Last week, in response to Stephen Hodder’s views on the need for evidence proving the worth of architecture, you published a short admonitory letter (Letters September 13) with plenty of impact: “huge amount of evidence on design impacting on human behaviour… quality of design and environment impacts on well-being and health” [but] “what we are actually talking about is the impact of our total environment on our human behaviours”.
Its author, an “ergonomist”, then fingered the culprit: “The problem comes with the word ‘architecture’ and what that means. That sits in the other discussion about what is an architect.”
Which ergonomist wrote this brief but confused, opaque and repetitious text? None other than the chair of the Architects Registration Board, the UK’s supreme arbiter of the education, training, practice and behaviour of architects (forget the RIBA): worth every penny of the annual over-£3 million cost to the profession?
You reported elsewhere that Hodder will be sharing a convivial meal with her as part of fostering a positive relationship between Arb and the RIBA — should be fun.
Peter Gibbs-Kennet
Bisley, Gloucestershire
Postscript
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