Why are all architects twats?

[JustFromExperience]

Just that really.

GENERALLY They seem to be jumped up, know it all, entitled, twats. The worst person to have to deal with on site. Separated from reality. The person that no one on site wants to deal with or respects.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

(I have a lot of experience of working with architects)

This is such a good question! I know three architects and they are all twats. I’ve no idea the reason. Maybe something to do with inferiority complex/small penis syndrome and the need to leave their legacy ‘erections’ all over the place as a means of validation??

R U OK hon, @RUOKHon?

I have to work with architects a lot and don't find all of them to be twats. Only a few.

Like the one who designed an interior cladding project and then asked me how are you going to finish this particular area (we are bespoke manufacturing), he didn't have a clue on materials. He designed wall panelling without the option for sockets (of which there were many) and then said 'oh you can just cut out holes and fit them over' - on timber that wasn't fire rated, yeah I don't think so.

Or the one who was adamant that you could bend a timber panel two ways to get a curved rounded edge and corner.

Or the one who decided that a 4m wide x 4m high unit was to be built in one piece after we told him it was not a good idea and it would be better in modular form, he said it would spoil the design aesthetic and 'it can just go in the lift' to the 27th floor of a building. It was not a service lift. We had to virtually hack it to pieces to get it up there.

Or the one who decided that we could fit a specialised door with no door casing...

Or the one who specified materials that were solely manufactured and available for the Asian market

Big shiny hospital extension...vast glass atrium overheats in Summer and so glary reception staff needed sun umbrellas and fans..winter chilly and leaks when heavy rain ..new corridors had slopes so porters had to strain themselves , took months and months to amend and repair...award winning ..sigh

But I bet it looks great! We had a glass ‘bridge’ between 2 buildings - complete with buckets to catch the rain (and it sloped slightly on the diagonal for some reason).

Dullards, yes I stand by that comment. For the use of tired tropes & stereotypes
Not forgetting the, oh I was married to an architect/ex was an architect. And they’re twats. Oh yes, That rigorous tried and tested qualitative measure. A subjective experience doesn’t equate to robust evidence. It’s quite simply a subjective experience not globally applicable

Liquorishtoffee, yip I'm an engineer Achitects are a pain in the arse, see also Quantity Surveyors, I'm sure there are nice one out there, however I'm yet to meet one.

My DH is a architect here on the Llyn Peninsula, which I think might be a less twatty area than some.

He's a total gem of a man and highly skilled and experienced. He's also very benevolent and was vastly undercharging at one point, because he hates dealing with the money side of things.

He's the only architect I know who buys Asda smart price food and drives a crap car - whilst working for millionaire second home owners.

One of the reasons why I married him.

I'm feeling a bit defensive I'm an architect and try not to be a twat.
I think I must be doing something right as I get all my work via recommendations and I'm currently booked up for 2021. Several clients have become friends over the years too.
There are some twats in this profession though and I've mopped up and fixed a few disastrous projects for clients although these have mainly been from architectural consultants/designers rather than actual registered architects but I do know some shit architects too.
Arrogance in the profession I can't stand but there definitely is some and I have come across it several times. I think that comes in play with a lot of professions with demanding qualifications - architects, lawyers, drs etc, it brings out the odd one with a god complex.
Architecture requires high grades, 8yrs of uni and with 3 degrees that touches everything from drawing to law to physics is always going to be demanding.
I come from a commercial background and used to run huge international billion dollar projects but completely changed my practice for family/personal reasons 7yrs ago and started doing smaller scale residential work.
It was a big shock to the system, it's a bit like getting a heart surgeon to start being a GP - a completely different skill set even though ultimately we are still working in the same sector.
The other shock is how many people think i'm on call 24/7 even though they are paying me a really small amount for my time. Domestic clients (if their architect is doing the right thing) need hand holding and steering to not only tease out exactly what they want but guide them through a process which they know very little about.
However many people only want to pay a couple of hundred pounds to draw up some plans. If I do my job properly that's going to work out at a rate less than minimum wage and I have to pay huge fees for insurance, software licences and registration before we even get to me.
I'm always very open about my fees and don't take on projects that people are cheap about. I also won't do a little bit here and there for free any more as people abuse it (a lot)
Communication is really important in this job but is also the thing that all parties (clients, professionals and contractors) can be absolutely terrible at and tends to be what makes things fall apart.
Two things I've learnt in my career and I try to pass on to new architects is the ability to say "no" (to the wrong work, client or idea) but more importantly admit when you don't know something (and then say you will go and find out) because I think often people in this profession think those two things are a weakness and that can make them into twats.

My husband is an architect and agrees most architects are twats. The problem is many come from 'money' backgrounds and therefore haven't lived in the real world.

Sir Christopher Wren was a nice bloke.

I owned a flat in a tenement with a compulsory repair order on in the 90s. The council appointed architect was incredibly slow. I was pregnant and worried about the timing of the building works and chased the architect to get the plans in to the council. One day, he assured me that he had handed them in. By this time I didn't trust him so I went down to the council dept myself. Guess who I spotted in the queue after I had been told that the plans for my tenement hadn't been submitted?

He removed a lovely old built in cupboard from the plans without saying and was incredibly patronising, saying how lucky everyone was to live in flats with bathrooms instead of having to use the shared toilets on the landings. I know he's right, but I don't need an absolutely minted, slow, arrogant man to remind me.

@OhCaptain

Oh, yes. And calling people dullards isn’t a bit divisive

You've missed the point a bit there. It wasn't divisiveness the poster was commenting on, it was generalisation of an industry full of a wide variety of types of people under the header 'twat'. Dullards being generalised as 'dullards' isn't comparable, because all dullards are dullards, but all architects are not twats.

It's surprising you'd need this spelled out.

Ahh we are scrapping the bottom of the barrel.we have the my husband says
Man says, Yes Always a hit on mumsnet

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

Astonishing, op thanking people for being bilious engaging with stereotypes about a profession Simply because op found dullards who agree with her doesn’t in itself vindicate the thread Lazy stereotypes and anecdotes do not in themselves add anything and. It’s simply an ill tempered out pouring .These types of threads pillory certain groups and add nothing. Usually it’s teachers, GP on this occasion it’s architects By all means post a coherent post about architects professional shortcomings or a poor outcome you’ve experienced but an intemperate rant is still simply intemperate

Agree completely! I’ve tortured myself by coming back to see if anyone else agreed with my comment that this kind of thread about another profession such as teaching just wouldn’t be tolerated. Sadly no, lots of people agreeing. Can you imagine if the word architect in the OP was switched for teacher?

I’m so disappointed to read so many posts referring architects as the white, privileged male on an ego trip.
Some of us are women. Just trying to make a living actually.

@hashbrownsandwich

My husband is an architect and agrees most architects are twats. The problem is many come from 'money' backgrounds and therefore haven't lived in the real world.

. Ok.... where do I start? If working a 40hour week plus often long drives to do site visits, deal with clients, solve crisis on site, meet budgets, plan your time to meet deadlines and negotiate with other professionals such as engineers, planners, consultants etc isn’t living in the real world I don’t know what is? Architects don’t tend to go in to the profession for the money by the way. My starting salary 20years ago as a graduate was less than £10k. Back in those days you got a grant at university so didn’t need to find yourself for 7 years. We work hard. We don’t have job security and we are the first to feel the force of a financial downturn and last to recover.

I work with a lot of architects. About 45% are bell ends. Another 45% are junior bell ends in training. The remaining 10% are OK, but never reply to an email or phone call (so could qualify as a part-time bell end).

[quote Eckhart]@OhCaptain

Oh, yes. And calling people dullards isn’t a bit divisive

You've missed the point a bit there. It wasn't divisiveness the poster was commenting on, it was generalisation of an industry full of a wide variety of types of people under the header 'twat'. Dullards being generalised as 'dullards' isn't comparable, because all dullards are dullards, but all architects are not twats.

It's surprising you'd need this spelled out.[/quote]
I didn’t need it spelling out. You chose to spell it out. Odd since it was precisely fuck all to do with you, but there we have it.

@OhCaptain

Why do you think it's your place to respond to my post if your posts are 'fuck all' to do with me?

Never mind, though. It has exactly as much to do with you as it does with me.

And there we have it.

Dullards is applied to those utilising lazy stereotypes,tropes,and I knew an architect once as a global all encompassing set of characteristics and behaviour for a whole profession

Dullard as exhibited by the unintelligent,prosaic and unimaginative example used in this discussion

I’m with you there too!!
Ours charges a fortune to basically come and measure provide drawings and get us planning and then never heard from him again.
We had no end of build problems because of his shit measurements! Felt totally ripped off.

The problem for architects is that everyone can point to a poorly designed building and extrapolate that every architect is an out of touch arsehole, experimenting with form over function and the working Briton.

There is bad and ill thought out architecture everywhere.

From the husband and wife couple who designed Robin Hood Gardens in Blackwall and the Walkie Talkie that caused heat damage to parked vehicles, to Bridgewater Place blamed for the death of doctor after a lorry blew over and any number of mean, new build estates, Brutalist concrete lumps or Gherkins

I'm sure there are some good and nice architects out there.

Thankfully, I don't have to meet any to find out.

On the project im currently working on the archtect has been great - responded to our comments on the original design & made appropriate adjustments. Hes worked with us throughout.

On the last project I worked on it was clear in the choosing the architect process who the other stakeholders wanted. We (the end users of the £8m project) had used them for a small project prior to this & had not been impressed.
They were inflicted on us & the project was bloody hard work. Massive ego, sulked whenever we wanted to change anything, ignored legitimate safeguarding concerns etc. Once we were on site we worked with the contractors who were great & stopped inviting the architects to the meetings because the had no interest finding solutions to problems. Still use our project as an example of how amazing they are on their website though!

Most recent dealings involved a company of architects v local to us.

Main man visited us - all good. Never heard from him again and for the next 6 months dealt instead with 3 of his staff. 2 fully qualified and one still learning.

Of the three: 2 kept chucking ideas at us which bore no resemblance to the brief, the third was attentive, responsive and full of useful ideas.

2 were v posh white men, one was a female from Greece.

Match them up

@Laiste

Most recent dealings involved a company of architects v local to us.

Main man visited us - all good. Never heard from him again and for the next 6 months dealt instead with 3 of his staff. 2 fully qualified and one still learning.

Of the three: 2 kept chucking ideas at us which bore no resemblance to the brief, the third was attentive, responsive and full of useful ideas.

2 were v posh white men, one was a female from Greece.

Match them up

Did the females first name begin with S?