Architectural education in America and Europe was strongly influenced by the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. The French academy, established in the seventeenth century, favored the study of ancient Greek and Roman architecture.

T he academy encouraged students to produce symmetrical designs and elaborate, two-dimensional watercolor renderings of their building projects. This method was adopted by American schools of architecture, which led to Beaux-Arts Classicism, an architectural style that was widely applied in America from about 1880 to 1930.

US Supreme Court Building

How Architects Get to Be Architects

Contemporary American architects are licensed or registered to practice by the state within which they work. Licensure requirements include a professional degree in architecture, a period of practical training called an internship, and a passing grade on a state-administrated test called the architectural registration examination. There are several types of professional degrees in architecture:

1. One type is a 5-year Bachelor of Architecture degree, intended for students who are entering the program from high school or have no previous architecture training.

2. Another type is a 2-year Master of Architecture degree for students who already have an undergraduate degree in architecture.

3. Some universities also offer a 3- or 4-year Master of Architecture program for students with a degree in a discipline other than architecture.

Graduates of these programs are required to complete an internship before taking the registration exam and becoming licensed. The registration exam covers a broad body of architectural know-how, from building technology to history. Those who pass the exam and meet all standards established by their state registration board are licensed to practice architecture in that state.

Many states require continuing education to maintain licensure. Requirements vary by state, but they usually involve attending workshops, university classes, and conferences for a certain number of hours. Many architects are members of the American Institute of Architects, a group that sets professional standards but does not license architects.

The New Specialty

C ontemporary architecture has become so specialized for certain functions that to-days’ architects often concentrate on producing one or two building types – airports and sport arenas, for example. This narrowly focused practice is very different from the past, when one architect was called upon to undertake all sorts of buildings: churches, houses, libraries, department stores, etc.

A truly great architect will challenge conventions to create an exceptional piece of architecture – and forever change the way that people view a building type. Frank Lloyd Wright, for example, revolutionized the museum with his inspiring design of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Before this building opened in 1959, museums were organized with rectangular galleries linked by hallways. Wright seized the idea of turning the hallway into a large ramp and focusing the entire museum around it. Winding up through the building like a giant corkscrew, the ramp exhibits the visitors as much as it does the artwork.