Where Are Conservative Architects In America?

You’d be hard-pressed not to be aware of our American mid-term elections happening on Tuesday November 2, 2010 if you watch TV here. The TV pundits on the 24 hour news channels and the attack ads remind us daily in these days leading up to Tuesday. In fact, yesterday’s rally on the Washington Mall has led me to wonder if there are any conservatives in my age group at all (I’m 34 years old). I’m connected to many architects on Facebook and LinkedIn and many are people I’ve studied with in school or worked alongside in my professional life and I read their posts on the social networking sites. It seems out of the 100 or so architects that I know personally, that only 2 of them share conservative political views. That’s a mere 2%. Two percent! So I wonder if there are any conservative architects are in the United States? Particularly young architects (a young architect by AIA definitions is one who has had their professional license less than 10 years). The most offensive thing I heard from an architect, and not a young one, was at the 2010 AIA Convention on Miami Beach last summer in the closing ceremony when before Peter Bohlin received his award, the AIA president said to the effect that ‘no one in the Universe cares about us but ourselves’. He was speaking in reference to the ‘sustainability’ theme happening at next year’s AIA convention in New Orleans. This seems to be the standard belief in the architectural community – that no one cares about us but ourselves.


Well folks, I believe in the exact opposite. God our Creator loves us! And I am a conservative Architect because I believe in limited government, personal responsibility, lower taxes, free markets, discipline and hard work. I am a very hard worker. Whatever you’ve worked hard to earn you should be free to keep. And you should be free to spend your money however you want. It’s hard work that opens and provides opportunity for people. It’s hard work and free markets; supply and demand, that create jobs – and not government handouts or stimulus money. In addition, this earth belongs to human beings and not the other way around. We need to treat the earth with environmental respect and try our best to design our built environment employing sustainability but at no time should we jeopardize peoples’ lives and livelihood because we’re possibly ‘endangering’ the environment. And the jury is still not out yet about the causes of global warming by the way.

Most architects I know feel exactly the opposite and I’m not sure whether it’s an age thing or not. I’d like to know if 2% is an accurate estimate or not so feel free to contact me if you’re a conservative architect. You can email me at info@ccsarchenter.com or connect with me on Facebook or LinkedIn. Lastly, I love all people and I welcome and respect diversity. All my fellow architects who know me know this. That’s why I’m already connected to the 98% who think differently than I do and we keep in touch!

Best wishes,

CCS Architect

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