ABSTRACT
The spirit of the Architects Registration Board Code of Conduct defines the professional architect as one that acts with professionalism and integrity, is competent, trustworthy and respects others. It almost feels like a chivalric title that one accepts when entering the knighthood. Training to accumulate the right experience, while practising at significant personal and financial cost, leads us to believe recognition and accolades await at the end of the long and hard road travelled. And then reality hits: architects are marginalised construction-industry professionals, face constant, depressing crises and are slow to grasp the potential of innovations. To champion great architecture, one must be seen as competent as well as relevant. Increasingly architecture is not just about design and buildings, but information: access to it and how one uses it to solve problems the society faces. It is more a matter as to whether our professional bodies and codes of conduct will be quick enough to adapt for a changing professionalism.
