Readers Respond: What qualities make a great architect?

Responses: 41

By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide

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They must have the ability to know the constructability, resources, environmental impact, social impact, material durability, understanding of how the environment effects the mixture of materials introduced and many other aspects of the building, while maintaining the expression of art or ideology that the building represents and have the leadership to coordinate this endeavor with the countless people necessary to make the project a reality.
—Guest John

An architect must be a person who is able to transfer little ideas of a thing into bigger ideas. He is a good innovator.
—Guest Guest Daniel

He should be focused, creative, flexible, able to satisfy ninety percent in his project and leave room for future innovations.
—Guest Ereebi

A great architect will be a visionary; an artist with the highest technical knowledge and understanding of how structures work, and why. Using this, a great architect will sculpt forms and matter around space, or vice versa. That great architect will be conscious of the end user, the neighbor, the geographic location, the culture, the economics, the politics, the environment, the weather, the light, the textures, the sound, the smell and the sight. Just that. Easy.
—Guest Fernando

A good architect is one that cannot just think and do design, but one that can produce functional design solutions that are workable within the designed environment.
—Guest OFONI JOSEPH

A real architect has the ability to produce functional working drawings that are actually buildable, with consideration for the buildings mechanical, electrical and plumbing sytems. Most of what we are seeing today is what I would call "Whole Building Decorators". They are basically designers posing as architects who have very little knowledge of what it takes to make it all work.
—Guest a builder

Architects are great when they master the details without losing sight of the big picture, and master the general idea without overlooking the details.
—Guest Darren

If you cannot question your life, your family members' life, your neighbours' life, the life of people living in the cottage (while you were driving you've seen the cottage in the middle of the forest), the economical crisis... if you question why some people are still living in the caves, on the streets or some in the villas, if you loose yourself while questioning the system, then if you find yourself and your answers, if you loose yourself while thinking about the ultimate answers to the very dangerous questions... If you can think, if you can ask the real question, you can become an architect. Otherwise you become "another brick in the wall" type of architect. I would add much much more, but it s enough for now.
—Guest Baris

An architect is a person who should be able to handle many co-related jobs simultaneously. Who should have knowledge of geography, history, sociology, and psychology. And capabilities of learning about new building materials in the market, learning about everything, in addition to thinking and designing.
—Guest Arvind battapothu

Architects should have the awareness that they are the creators. Architects are responsible for the feelings, emotions, and lives of those who are going to live in the building. Their work and thinking should reach the level that their building transmits peace and cheerfulness to the inhabitants.
—Guest ammu

For the last 4 years, I've been an architect. According to me, a great architect must be a great observer. Only then can he design comfortable, peaceful, relaxing spaces and structures, which is his job. Other than being observant, a great architect should have qualities like truthfulness and compassion.
—Guest Sweta Sharma

He\she must love what he\she is doing. There must be some steps to make architecture more orderly.
—Guest khatchi24

Jackie Craven
Architecture Guide