Rebuilding Foundations: Restoring the Architect and Builder as One

I never thought I would be that guy, the conspiracy theorist. You know, the one saying: “Hey, wake up! All is not as it seems, and the status quo must fall!” Nevertheless, here I am.

Once I was all for getting in line, following the prescribed path forward. You want to create incredible spaces that inspire and lift people to greater heights? Easy! Go to school to become an architect!

Sounded good to me. I sat obediently for years in dark classrooms as the so-called “experts” clicked through slides of past creations while, absurdly, putting more emphasis on memorizing dates and names than the thought or technique behind the forms.

I took the studios that taught me to draw and put models together. Out came a student who could regurgitate facts and draw near perfect lines on paper but learned nothing about the applications that would come close to resembling the physical structures I started out inspired to create.

I had become a woefully inept product of the system.

Now, 25 years later—I am still striving to hit the goal I started with, and I am much closer. I’ve gotten this far by striking a new path. Or maybe it’s better to say uncovering the path that was there from the beginning, covered up with decades of carefully placed lies and laws, all spanning from a misguided separation: The separation of the architect and builder as one.

My journey was sparked long ago by an awareness of my insecurities forged by the status quo education I received and a burning desire to remove those chains. It was not a quest of closed doors and theory but of hard-fought experience and practice.

However, I have traveled as far as I can go alone, and I need your help.

I will be sharing what I have uncovered that’s holding back our families, our schools, our businesses and yes, the world that we all share.

If you are willing to look, I know you too will see what I never expected to find. This insidious malady was placed discreetly but intentionally and adopted as part of the neat systemic order of the professional world I’ve made my career. It is holding us all back—architects, builders, building owners, visionaries of all kinds—from advancements we can’t even fathom.

OK, now I am certainly that guy, but just maybe, like me, you realize it isn’t a conspiracy. It’s something we can all change if we choose to do so. Hang in there with me over the coming months and I will share what I’ve learned.

What if I can show you, without a shadow of a doubt, the prevalent built forms around us are not based on what we have been taught? What would you say if the same genesis as the foundation for the system unwittingly put in place to provide those forms, has acted as invisible barriers to keep us down on many levels?

If you’re nodding your head, simply curious, or even if you disagree, please join me to reunite those that create the built environment, so that we may unite the world.

With Love,

David Muñiz Supple

(This article was originally published as a blog piece on the NEDC Website)