Labour has called Theresa May the ‘architect’ of Windrush. She must be a naval architect because Windrush was a ship. She joins a new generation of ‘architects’ that includes Vladimir Putin the ‘architect’ of Kremlin policy in the Ukraine and General Jon Pyong-Ho the ‘architect’ of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. Also good to know that ‘Rose McGowan will not be silenced as the ‘architect’ of Harvey Weinstein’s downfall’.
Empire Windrush. London Docks
There seem to be ‘architects’ everywhere at the moment – in the sense of people who create and implement a plan. The architectural profession could take it as a compliment were in not that there seems to be an implied fiendish or sinister ‘too clever by half’ quality in many cases. The architect as Bond villain (in fact Ian Fleming got the name Goldfinger from the architect Erno Goldfinger). Search online and you can read about the ‘architects’ of global jihad and the holocaust.
In terms of building design the title ‘architect’ is protected in the UK under Section 20 of the Architects Act 1997. The title can only be used by someone who is registered with the Architects Registration Board. This is deemed to be in the public interest through the protection of public health, safety and welfare, consistency of standards and quality of service.
Pity the poor architects who simply design buildings who see the appropriation of their hard earned title. Or maybe the comprehensive solutions of the megalomaniac tendency within the profession have created the fiendish connection in the minds of the public. To that extent we are the ‘architects’ of our own misfortune.