Architcture can be humbling

I have been contemplating lately the reach of what I do as an architect. I became an architect primarily because I wanted to create homes. Places for the human race to find refuge from the elements. After all that is what a home is, a place of refuge where we can connect with those we love. 

It's what puzzles me about people who purchase a home as an investment. I think this has been brought on somewhat by we in the housing industry who refer to a group of homes as "product". When we use commodity terms for what we create, how can the public help but look at what they are purchasing in the same way. To that end I have endeavored to remove the word "product" from my work vocabulary when I am discussing what I create each day. Of course my friends all say that all I do is sit around an doodle... and that is true to an extent. 

So I sit here creating homes each day... oh sometimes there are other buildings, but mostly homes. And then one day this summer I landed a project in Dubai. Yes, that Dubai in the UAE. As I was working on those homes earlier this month, it all of a sudden dawned on me that I am creating homes in another country, for another culture, and I was totally humbled. What a trip. These homes have many of the same things that homes here do, after all they did hire a Californian architect. Then you get to the maid's room (barely 7 feet by 7 feet) and you remember you are in a totally different world where space is valued to the point that it isn't wasted on frivolous rooms that are 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. 

Anyway I am humbled by the experience, and thrilled. Maybe I will even get to go there one day and see them built.