Study on Profession of Architects in Japan Based on Contractor-Designer Issue

1. Motivation
  　　Background, early studies, aim of study
2. Method
3. Outline of contractor-designer issue
  　　Origin, Kajima Controversy and contentions         　　
4. Results and discussion
  　　Professional Norms of Architects in Japan
5. Conclusion and future plans

1. Background
  　　The contractor-designer issue is one of matters which have been discussed in relation to the Registered Architects Law revision for years : whether designers should be organized separately from contractors or not
2. Early studies
  　　Kajima M. (1971), Talking About My Management
 　　Hashimoto T. (1995) , Comment: Architecture Circles
3. Aim of the study
  　　To analyze features of profession of architects in Japan based on the contractor-designer issue
Professional norms:
   A professional should depend on them when he/she make judgments, evaluation or act, etc.

Prototype of professional norms:
　　⇒Table 1.

Prototype of professional norms:
・Ishimura Z. (1969), Modern Profession
   giving 10 elements as ideal professional norms based on examination in technical, economical and social terms
・International Union of Architects (UIA) (1996), UIA Accord on Recommended International Standards of Professionalism in Architectural Practice
   giving Principles of Professionalism made up of Expertise, Autonomy, Commitment and Accountability

Until Edo era, the design-build process by carpenter chiefs was main procurement of architectural system in Japan.
During Meiji era, architects came to be trained in the department of architecture at Engineering University.
After architects’ design office emerged and “design” had grown to economic activity, carpenter chiefs have continued to do both design and construction.
It was difficult for general people to understand value of design, and architects were forced to appeal for separation of design and construction.

The Registered Architects Law legislated in 1950 was not satisfactory to the architects, so they developed a campaign for the revision of Registered Architects Law in order to clarify architects’ profession.
May, 1968, JAA announced “an opinion book opposed the Design and Supervision Business Bill” and insisted that architects’ practices are not profit-pursuing business and prohibition against doing both design and construction.
Kajima Corporation chairman Morinosuke Kajima red the opinion book by JAA and submitted an opinion book “on the contractor-designer issue” to Minister of Construction. The opinion exchange between the two sides lasted for four months.

Which contributes to the public interest, the traditional process, or the design-build process?
   JAA: purchase of buildings at reasonable prices is possible by the traditional process that an architect represents an owner and makes contractors compete each other.
　　Kajima: The design-build process rationalizes construction industry and it promotes cost reduction in construction.

Whether the Design and Supervision Service Bill advocated by JAA during the campaign for the Registered Architects Law revision prohibits design practice by contractors legally or not?
   JAA: The Service Bill is intended to constrain the architects from construction practice in order to achieve the purification of the architects’ profession, and there is no intention to prohibit contractors from design practice.
   Kajima: The Service Bill makes contractors unable to design, and design practice becomes a monopolistic privilege of architects.  

Architects in Japan lack Expertise 3
  (qualification and educational training by a professional institute)
   ・The Service Bill by JAA is advocated under awareness of necessity to make the practical law apart from the Registered Architects Law which is a qualification law.
   ・Professional institutes do not take part in qualification and educational training of architects and the State fills their role instead. .

Architects in Japan lack Commitment 5
                                         　　(serving clients as an agent)
   ・It is discussed in Kajima controversy what the contract architects close and what the reward that architects receive actually are.
   ・JAA : architects get the reward by a commissional agreement when architects perform their design
   Kajima : Architects’ profit might be what the cost is subtracted from the reward
   ・ Such a discussion does not take clients, who pay the reward, into consideration.

Architects in Japan lack Accountability 1
            　　(ethical self-regulation by a professional institute)
   ・The professional institute in Japan attempted to legislate for the Service Bill so that “Purification of architects’ profession is achieved”.
   ・ It was an attempt to make a law as substitute for the professional institute’s self-regulation.