An
unwritten Talmud fable tells the story of the architects of the Tower of Babel who protested the naming of the
fruits of their labor as the "The National Lottery Tower of Babel".
Rather timidly, they suggested that if the tower were named in honor of a
public institution set up to lure the poor into parting with their hard-earned
pennies, people would think that ‘Luck’ is the landlord,
and God will refuse to come to its gates.
The
people of authority heard this, and threatened the impudent architects that
architects-from-distant-lands would be brought in to do the job. Seeing that
they would be deprived of what little payment they got anyway, and in order to
avoid embarrassment amidst the gentiles, the architects set about establishing
a non-profit organization of their own, to promote their interests and to
protect their rights. God doubted that it work, although he thought it was
worth a try, after all, he said to himself, what do they have left but their
good name?
Nevertheless,
the architects did not succeed in finding a common language to establish an
agenda. Some thought it was a good idea to recruit as many members as possible,
including donkey drivers, and oil company workers, there being no electricity
at the time. Others pinned their hopes on the power of exhibitions, seminars,
and awards. And others yet doubted their relations with the craftsmen,
something like engineers, who have indeed posed a threat to their livelihoods
ever since.
Alas,
getting to the point, not one among them thought to turn the organization into
a proper professional society like the Royal Institute of British Architects or
the American Institute of Architects. If only they had done so! If only they
had done so, today no one would insult their good names, harm their prestige,
nor threaten their livelihood. If only they had done so, today architects could
be working for a decent living, in a respected profession, and they could even
be supporting their own poor organization.
Even
in the times of Joseph the Dreamer and long before Sigmund formulated
psychoanalysis, it was clear to all that dreams express one’s
deprivations and fantasies. You dream about what you can’t have. If you are
thirsty, you dream about a cool glass of water; if you need to pee, you dream of relieving yourself in a green
field. But, until you wake up from the dream, you still don’t get rid of
your problem.
On
autumn days like these, when a new leader is about to head the so-called
"Society of Architects, Liberal Professions, and other Designers",
when sixty percent of its members do not have the money to pay their
membership, and when any landowner can hire any Tom, Dick or Harry (or Yossi, Moshe, or Danny) to design a building, and after six
years of bullshitting around in the name of promoting the profession –
it’s about time we woke up from the dream.
The
National Planning and Building Law practically grants permission to plan any
type of building to all other professions besides architects. If we could only
understand the magnitude of this historical mistake and activate pressure to
change this ‘minor’ detail, no one would dare to dispense of our
hard-earned, honorable diplomas and many years of experience. Let the engineers engineer, the designers design, and give the
architects the chance to produce better architecture.
P.S. My wife says that if she
only had half of my optimism, I would be eating her dust a long time ago. I am
not sure that in such a reality I should remain optimistic, or wake up from my
dreams.
Dr.
Ami Ran.
