It is the Year of the Built Environment, so how many graduate architects, who have attempted the onerous three stage; logbook, exam and interview process will be registered by the Board of Architects in each state and territory? How many bright young things will begin their professional career’s as Architects for the first time, bringing their intellects and commitment to Architecture to the profession? The answer is that the Australian Board of Architects in 2004, in the Year of the Built Environment, will exclude at the various stages, almost all applicants who have sought registration.

This exclusion is managed through what I like to call a three hoop process

Hoop 1: Logbook
A significant number of people can satisfy the logbook stage, this is achieved by filling out the most convoluted and unwieldy mass of paper work developed since Stephen Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time .

This is in spite of the authors of this document ignoring contemporary architectural practice with the arrival of project managers and professional clients and the multi disciplinary practice of contemporary architecture firms. You can almost hear them when you fill out the forms, calling across the years whispering Bill of Quantities, Clerk of Works and muttering about “doing things properly in my day”

Hoop 2: National Examination Paper
The next hurdle is a multiple statement yes/no exam impressively named the National Examination Paper or NEP. The failure rates for the NEP stage are a work of art and beautifully devised. In the ACT only one out of the nine to sit the recent NEP passed, in WA apparently only one out of the twenty to sit passed . In talking to the local authorities in the ACT, the pass rate for this exam is less than one third nationwide. The exam is straightforwardly devious, there is no statement or way to work out what the exam is scored out off, a 60% pass mark is required and negative marks are detracted for each wrong answer. In addition there may be more than one right answer per question or there may be none.

Hoop 3: Interview
Just add two architects, your logbook and you- combine for one hour and mix. Just hope you know your shit and don’t stuff up. I assume it’s a bit like you P plate driving test. Be conservative, don’t speed, try not to scare the examiner and don’t fuck up the three point turn. At the end you shake hands leave the room and wait to hear if you made it.

Success: If you made it congratulations and I suppose someone had to. If you didn’t, just pay more money and wait till next time they run the process, continue until either you run out of money, you make it or life moves along and other priorities overrule.

So what’s going on with the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia and the devious registration scheme they have devised. One can only speculate as to the reasons for the development of such a structure, small penis syndrome, bureaucratic old boys club, prestige and control, I suppose just the standard reasons nothing too special.

Unfortunately this is affecting our profession in key ways. There is an evolving culture of not becoming registered due to the inherent difficulties of the accreditation process. I have observed this in relation to graduate architects who are reluctant to become registered, even after many years of working in private practice. I acknowledge it may be the case that some graduates do not wish to personally assume the public liability responsibilities associated with professional practise. This is fine, however in other professions becoming chartered or registered is encouraged and attainable through transparent and accessible processes, and is undertaken by most graduates who work in that particular industry. In an amazing contrast, it seems that graduate Architects are largely apprehensive, unwilling, and apparently discouraged from joining the profession within which they work.

The current system is exclusionary, poorly reflects current architectural practice, and lacks accountability and transparency. The Board urgently needs to reform the registration process in order to make it accessible and encouraging to graduate Architects. By enforcing the current exclusionary system, the Board is ensuring that the Architectural profession will consistently miss out on exciting new talent and expertise to the detriment of the profession.