Issues & AdvocacyLocal

Summary

Roger K. Lewis, FAIA, is a practicing architect and urban planner, a professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland--College Park, an author, and a journalist.

Roger joined the faculty of the University of Maryland's School of Architecture and launched his award-winning architecture and planning practice based in Washington, DC. Since 1969, he and his firm have designed multi-unit housing projects, schools, recreational facilities, art centers, and other institutional buildings. His project work also has included master plans for new communities in the U.S. and abroad.

Beginning in 1984, The Washington Post has published his thematic, illustrated column, "Shaping the City," about architecture, planning, and urban development. His unique, award-winning columns and cartoons have been republished nationally and internationally, and in 2000 his "Shaping the City" drawings were the subject of an exhibition at the National Building Museum. He is the author of numerous articles and books, among them Architect? A Candid Guide to the Profession and, as co-author, The Growth Management Handbook.

Since 2007, he has appeared regularly to discuss "Shaping the City" issues on the Kojo Nnamdi show, broadcast on National Public Radio. Roger is also a member of the U.S. General Services Administration's "Design Excellence" Peer Review Committee.

A conversation with Roger K. Lewis, FAIA

Do you view yourself as a Citizen Architect, and if so, what does this mean to you?

I am indeed a citizen architect because architects in general are among the few professionals whose work influences the lives of so many people. We are responsible for designing the built environment, buildings and clusters of buildings, towns and cities that we all inhabit and use. From the get-go, if you are a practicing architect, you are a citizen architect.

Beyond that, during the last 25-30 years, I wanted to do more than just designing buildings or teaching others how to design. I have become much more engaged with communities as well as with government and private institutions. I also have reached out through the media, as both a journalist and a radio commentator, to communicate not just with architects, but with citizens who are our ultimate clients.

Even though we architects are hired and paid by clients to design projects, we in fact always work for a much larger constituency, the public. I have long felt that architects needed to speak more directly to citizens and to participate in civic activities that in fact shape the built environment. I have been doing this increasingly over the last 25 years.

In your Washington Post column, "Shaping the City", you are able to expound on the impacts and value of design to the public. How do you think we at the AIA can best get the public involved in a discussion about the benefits of design?

Without sounding too self serving, I believe more architects should be doing what I do. In addition to writing articles for newspapers and other publications aimed at general readers, I regularly give talks about architecture and urban design to citizen groups as well as professional and business associations. I recently gave talks in Baltimore and Washington, DC, about smart growth, urban planning and the importance of promoting better architecture.

I think the AIA could encourage its members who are interested in and able to do this kind of work to do it much more frequently. The AIA publicizes things such as design awards, which is helpful but does not go nearly far enough. The public primarily sees photographs of beautiful buildings, yet many of these building images depict architecture that to most citizens looks unfamiliar and aesthetically idiosyncratic. Few Americans ever encounter or interact with architects. We have not entered the public consciousness in the way other professionals have. When you go to the movies or watch television, you typically see doctors and attorneys depicted, but rarely architects.

The public perception of architects is very limited. The AIA could do more to encourage architects to get out, participate in public life and make themselves more visible and better understood.

What message would you communicate to those architects that would like to become more civically engaged?

Architects who want to become civically engaged have to take the initiative and be proactive. I went to the Washington Post in 1984 with an idea for a series of articles. The Post didn’t come to me, I went to them. Over lunch one day with an editor, I explained my idea, and he said let’s give it a try and see what you can do. That’s how my Washington Post column came about.

If you write a regular newspaper column, appear on radio or show up at public meetings and speak out, people will pay attention and remember who you are. Some will contact you and ask for advice or help. Much of what I have been able to do in the last 25 years results from being a spokesperson, advocate and journalist. It’s not the result of having designed award-winning buildings, although I’m very proud of buildings I have designed. Rather it is public engagement leading to further engagement. Thus architects interested in becoming civically engaged have to take the first step.

Click here to listen to the entire interview.