It looks like the ARB should have been more careful about who they picked on, as a number of angry (and important) architects are laying the smack down and even encouraging the abolition of the national board all together. The Architects Registration Board got itself in trouble earlier this week for asking BDonline to refrain from referring to Renzo Piano and Daniel Libeskind as “architects” simply because they were not registered with the board. Now RIBA Gold Medal 1991 winner Colin Stansfield Smith, former RIBA presidents Sunand Prasad and George Ferguson, and British architect Simon Allford are holding nothing back when it comes to expressing how truly disappointed they are in the ARB, even calling for a disbandment. (Maybe “controversy” should be an A+ Award category?)

Read more about the ARB saga.

Libeskind’s Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge and Piano’s London Shard. Photos: via wikipedia

Among the scathing remarks, Smith said: “If ever there was a moment to make a case for abolishing such an expensive Registration Board, then this is it, with Arb’s latest failure of discernment and professional intelligence offering ample proof of their unfitness for purpose.”

Allford was even harsher, telling BDonline that ARB’s request was a “perfect illustration of inappropriate action from an irrelevant organisation wasting the resources our increasing fees pay for. Perhaps in time it will be seen as the ARB becoming the architects (or should I say ‘architectural designers’!) of their own demise?”

It looks like the board has a lot of explaining and kissing up to do before the whole architectural community turns against them.

[via BDonline]

by Molly Cotter

posted in Debate Uncategorized

tagged ARB, Architects Registration Board, Architectural Registration Board, controversy, libeskind, renzo piano, uk

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