The Design of Writing and the Writing of Design

No one will ever escape the necessity of writing. Even entering a career dealing with math and art – like architecture – does not mean that a person will not need writing skills. Writing is an important part of an architect’s job; it is used on a daily basis. An architect’s writing is a method of communication and can even be a kind of advertisement. An architect uses many forms of writing, such as emails, business letters, and published work, to communicate with the many people involved in a project and to keep track of everything that has to be done, as well as deadlines for these tasks and to whom each task is assigned.

Mr. Richard Johnson, an architect in the local firm The East Group, most often communicates through e-mails. Another form of writing that he frequently uses is minutes of meetings, which are used to keep track of what is discussed in the meetings. He says that he only occasionally writes more formal papers for “marketing or educational purposes”. He also uses Excel spreadsheets to keep track of information about the current projects (Johnson). The description or explanation of a project is another important kind of writing for architects (Weinstein). These descriptions help other participants in the project – clients, builders, contractors, etc. – to understand what the architect is planning and what they themselves will have to do. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) website lists an architect’s kinds of writing as the following: business letters, record(s) of “all aspects” of the project, charts and tables, “specifications” defining the building, and “articles for professional journals and magazines”. These parallel the writings that Johnson does, but are more formal and time con...

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Weinstein, Norman. "Artful Writing." Chronicle of Higher Education 54.26 (2008): B21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 Oct. 2011

Works Referenced

AIACC, . "Write for the AIACC." AIA|CC: California Council. AIACC, n.d. Web. 13 Oct 2011. .

Gaertner-Johnston, Lynn. "Tips for Writing Meeting Minutes." Syntax Training: Business Writing. Syntax Training, 5 Jan 2006. Web. 13 Oct 2011. .

RAIC, . "Architecture & Architects: Becoming an Architect." Architecture Canada: Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. RAIC, 2010. Web. 12 Oct 2011. .