How many architects are there in Hyogo Prefecture?
Architect... When you hear the word architect, you might get a cool, prestigious image in your mind. This word has a very different definition from the word architect. Strictly speaking, architect is a qualification system certified by the country or prefecture, like first-class architect, second-class architect, and wooden architect.
On the other hand, architects are not backed by the country or prefecture. If a practitioner who is doing design work calls himself an "architect," then he is an architect. That is the reality of what an architect is. However, the public's image of an architect is that he is a famous person who has worked on very famous buildings. There are certainly architects like that, but there are only a few dozen of them in Japan, and there are probably only 200 of them in the world. I am sometimes invited to give lectures to students at the high school I graduated from. As for current high school students, the reality is that young people today are "almost completely unaware" of the name of Tadao Ando, who is the most famous in Japan and a name that resonates around the world. Since this is the situation even at the top preparatory school in the region, it seems that there are virtually no famous architects in Japan for the younger generation.
Ideally, you would not call yourself an architect, but would like to be recognized as such by your competitors or by your clients based on the quality of your work. This would be ideal. However, this is too vague. So there is a system of certification for architects. This is a way to get certified as a JIA-registered architect by an organization called the Japan Institute of Architects (commonly known as JIA).
There are currently about 5000 registered architects in Japan, of which there are 99 in Hyogo Prefecture.
I also registered when I was young, but at that time it was very difficult to get in. You needed recommendations from two members and the annual membership fee was a little over 2 yen. This was a huge burden for small design offices, so the reality was that most design offices did not join. The Architects Association's membership was getting older and older, and the number of members seemed to be decreasing. This was not good, so the membership was lowered to the 7 yen range, but then it became difficult to operate, so it seems that the fee has been raised again to 2 yen plus branch membership fees.
Here are some other ways to gain recognition in the industry as an architect. The first is to win some kind of contest. This is also called a titleist. If you have won one or more titles, I think that is enough to call yourself an architect.
The second is to win a competition that is relatively difficult or large-scale.
This also gets covered by the media, so it helps to raise awareness within the industry. I think that if you have even one such achievement, it will be a great achievement for you as an architect.
The third is having a building you have designed published in a relevant specialist magazine. In the world of design, being featured in Shinkenchiku, and in the world of housing, being featured in Jyutaku Tokushu (JT), is a status symbol in the world of architecture. Also, although it is not just about design, I think being featured in Nikkei Architecture, which comprehensively covers industry information, is also a major achievement for an architect.
Among those who become "otherwise known" architects in this way, there are two types. One is in-house architects who belong to super-large architectural firms such as Nikken Sekkei and the design department of Takenaka Corporation. The other is architects who are called "atelier-style" architects, with a team of 3 to 50 people. The two are completely different in terms of scale and the path they have taken. Even if the designs of architectural firms are quite aggressive, I feel that they often meet a certain level of standards in terms of weatherproofing, structure, maintenance, etc. On the other hand, if you look at the design alone of buildings built by small-scale atelier-style firms, you often see crazy designs and senses that would never be done by architectural firms. On the other hand, it is also true that many buildings have significant deficiencies in terms of weatherproofing, structure, maintenance, etc.
In the case of clients like the old gentlemen, I think that many of them would say, "I fell in love with your design. Don't worry about money, just do what you want." Also, even if it cost a lot of maintenance and upkeep, many of them didn't mind it, or had the financial means to do whatever they wanted. Also, the threshold for hiring an architect was much higher than it is now, so only people who could afford it could hire an architect. Nowadays, architects are gradually becoming involved in single-family homes. I am now part of a group of about nine architects, but I first trained in the design department of a major housing manufacturer. There, I was able to learn about structure, construction, maintenance, sales methods, contract arrangements, and many other things. Also, if there was a mistake, there was a system in place to provide feedback to the entire company so that it would not happen again. At the time, I felt that it was very restrictive, but in exchange for the restriction of freedom, there was an aspect of a certain degree of assurance of stable quality and few mistakes.
From there, I moved to the largest architect's office in Hyogo Prefecture at the time. There were almost no such restrictions there. I felt a tremendous sense of "freedom." On the other hand, I also felt a strong sense of "lawlessness." It was a feeling of "anything goes..." However, the company focused on reinforced concrete construction, so that feeling of lawlessness was still less severe.
This lawless feeling is most prevalent among atelier-style architects, followed by small-scale wooden house construction companies that design and build their own homes.
Most of the houses built by atelier-style architects tend to be structurally weak. It is extremely rare for an architect to meet the seismic resistance standard of grade 3. Many architects are not interested in insulation, and tend to use very low-insulation windows regardless of whether it is hot or cold, without considering the direction. This means that the cost of heating and cooling is very high, regardless of whether it is hot or cold. On the other hand, it can be said that even if you spend a lot on heating and cooling, it can be quite cold or quite hot. The weatherproofing is also very delicate, so if the probability of a leak occurring in a house built by a housing manufacturer is one in 200 houses, it is one in 50 to 100 houses for a general construction company, and about one in 20 houses for an atelier-style architect (this is an example and not an accurate statistical data), so there is a difference. Furthermore, the probability is higher for architects with cutting-edge designs. It would be fine if the client understood and accepted these things before hiring such an architect, but it is important to be careful as they often hire without understanding them. To use the analogy, to live in a house designed by such an architect, you need to be prepared to "wear leather shoes barefoot in the winter." This is exactly what it means to be "fashionable."
