Queen of the Arts
The Good Oil
We have always been fascinated by the presumption of the architectural occupation. Here we present some evidence of the aristocratism that is the very essence of architecture.
The Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) has adopted a new business name, the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA). The parent company is still the RAIA. Our comments below stand.
Naming the architectural associations
Architects are pompous patricians to their very core.
We took a look at those major Anglophone countries professing an allegiance – no matter how tenuous – to the pomp and majesty of the British monarchy: the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Quite a lot of tradition here.
One of these traditions concerns the use of the word Royal
. As an Aussie, Dr Garry cannot call his
website the Royal Institute for Architectural Sociology
. He has to apply to the Queen and wait for Her
Majesty's gracious permission: it's the law.
Most people in any of these great nations do not give a flying fruitbat about the regal adjective. Really, does it matter if one is a member of the Canadian Hamster Association rather than a supposed Royal Canadian Institution of Hamster Fanciers?
What architects call themselves
Being the congenital pompous twits that they are, it matters a very great deal to architects. In the table below we give the names of the architects' associations in the nations mentioned above, together with the names used by the societies of their brethren, the civil engineers. Notice a pattern here?
| Country | The architects call themselves… | The civil engineers call themselves… |
| United Kingdom | Royal Institute of British Architects | Institution of Civil Engineers |
| Canada | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada | Canadian Society for Civil Engineering |
| Australia | Royal Australian Institute of Architects | Engineers Australia |